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A
tailless or
tail-less aeroplane traditionally has all its horizontal control surfaces on its main wing surface. It has no (
horizontal stabilizer - either
tailplane or
Canard (aeronautics) foreplane (nor does it have a second wing in
tandem wing arrangement). A 'tailless' type usually still has a vertical stabilising fin (vertical stabilizer) and control surface (rudder). However, NASA have recently adopted the 'tailless' description for their novel X-36 research aircraft which has a canard foreplane but no vertical fin.
Flying wings are tailless designs which also lack a distinct
fuselage, having the pilot, engines, etc. buried in the wing.
The most successful tailless configuration has been the
tailless delta wing, especially as combat aircraft.
Stability
A tailless design is either inherently unstable in normal flight, or must be stabilised. Two solutions are to:
- Sweep the wings back, and to reduce the angle of incidence of the outer wing section so that it acts like a conventional tailplane stabiliser. If this is done gradually along the span of the outer section, this is called tip wash-out.
- Move the aircraft's center of gravity forward of the wing's aerodynamic center.
Many early experimental designs failed to provide an effective and safe form of pitch control to compensate for the missing stabiliser. As a result, these aircraft could pitch up or down sharply and uncontrollably if they were not carefully handled. These gave tailless designs a reputation for instability. The original Dunne biplanes and the later success of the tailless delta configuration show that the problem was simply down to bad design.
Notable examples
The examples given here all have a
fuselage. For others, see
Flying wing.
J. W. Dunne
During and shortly after the
First World War, the English engineer John William Dunne developed a series of tailless aircraft characterised by having swept wings. In his book
An Experiment with Time he claims that one of these was the first aeroplane built to have natural stability in flight. Certainly, Dunne designed the first practical tailless aeroplanes. Few records of these aircraft remain.
Most of Dunne's designs were biplanes, typically featuring a fuselage nacelle between the planes, with rear-mounted 'pusher' propeller, and twin rudders between each pair of wing tips.
The D.6 monoplane of 1910 was a pusher type high-wing monoplane which featured turned-down wingtips with pronounced wash-out.
Many of Dunne's ideas on stability remain valid, and he is known to have influenced later designers such as John K. Northrop (father of the
B-2 spirit stealth bomber).
Lippisch deltas
The German designer
Alexander Martin Lippisch produced the first tailless delta design, the Delta I, in 1931. He went on to build a series of ever-more sophisticated designs, and after the
Second World War went to America to continue his work.
Messerschmitt Me 163
Komet
During the
Second World War, Lippisch worked for the German designer
Willy Messerschmitt on the first tailless aircraft to go into production, the
Messerschmitt Me 163. It was a rocket-powered interceptor, with the rocket propulsion system being highly unsafe, at least in the early versions. Landing was hazardous because the Komet had no wheels. More pilots were killed in takeoff and landing incidents than in combat.
De Havilland DH 108
Swallow
In the 1940s, the English designer Geoffrey de Havilland made a few examples of a tailless jet-powered research aircraft called the
de Havilland DH 108, based on the forward fuselage of the
de Havilland Vampire jet fighter. One of these was the first aircraft ever to break the sound barrier - it did so during a shallow dive, and the sonic boom was heard by several witnesses.
Dassault
Mirage
The French
Dassault Mirage III series of supersonic jet fighters were an example of the tailless delta configuration, and became one of the most widely-produced of Western jet aircraft.
Convair F2Y
Sea Dart
In the 1950s, the Convair
F2Y Sea Dart prototype became the only seaplane ever to exceed the speed of sound. Convair built several other successful tailless delta types.
Supersonic airliners
The Anglo-French
Concorde SST and its Soviet counterpart the
Tupolev Tu-144 were tailless supersonic jet airliners.
Lockheed SR-71
Blackbird
The American SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft was the fastest known operational aircraft, achieving speeds above Mach 3.
