Ran D. St. Clair has done a number of models joined together like that.
If you search around a bit, you'll find a video on the making of that
plane. It was part of the inspiration for my design of the long wing
for the Mini-Apprentice. I just didn't go that flexible with the joints
because I wasn't allowed to add the controllers in each panel the way he
did.
And then there was Project Tom Tom:
https://www.historynet.com/project-tip-tow.htm. The idea was for two
escort fighters to join tip-to-tip with a bomber. The fighters could
then throttle back and be towed by the bomber, saving fuel. Once in
enemy territory, the fighters would disengage to fly on their own and
protect the bomber. The fighters effectively extended the span of the
bomber's wing, reducing the lift-induced drag of the heavily loaded
bomber. In fact, the bomber's drag was reduced more than the drag of
the fighters, so it could carry them for free!
The project came to a tragic end when they had an F-84 hooked up to a
B-29 and engaged the autopilot on the F-84. You see, the flight
dynamics are quite different when the wing tip is restrained. Elevator
now controls roll, because when the angle of attack increases due to the
elevator rotating the plane in pitch, as the plane rises it rotates
about the restrained wing tip, rolling the plane. Without roll feedback
to the autopilot, there's nothing making the autopilot want to return
back to the level attitude. And that's what happened with the F-84. As
soon as the turned on the autopilot, the jet rolled violently through
180 degrees and smashed into the wing of the B-29. Both planes went
down and all were killed.
The hinges connecting the wing panels of Ran D. St. Clair's planes
aren't straight ahead - they are toed in a little. Consider the plane at
the end. As it rolls about the toed-in hinge line, the toe-in angle
makes it pitch down a little. This has a stabilizing influence because
the pitch coupling makes it want to come back down and reduce the roll.
No doubt he knew about Project Tom Tom before he designed his planes.
Somebody got a patent on using unmanned aircraft that would join
together for vertical takeoff and landing, extend in a line like St
Clair's plane for cruise, and split apart in the mission area to operate
as a swarm:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=13&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=speer.INNM.&s2=Boeing.ASNM.&OS=IN/speer+AND+AN/Boeing&RS=IN/speer+AND+AN/Boeing
Cheers,
Tom
On 4/20/20 4:32 PM, ORCA wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrJgoQz5wSU
Rick
