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Subject:
RE:Blended Wing Body is not simply blending. was:Boeing proposes Megabomber
Shaken
7/14/2004 1:34:21 PM
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| >> (Doggtag)
>> Yes, the Blended Wing Body IS a specific program (hence the capital letters), but blended wings and bodies HAVE been around for a while.
(Shaken)
Actually Doggtag, I think you missed my point. Blended Wing Body is not a specific program, it is a specific aerodynamic configuration (just as a tail-less delta would be a description of the configuration shared by the F-106, Mirage III and B-58). This configuration originated in academia and progressed into NASA investigations well before McDonnell Douglas started looking into it as a potential large commercial transport configuration. Boeing (post the McDonnell Douglas merger) continued the investigation, sharing the configuration name as the project name. Much of this investigation work is figuring out how this sort of configuration behaves, as it is not entirely like anything previously developed.
Yes, blending of wings and bodies has been around for a long while. (I think I described that in my post). And yes, Blended Wing Body is a configuration that is fairly similar to a pure flying wing, but the configuration's proponents would argue that it is distinct from previous aircraft configurations. So even though the B-2, Moonbat, Rafale, F-16 and B-1 all have blended surfaces connecting their wing and body, none of these are Blended Wing Body aircraft.
-- Shaken - out --
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