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Flying wing / tailless aircraft

How does a flying wing stay stable without a tail? · Standard part · basis: Design rules and figures from the cited sources; example geometry by Xem Studio

Also called: flying wing, tailless aircraft, flying wing rc, flying wing design, flying wing stability, bell shaped lift distribution, prandtl-d, horten flying wing, flying wing washout, tailless glider, elevon flying wing

Exact dimensions. True size, with no printing tolerance added.

sizes
4 in table

Notes

  • A tailless aircraft provides pitch stability from the wing itself: on a swept wing, washout on the outer panel lets the tips act like a tail, matching tip and root angle of attack at the design condition (R/C Soaring Digest).
  • NASA's Prandtl-D wings use Prandtl's 1933 bell-shaped lift distribution, which for a wing of constrained mass gives 11% less induced drag with 22% more span than the elliptical optimum, plus tip upwash and proverse yaw that let it fly without a fin (NASA Armstrong).
  • Ground-effect reviews note flying-wing WIG craft have a small stable height-pitch range (Rozhdestvensky). Elevons replace elevators and ailerons (Heritage Concorde).
  • Used on: NASA Prandtl-D, Concorde (tailless delta).
  • The file is a reference example built by Xem Studio from the numbers above. Sizes the sources do not fix are illustrative; scale the example to your own vehicle.

Flying wing / tailless aircraft size chart

parametervalue or rangesource
Bell vs elliptical (constrained mass)11% less induced drag, 22% more spanNASA Armstrong (Newton)
Prandtl-1/-2 span; Prandtl-3 span12.3 ft; 25 ftNASA Armstrong
Washout range on wings generally0-10 deg nose-downERAU (Leishman)
Reference buildspan 1000, root 250, tip 120, LE sweep 25 deg, washout via twistillustrative

Where the files are

Other publishers' files are linked, not hosted. "verify" = check the license at the link before commercial use.

R/C Soaring DigestTwist Distributions for Swept Wings, Part 2 (June 2002)webPublisher's page; dimensions are facts
NASA Armstrong / UC Berkeley (L. Newton)Stability and Control Derivative Estimation for the Bell-Shaped Lift DistributionwebPublisher's page; dimensions are facts
Embry-Riddle (Leishman), Introduction to Aerospace Flight VehiclesWing Shapes and NomenclaturewebPublisher's page; dimensions are facts
Progress in Aerospace Sciences (K.V. Rozhdestvensky, 2006)Wing-in-ground effect vehicles (review)webPublisher's page; dimensions are facts
Heritage ConcordeThe WingwebPublisher's page; dimensions are facts

Free files

★ Free files 1 parts. Xem Studio design: free to use, print and sell things from; not to be republished as files. Xem Studio Design License. index.json

flying-wing-tailless-wingswept planform: span 1000, root 250, tip 120 mm, LE sweep 25°, dihedral 0°, NACA 0012STEP · STL
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Plain text: sheet.txt · JSON: /api/geometry?object=flying-wing-tailless

Flying wing / tailless aircraft, isometric render of a generated part
Render of flying-wing-tailless-wing from the free STEP; not to scale.

Fits with

Tail volume coefficient (horizontal and vertical tail sizing), isometric render of a generated part
Tail volume coefficient (horizontal and vertical tail sizing)19 sizes★ 1 file
Tail moment arm (tail lever arm ratios), isometric render of a generated part
Tail moment arm (tail lever arm ratios)11 sizes★ 1 file
Conventional tail (low-mounted stabiliser and single fin), isometric render of a generated part
Conventional tail (low-mounted stabiliser and single fin)5 sizes★ 1 file
T-tail (stabiliser on top of the fin), isometric render of a generated part
T-tail (stabiliser on top of the fin)4 sizes★ 1 file
Cruciform tail (stabiliser part-way up the fin), isometric render of a generated part
Cruciform tail (stabiliser part-way up the fin)2 sizes★ 1 file
V-tail (butterfly tail with ruddervators), isometric render of a generated part
V-tail (butterfly tail with ruddervators)8 sizes★ 1 file

Questions

How much washout does a flying wing need?

Enough that the outer panel balances the wing in pitch at the design lift coefficient (R/C Soaring Digest); Leishman gives 0-10 deg as the usual range for wings in general.