Richard Whitcomb

2.  Born in Illinois in 1921, and died in Newport
news at the age of 88 in the year 2009.
 Went to college at Worcester Polytechnic
Institute.
 Joined the aeronautics club and spent a lot of
time in the school's wind tunnel.

3.  Dickson went to the Langley Research center
shortly after graduation from Worcester
Polytechnic Institute.
 Between 1940’s and 1950’s the sound barrier
had become a major roadblock for the
advancement of high speed flight.
 He wanted to find a way to break the sound
barrier

4.  In the 1970s Whitcomb came up with winglets,
wingtip devices that reduce yet another type of
drag and further improve aerodynamic
efficiency.
 His supercritical wing helps reduce drag and
increases speed to mach leveled speeds.

5.  The key was the development of a swept-back
wing airfoil that delayed the onset of increased
drag.
 It increased the fuel efficiency of aircraft flying
close to the speed of sound.

6.  At speeds approaching the speed of sound,
shock waves would form on the upper surface
of a wing, leading to a steep increase in drag.
 And the result would be increased turbulence,
causing many plane crashes.
 Though Chuck Yeager went through the sound
barrier in 1947, he did so in a vehicle that was
more a rocket than a plane.

7.  Since the shock wave problem affected
airplanes, Whitcomb discovered the Area Rule.
 The area rule says that when the fuselage
section is reduced near the wing, drag is
reduced by almost 60% near mach 1.
 This is also called the Coke Bottle effect.
The red circle shows where the Whitcomb area
rule comes in.
You can see how the fuselage thins down near the
wings.

8.  The supercritical wing was also one of
Whitcomb’s discoveries, helping increase fuel
efficiency and range.
 Nowadays, commercial jets travel at speeds
from about mach 0.8 to mach 0.9.
 The airline companies wanted to increase
speed and range, while still keeping the planes
fuel efficient.
 Sometimes, although a plane is moving slower
than mach 1, some air on the wing is moving
faster, creating a lot of drag.

9.  If an airplane is traveling at mach 0.8, and the
wing’s air is traveling at mach 1, 0.8 is this
wing’s critical mach number.
 Whitcomb developed the supercritical wing to
decrease the amount of drag created by the
wing in transonic speeds (between mach 0.8
and 0.99).

10.  Winglets reduce yet another type of drag and
further improve aerodynamic efficiency.
 Many airliners and private jets use wingtips
that are angled up for better fuel performance.
 Winglets decrease wing vortices, which are
little tornadoes that causes increases in drag
To the right, the squares indicate the
planes winglets, which reduces the
aerodynamic drag.
This decreases the fuel consumptions
of planes.

11.  Those who worked with Whitcomb remember
him as brilliant, driven and single-minded with
aerodynamics.
 He worked on his thoughts at work and at
home.
 His work lives on in modern jetliners like the
Boeing 747.

12.  "NASA - NASA Aviation Pioneer Dick Whitcomb Honored." NASA -
Home. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/features/whitcomb-
honored.html>.
 "Area Rule of High-Speed Aircraft Design - WPI." Worcester Polytechnic
Institute (WPI). Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.wpi.edu/about/history/area.html>.
 "WPI - Transformations: Winged Victory." Worcester Polytechnic Institute
(WPI). Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.wpi.edu/news/Transformations/2002Fall/whitcomb.htm
l>.
 1950, By Late. "Aeroflight » Richard Whitcomb." Aeroflight. Web. 30 Sept.
2010. <http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/tag/richard-whitcomb>.
 "An Analysis of the Central Fuel Tank Explosion of TWA Flight
800." Technical Communication. Web. 01 Oct. 2010.
<http://tc.engr.wisc.edu/uer/uer00/author2/content.html>.
 1950s, By The. "Supercritical Airfoil." Web. 01 Oct. 2010.
<http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Evolution_of_Technology/s
upercritical/Tech12.htm>.