From: TT (transtigger@aol.com)
Date: Mon Jul 01 2002 - 03:28:10 MDT
Blended Wing or Lifting Body Aircraft are nothing new. One of the earliest
Pioneers was Vincent Burnelli who built the first one in 1921, see:
http://home.earthlink.net/~enzal/wsn1CFD.html
In latter years there's been the Avro Vulcan and of course the current B2
all
successfully demonstrating the concept. It's efficient and safe.
One of the main problems with big Lifting Body Aircraft is where you take
off
and land. The runways have to be quite wide.
My personal opinion is that the Flying Boat should be reconsidered for very
large aircraft transport. Most major cities and towns are build close to
large areas of water, either sea, lake or river estuary. If there's a
problem
during flight it can put down at sea with a far greater chance of survival
than something like a 747, and can be a great military transport, as it's
very
difficult to put out an area of water by bombing (can be mined, but that's
easily swept). Why not combine both and have a Lifting Body Flying Boat?
TT
---- This message was posted by TT to the Extropians 2002 board on ExI BBS. <http://www.extropy.org/bbs/index.php?board=61;action=display;threadid=52292 >
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