624. The Augmentor Wing – A New Approach to Jet STOL

Paper

Abstract

With the volume of commercial air traffic steadily increasing, a hard look is being taken at the ground time and runway facilities involved in air travel, with serious consideration being given to city to city centre operation, utilizing small available areas. The military, concerned with forward base supply and limited field lengths, are also investigating similar operations. Propeller driven aircraft have been developed to operate from short fields and currently medium sized transport aircraft are demonstrating excellent capabilities in this type of operation and recent exercises have established the value of vehicles having the ability to take off and land with high path angles and low speed. However, it is generally accepted that in the future, economic and tactical necessity will require these capabilities to be combined with cruise performance comparable with conventional jet aircraft. STOL capability is largely a function of low speed and relatively straightforward high lift systems can be applied which will reduce field length requirements to approximately 2,000 ft. However, to reduce these distances to those acceptable for true STOL, that is 1,000 ft or less, while maintaining stability and control, handling and safety characteristics, new and more sophisticated approaches will be required. The de Havilland Company has been engaged in an extensive program to develop one such system and this, together with other arrangements, is discussed.