Recommend, Book on Aircraft Design
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Otley
Age: 77
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Recommend, Book on Aircraft Design
Can anyone recommend a book (or books) on basic aircraft design?
I would like answers to such questions as Delta v Swept wing design,
How much wing sweep, How big should the fin be, Elevators or All
moving tailplane, What is the area rule, What is a Reynolds number,
and a list as long as your arm!
Thanks
Mike
I would like answers to such questions as Delta v Swept wing design,
How much wing sweep, How big should the fin be, Elevators or All
moving tailplane, What is the area rule, What is a Reynolds number,
and a list as long as your arm!
Thanks
Mike
I'll second the suggestion for Darrol Stinton books, both mentioned above are very good. An alternative is Daniel P. Raymer's 'Aircraft Design, A Conceptual Approach'.
And I'll second stevef's recommendation of Design for Flying. David Thurston also wrote Design for Safety, and Homebuilt Aircraft.
Another vote here for Darrol Stinton's "Design of the aeroplane" (NOT Darryl, I've no idea why that incorrect spelling keeps being perpetuated.)
Raymer's "Aircraft design, a conceptual approach" should, in my opinion, be buried at midnight in an unmarked grave. It looks great, but I've yet to see any decent design come out of it - it seems in large part to be trying to persuade you to buy Raymer's aircraft design software.
Thurston's books are excellent, but are more "hints for advanced players" and won't cover the basics which I think that you are after.
Darrol Stinton's "The anatomy of the aeroplane" will also fill in a lot of the gaps on systems etc.
Another book that I have a lot of time for on the light aircraft side is by Raymer, which is his "Simplied aircraft design for homebuilders" which I like a lot. There would be much to say for starting with this then moving onto Darrol Stinton's book.
If you have similar questions about helicopters then I'd start with Ray Prouty's "Helicopter Aerodynamics" then progress onto Simon Newman's "Foundations of Helicopter Design".
If you are specifically interested in 20th century military aircraft, although it's about 50% design text and 50% autobiography, "Combat aircraft designer" by Ed Heinneman gives an incredibly good insight into the realities of the subject.
It's not something which I do at present, but I have taught aircraft/helicopter design from all of these books.
Another set of books, which are very highly spoken of but I've not used myself are by Jan Roskam - those tend to be what the more advanced university engineering courses use for teaching aeroplane design and to good effect. You can look them up on Amazon, etc. easily enough but if you just want to understand the basics they're probably rather more in-depth than you want (and a lot of money!).
Let's face it - go with Stinton!
G
Raymer's "Aircraft design, a conceptual approach" should, in my opinion, be buried at midnight in an unmarked grave. It looks great, but I've yet to see any decent design come out of it - it seems in large part to be trying to persuade you to buy Raymer's aircraft design software.
Thurston's books are excellent, but are more "hints for advanced players" and won't cover the basics which I think that you are after.
Darrol Stinton's "The anatomy of the aeroplane" will also fill in a lot of the gaps on systems etc.
Another book that I have a lot of time for on the light aircraft side is by Raymer, which is his "Simplied aircraft design for homebuilders" which I like a lot. There would be much to say for starting with this then moving onto Darrol Stinton's book.
If you have similar questions about helicopters then I'd start with Ray Prouty's "Helicopter Aerodynamics" then progress onto Simon Newman's "Foundations of Helicopter Design".
If you are specifically interested in 20th century military aircraft, although it's about 50% design text and 50% autobiography, "Combat aircraft designer" by Ed Heinneman gives an incredibly good insight into the realities of the subject.
It's not something which I do at present, but I have taught aircraft/helicopter design from all of these books.
Another set of books, which are very highly spoken of but I've not used myself are by Jan Roskam - those tend to be what the more advanced university engineering courses use for teaching aeroplane design and to good effect. You can look them up on Amazon, etc. easily enough but if you just want to understand the basics they're probably rather more in-depth than you want (and a lot of money!).
Let's face it - go with Stinton!
G
