A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft which has no definite fuselage, with most of the crew, payload and equipment being housed inside the main wing structure.
A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blisters, booms, vertical stabilizers (tail fins), or undercarriage. Some aircraft have no fuselage but do have a separate horizontal stabilizer surface mounted on one or more booms; these are also commonly referred to as flying wings, although this is not strictly correct. An example of such a design is the Northrop X216H.
Read more about Flying Wing: History, Design Issues, Bi-directional Flying Wing, Borderline Cases
Famous quotes containing the words flying and/or wing:
“Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help turn things out for the best ...
And ... always look on the bright side of life.”
—Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Mr. Frisbee III (Eric Idle)
“No Raven’s wing can stretch the flight so far
As the torn bandrols of Napoleon’s war.
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He’ll make you deserts and he’ll bring you blood.
How could you fear a dearth? have not mankind,
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A faithful harvester!”
—Joel Barlow (1754–1812)