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 Summary

The supercritical wing concept was developed by Dr. Richard T. Whitcomb of the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Whitcomb's airfoil was designed to delay formation of shock waves at high speeds.

 Biographical / Historical

Richard T. Whitcomb (1921- ) was born in Evanston, Illinois. His family later moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, where Whitcomb attended public schools. He received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1943. Following graduation he accepted a position with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the forerunner of NASA) at Langley Laboratories, Virginia. Whitcomb devoted much of his career to research in the problems of supersonic flight. In the early 1950s Whitcomb discovered the transonic area rule concept. This rule amounts to a sensitive balance of fuselage and wing volume, which minimizes drag at transonic speeds. This concept was applied to post World War II fighters and resulted in operational military aircraft capable of supersonic flight. Whitcomb earned international acclaim through his accomplishments with the area rule concept and the supercritical wing. Until his retirement from NASA he worked on aircraft energy efficiency and new winglet configurations.

 Identifier

NASM.XXXX.0104

Creator

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Langley Research Center

Date

1964-1972

Provenance

NASA, gift, 1984, XXXX-0104, unknown

Extent

5.85 Cubic feet (13 boxes)

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

This collection contains documents gathered from Langley Research Center on the development of the supercritical wing concept and the F-8 test bed program. The material primarily consists of notes and reports covering the wind tunnel development, flight testing, and evaluation of the concept. The collection also includes general and press information about the program.

Rights

Permissions Requests

Restrictions

No restrictions on access

Citation

NASA F-8 Supercritical Wing Collection, Acc. XXXX-0104, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Vought F-8 (F8U) Crusader Family

Airplanes -- Flight testing

Aerodynamics

Transonic wind tunnels

Aerodynamics, Transonic

Periodicals

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Reports

Drawings

Manuscripts

Correspondence

Notes

Photographs

Publications