DESIGN OF A DEPLOYABLE WING GLIDER [AFIT-EN / AFFDL, 1974]

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a004800.pdf

Abstract

An unpowered. unguided vehicle to be deployed from a 4.75" flare
tube was designed. The design criteria were:

1) six cubic Inch, two pound payload
2) minimum glide speed of 50 knots
3) glide ratio in excess of five
4) stable with particular emphasis on
heading stability

Two basic configurations. were considered in the analysis: the first was
a tailless vehicle, and the second was a conventionally tailled vehicle.
It was found that the tailless vehicle could not meet the stability requirements
and thus the tallied vehicle was chosen to meet the desired
criteria. The analysis procedure consisted of a computer model to analyze
vehicle stability, wind tunnel tests to calculate aerodynamic derivatives,
and flight tests to demonstrate performance. The finalized vehicle
had a folding wing and a flexible tail-boom to meet the packaging requirement.
The resulting vehicle had a glide ratio slightly in excess of
25 and was very stable in heading, while meeting all other design
requirements.