Flight-determined low-speed lift and drag characteristics of the lightweight m2-f1 lift- ing body

SUMMARY The low-speed lift and drag characteristics of a manned, lightweight M-2 lifting-body vehicle were determined in unpowered free-flight tests at angles of attack from 0 to 22O (0.38 radian) and at calibrated airspeeds from 61 knots to 113 knots (31.38 to 58.13 meters/second). pared with results from full-scale wind-tunnel tests of the same vehicle. Flight data are com- The investigation showed that 95 percent of the vehicle maximum lift-drag ratio of 2.8 was available through an angle-of-attack range from 4.4 to 14.6 (0.08 to 0.25 radian). be low in comparison with most other aircraft, no serious difficulties were experienced in landing the test vehicle. Although this lift-drag ratio is considered to The lift and trim characteristics were linear in the angle-of-attack range from 0 to 15 (0.26 radian). Although the same vehicle was tested in flight and in the wind tunnel, significant differences existed in the values of zero-lift drag and drag due to lift. INTRODUCTION In recent years, many wind-tunnel studies have been made during the development of lifting reentry configurations capable of gliding to a speci- fied recovery site and making a conventional horizontal landing. To comple- ment these studies, the