Other tailless aircraft
category:Aircraft configurationscategory:Wing design
A
tailless or
tail-less aeroplane traditionally has all its horizontal control surfaces on its main wing surface. It has no (
horizontal stabilizer - either
tailplane or
Canard (aeronautics) foreplane (nor does it have a second wing in
tandem wing arrangement). A 'tailless' type usually still has a vertical stabilising fin (
vertical stabilizer) and control surface (
rudder). However,
NASA have recently adopted the 'tailless' description for their novel X-36 research aircraft which has a canard foreplane but no vertical fin.
Flying wings are tailless designs which also lack a distinct
fuselage, having the pilot, engines, etc. buried in the wing.
The most successful tailless configuration has been the
tailless delta wing, especially as combat aircraft.
Stability
A tailless design is either inherently unstable in normal flight, or must be stabilised. Two solutions are to:
- Sweep the wings back, and to reduce the angle of incidence of the outer wing section so that it acts like a conventional tailplane stabiliser. If this is done gradually along the span of the outer section, this is called tip wash-out.
- Move the aircraft's center of gravity forward of the wing's aerodynamic center.
Many early experimental designs failed to provide an effective and safe form of pitch control to compensate for the missing stabiliser. As a result, these aircraft could pitch up or down sharply and uncontrollably if they were not carefully handled. These gave tailless designs a reputation for instability. The original Dunne biplanes and the later success of the tailless delta configuration show that the problem was simply down to bad design.
Notable examples
The examples given here all have a
fuselage. For others, see
Flying wing.
J. W. Dunne
During and shortly after the
First World War, the English engineer John William Dunne developed a series of tailless aircraft characterised by having swept wings. In his book
An Experiment with Time he claims that one of these was the first aeroplane built to have natural stability in flight. Certainly, Dunne designed the first practical tailless aeroplanes. Few records of these aircraft remain.
Most of Dunne's designs were biplanes, typically featuring a fuselage nacelle between the planes, with rear-mounted 'pusher' propeller, and twin rudders between each pair of wing tips.
The D.6 monoplane of 1910 was a pusher type high-wing monoplane which featured turned-down wingtips with pronounced wash-out.
Many of Dunne's ideas on stability remain valid, and he is known to have influenced later designers such as
John K. Northrop (father of the
B-2 spirit stealth bomber).
Lippisch deltas
The German designer
Alexander Martin Lippisch produced the first tailless delta design, the Delta I, in 1931. He went on to build a series of ever-more sophisticated designs, and after the
Second World War went to America to continue his work.
Messerschmitt Me 163
Komet
During the Second World War, Lippisch worked for the German designer
Willy Messerschmitt on the first tailless aircraft to go into production, the
Messerschmitt Me 163. It was a rocket-powered interceptor, with the rocket propulsion system being highly unsafe, at least in the early versions. Landing was hazardous because the Komet had no wheels. More pilots were killed in takeoff and landing incidents than in combat.
De Havilland DH 108
Swallow
In the 1940s, the English designer
Geoffrey de Havilland made a few examples of a tailless jet-powered research aircraft called the
de Havilland DH 108, based on the forward fuselage of the
de Havilland Vampire jet fighter. One of these was the first aircraft ever to break the sound barrier - it did so during a shallow dive, and the sonic boom was heard by several witnesses.
Dassault
Mirage
The French Dassault Mirage III series of supersonic jet fighters were an example of the tailless delta configuration, and became one of the most widely-produced of Western jet aircraft.
Convair F2Y
Sea Dart
In the 1950s, the Convair
F2Y Sea Dart prototype became the only
seaplane ever to exceed the speed of sound. Convair built several other successful tailless delta types.
Supersonic airliners
The Anglo-French
Concorde SST and its Soviet counterpart the
Tupolev Tu-144 were tailless supersonic jet airliners.
Lockheed SR-71
Blackbird
The American SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft was the fastest known operational aircraft, achieving speeds above Mach 3.
Other tailless aircraft
category:Aircraft configurationscategory:Wing design
