Design and Development
The HP.115 was designed to explore the low speed handling characteristics and aerodynamics of slender, delta wing aircraft. It was originally intended to be a glider, being towed by a Canberra aircraft to high altitude of around 30,000 ft (9,140 m). After reviewing costs, it was estimated that a powered version would achieve 200% more flying time at 95% less cost per hour.
Originally intended to be an all-wood glider, design calculations were carried out at Slingsby Sailplanes as the Slingsby T.48, but when the requirement changed to a powered aircraft work was transferred to Handley Page as the HP.115. The HP.115 featured a delta wing of very low aspect ratio swept at 75° and a fixed tricycle undercarriage derived from the main gear of a Percival Prentice and the nose-gear from a Miles Aerovan. The fuselage was a shallow rectangular section girder, with a nacelle at the nose to house the cockpit. It was powered by a single Bristol Siddeley Viper turbojet set over the wing at the base of the tailplane fin. The fin had a bullet fairing at the top to accommodate a cine-camera to record airflow visualisation experiments, some of which employed smoke generators mounted on the wing leading edges.
The aerofoil section was a modified bi-convex type with the maximum thickness at 40% of the chord. This section was chosen as being representative of the type likely to be adopted for a supersonic transport. It had a favourable chord-wise distribution of cross-sectional area and hence a low wave drag in supersonic flight. A unique plywood leading edge was employed wherein new sections of different degrees of camber could be substituted although in practice, this feature was never used.
Read more about this topic: Handley Page HP.115
Famous quotes containing the words design and/or development:
“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“Good schools are schools for the development of the whole child. They seek to help children develop to their maximum their social powers and their intellectual powers, their emotional capacities, their physical powers.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)