Originally Posted by
bearfoil
I am guessing. I would think that prior to the Wrights, early manufacturers would have used a flat surface as an airfoil.
Eksplain?
Airfoils well before the Wrights were already cambered... the whole notion of camber as against flat-plate was understood already.
Originally Posted by Jane-DoH
What were the first airplanes in the world ever to use a symmetrical airfoil cross-section?
Interesting question.... what made you ask it?
I'll have to pull out my textbooks (from 45 years back) to check, but my memory is that just about any asymmetric airfoil is more efficient, and that about the only use for symmetric airfoils was on aerobatic-type aircraft, that spent half their flying time upside-down anyway.
(BTW, Jane, my question is meant seriously, since this is TechLog, not JB.)
CJ