Variable camber wing is a design of aircraft wing that allows changes in the camber (or curvature) of the airfoil. Any aircraft wing fitted with flaps or ailerons or a leading edge droop is by definition a variable camber wing however the term is usually applied only to wings that are capable of doing so without resorting to conventional flaps though many early patents for flaps described them as variable camber devices. Several mechanisms have been tried, including a device that controls the location and shape of the entire upper surface of the airfoil, a retractable bridge that connects two separate high aspect ratio wings, turning them into a single low aspect ratio wing or with telescopic segments that could be forced out, increasing the thickness, chord and shape of the affected portion of the wing.
Famous quotes containing the words variable and/or wing:
“There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady’s head-dress.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me. Thou art so far before
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine! Only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)