Looking at Airplanes: To Explore The Science of Flight
Looking at Airplanes: To Explore The Science of Flight
Looking at Airplanes: To Explore The Science of Flight
Airplanes
TO EXPLORE THE SCIENCE OF FLIGHT
Smithsonian
National Air and Space Museum
Exhibits and Public Services Department
Public Services Division
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Looking at Airplanes
How to Use This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Jet Power!
Bell XP-59A Airacomet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
GETTING STARTED
Take one of the escalators from the main first-floor lobby to the
second floor balcony, overlooking the Milestones of Flight gallery.
To begin, position yourself in the middle of the balcony so you are facing the
Wright Flyer (highlighted below).
All seven aircraft explored in this booklet can be seen from this general area.
PAGE 3
Quick Reference to
How Airplanes Fly
FORCES OF FLIGHT
Lift Four forces affect things that fly: weight, lift,
Drag thrust, and drag. When an airplane flies, the
wing is designed to provide enough lift for the
airplane’s weight. The engine provides enough
thrust to overcome drag and move the airplane
Thrust
forward. The forces are interconnected, so a
Weight change in one affects the others. For example,
increasing the weight increases the amount of lift
needed. A larger wing provides more lift, but that in turn increases how much drag
must be overcome, and that increases the thrust required to maintain speed.
PAGE 4
BASIC ELEMENTS OF
AN AIRPLANE
Ailerons
Wing
Fuselage
Vertical Tail
Rudder
Horizontal Tail
Elevator
SPEED
Increasing the speed of an airplane increases the lift its wing provides. At slow
speeds, airplane wings need more surface area and a thicker curved cross section
to provide enough lift. At faster speeds, airplane wings need less surface area, so
they can be smaller and still provide enough lift.
Increasing an airplane’s speed also increases drag or resistance to oncoming air. The
overall performance of faster airplanes is improved with streamlining, which helps
reduce drag.
As an airplane moves through the air, it makes pressure waves that radiate from it at
the speed of sound, about 1,120 kilometers (700 miles) per hour. When an airplane
travels at the speed of sound (Mach 1), it catches up with its own pressure waves,
which bunch together into a shock wave.When an airplane travels faster than Mach 1,
it flies ahead of its pressure waves, creating an oblique shock wave at its nose.
PAGE 5
Let’s Explore the Basic
Principles of Flight
COMPARE the large FIND the engine, drive
surface area of the Flyer’s chains, and propellers that
two wings with other move the Flyer forward.
airplanes in the gallery. The 12-horsepower engine is just
Why such big wings? (After all, they to the right of the pilot.The engine
don’t have as much weight to lift as drives the two propellers in the
the other airplanes.) The Flyer is rear of the airplane with chains and
lighter, but it is also much slower. A sprockets.The propellers generate
slow airplane needs more surface thrust, which pushes the airplane
area on its wings to provide forward.The Flyer’s airspeed was
enough lift.That’s why the bicyclist- around 48 kilometers (30 miles)
powered Gossamer Condor above per hour.
you has such long wings.
FIND the movable surfaces
that control the airplane.
The elevator, located in front of the
airplane, controls the up-and-down
movement, called pitch.
The rudder, located in the rear,
MILESTONES OF FLIGHT controls the side-to-side movement,
You can
called yaw.
view this
The wing tips twist in opposite
airplane directions, causing one wing to dip
from this lower than the other and the airplane
location to rotate, a movement called roll.
on the The Wright brothers realized the
need to control an airplane in
second
three dimensions or “axes,” and
floor. they were the first to figure out
X Stand here to view airplane how to do it.
PIONEERS OF FLIGHT
PAGE 6
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
This Airplane
in Time
Elevator
Engine
Propeller
Rudder
PAGE 8
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
This Airplane
in Time
Curved Top
Flat Underside
Aileron
Carburetor Heater
PAGE 9
Streamlining
Pays Off
NOTICE the Vega’s added 32 kilometers (20 miles) per
smooth, rounded fuselage. hour to the airplane’s maximum
The exterior skin is molded speed.The Vega’s wing—braced
plywood glued to an internal inside and stronger than the
frame.This construction strength- Spirit’s—does not have external
ened the fuselage, because both supports or “struts.” And the Vega’s
the skin and the internal frame rounded fuselage reduces wind
provided structural support. resistance (drag) too.
Compare the Vega’s fuselage with
the boxy shape of the Spirit’s.
THINK further:Why was
streamlining important for
Which looks more streamlined? the Vega?
LOOK for other stream- An important clue lies in the Vega’s
lining features on the Vega. 450-horsepower engine. It was
twice as powerful as the Spirit’s, yet
The Vega has a “cowling” or cover
its maximum speed is only 96
on the engine and “wheel pants”
kilometers (60 miles) per hour
on the landing gear.These alone
more than the Spirit’s. Additional
speed means an airplane can lift
MILESTONES OF FLIGHT more weight, but extra speed also
You can increases wind resistance, or drag.
Increased drag slows the airplane
view this
down and uses up fuel.Think of
airplane
athletes who wear streamlined
from this clothing to reduce drag.
location
on the
READ about a man
ahead of his time.
second
Jack Northrop always had his sights
floor. set on the future. As he developed
X Stand here to view airplane designs to solve problems for a
wood-framed Vega, he was
PIONEERS OF FLIGHT exploring techniques for building
aluminum airplanes. Perhaps most
PAGE 10
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
This Airplane
in Time
Cowling
Fuselage
Wheel Pants
PAGE 11
Why Does It
Look Modern?
Rudder
PAGE 12
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
This Airplane
in Time
Rivets
Rivets
PAGE 13
Jet Power!
PAGE 14
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
This Airplane
in Time
Air Intake
PAGE 15
Speed Faster
Than Sound
PAGE 16
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
This Airplane
in Time
PAGE 17
Rocket
Thrusters
Dual Controls—
for Air and Space
PAGE 18
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
This Airplane
in Time
PAGE 19
Flying Further
FLIGHT by Don Lopez
A richly illustrated and fun-to-read introduction to the history
and science of flight.The perfect book for beginning aviation
enthusiasts of all ages.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Bill Tinkler for his inspiring and patient instruction in
aeronautics, the staff and Docents at the National Air and Space Museum
for their good ideas, and Museum visitors for their suggestions; also to
David Gant and his colleagues in the Museum’s Exhibits Division for
their support.
Credits
Author Clare Cuddy
Photographers Carolyn Russo (color photos on pages 6, 8, 10, 14, 18)
and Mark Avino (color photos on pages 12, 16)
Additional photo credits B&W photo on page 10, Smithsonian
Institution Negative 83-2946 and B&W photo on page 14,
History Office, Edwards Air Force Base, CA
Cover photo Cessna 172, courtesy of the Cessna Aircraft Company. You
can sit in the pilot’s seat of a similar model, a Cessna 150, in the How
Things Fly gallery.
Design Groff Creative, Inc.
Major support for the How Things Fly gallery and the “Looking at
Airplanes” visitors guide was generously provided by The Boeing
Company and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Smithsonian
National Air and Space Museum
Educational Services
Public Services Division
Exhibits and Public Services Department