[1]. David A. Anderton, “NACA Formula Eases Supersonic Flight,” Aviation Week vol. 63 (Sept. 12, 1955): p. 15; Marvin Miles, “New Fighter Jet Gets Test,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 10, 1971, p. 26; “Boeing’s 747-400 Jet Makes Maiden Flight,” Wall Street Journal, May 2, 1988, p. 8.
[2]. Whitcomb’s story has been interpreted from the viewpoint of the NACA and NASA’s overall contributions to aeronautics by several historians and engineers. This chapter depends heavily on the work of James Hansen, Richard Hallion, Michael Gorn, Lane Wallace, John Becker, Donald Baals, and William Corliss.
[3]. Clay Blair, Jr., “The Man Who Put the Squeeze on Aircraft Design,” Air Force Magazine, vol. 39 (Jan. 1956): p. 50.
[4]. “Richard Travis Whitcomb: Distinguished Research Associate,” NASA Langley Research Center, Apr. 1983, File CW-463000-01, National Air and Space Museum Archives.
[5]. Richard Witkin, “Air Scientist Got His Start When 12,” New York Times, Oct. 3, 1955, p. 20 (quote); Ray Bert, “Winged Victory: Meet Richard Whitcomb,” Transformations (fall 2002), http://www.wpi.edu/News/Transformations/2002Fall/whitcomb.html (Accessed Feb. 14, 2009); “Jet Pioneers—Richard T. Whitcomb,” n.d., File CW-463000-01, National Air and Space Museum Archives.
[6]. Barbara Rowes, “When You Ride Tomorrow’s Airplanes, You’ll Thank Dick Whitcomb,” Washington Post-Times Herald, Aug. 31, 1969, p. 165.
[7]. Bert, “Winged Victory”; Witkin, “Air Scientist Got His Start When 12”; Brian Welch, “Whitcomb: Aeronautical Research and the Better Shape,” Langley Researcher (Mar. 21, 1980): p. 4.
[8]. John Becker, The High Speed Frontier: Case Histories of Four NACA Programs 1920–1950, NASA SP-445 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1980), p. 61.
[9]. Becker, High Speed Frontier, p. 61; Lane E. Wallace, “The Whitcomb Area Rule: NACA Aerodynamics Research and Innovation,” in Pam E. Mack, ed., From Engineering Science to Big Science: The NACA and NASA Collier Trophy Research Project Winners, (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1998), p. 137.
[10]. John D. Anderson, Jr., A History of Aerodynamics and its Impact on Flying Machines (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 419, 424–425.
[11]. Becker, High Speed Frontier, p. 61.
[12]. James R. Hansen, Engineer in Charge: A History of the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 1917–1958, NASA SP-4305 (Washington, DC: NASA, 1987), pp. 331–332.
[13]. Ibid., p. 332.
[14]. Hansen, Engineer in Charge, p. 341. As James R. Hansen has suggested, these were certainly antecedents to Whitcomb’s area rule, but it was his highly intuitive visual mind that resulted in something original.
[15]. Ibid., p. 332.
[16]. The NACA referred to the facility as the 8-foot Transonic Tunnel after Oct. 1950, but for the purposes of clarity and to avoid confusion with the follow-on 8-foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel, the original designation 8-foot High Speed Tunnel is used in this text. Hansen, Engineer in Charge, pp. 327–328, 454; Steven T. Corneliussen, “The Transonic Wind Tunnel and the NACA Technical Culture,” in Pam E. Mack, ed., From Engineering Science to Big Science: The NACA and NASA Collier Trophy Research Project Winners (Washington, DC: NASA, 1998), p. 133.
[17]. Hansen, Engineer in Charge, pp. 329, 330–331.
[18]. Richard T. Whitcomb and Thomas C. Kelly, “A Study of the Flow Over a 45-degree Sweptback Wing-Fuselage Combination at Transonic Mach Numbers,” NACA RM-L52DO1 (June 25, 1952), p. 1; Hansen, Engineer in Charge, p. 333.
[19]. Ibid., p. 333.
[20]. Ibid., p. 334.
[21]. Ibid., p. 334.
[22]. Roger D. Launius, quoted in James Schultz, Crafting Flight: Aircraft Pioneers and the Contributions of the Men and Women of NASA Langley Research Center (Washington, DC: NASA, 2003), p. 183.
[23]. Eugene S. Ferguson, Engineering and the Mind’s Eye (Boston: MIT Press, 1994), p. 41; Hansen, Engineer in Charge, p. 328.
[24]. Whitcomb quoted in Welch, “Whitcomb,” p. 5.
[25]. Richard T. Whitcomb, “A Study of the Zero-Lift Drag-Rise Characteristics of Wing-Body Combinations Near the Speed of Sound,” NACA TR-1273 (1956), pp. 519, 538–539; Engineer in Charge, pp. 334–335.
[26]. Donald D. Baals and William R. Corliss, Wind Tunnels of NASA (Washington, DC: Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1981), p. 63.
[27]. Hansen, Engineer in Charge, p. 336.
[28]. Quoted in Richard P. Hallion, Designers and Test Pilots (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1983), p. 143.
[29]. Michael Gorn, Expanding the Envelope: Flight Research at NACA and NASA (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001), p. 329.
[30]. Richard T. Whitcomb, “A Study of the Zero-Lift Drag-Rise Characteristics of Wing-Body Combinations Near the Speed of Sound,” NACA RM-L52H08 (Sept. 3, 1952). RM-L52H08 was superseded by TR-1273 (see note 23) when the document became unclassified in 1956.
[31]. Anderton, “NACA Formula Eases Supersonic Flight,” pp. 13–14.
[32]. Gordon Swanborough, United States Military Aircraft Since 1909 (London: Putnam, 1963), pp. 151, 153.
[33]. Hansen, Engineer in Charge, p. 337.
[34]. Baals and Corliss, Wind Tunnels of NASA, p. 62; Hansen, Engineer in Charge, p. 337.
[35]. Hansen, Engineer in Charge, p. 337.
[36]. Hansen, Engineer in Charge, pp. 337–338; Richard P. Hallion, On the Frontier: Flight
Research at Dryden, 1946–1981 (Washington, DC: NASA, 1984), p. 90; Baals and Corliss, Wind Tunnels of NASA, p. 63.
[37]. Hansen, Engineer in Charge, 338; Swanborough, United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, p. 152; Hallion, On the Frontier, pp. 90, 144 [quote]; Baals and Corliss, Wind Tunnels of NASA, p. 63.
[38]. Swanborough, United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, pp. 152, 154–155; Richard Witkin, “Supersonic Jets Will Defend City,” New York Times, Jan 3, 1957, p. 12.
[39]. Swanborough, United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, pp. 152, 154–155.
[40]. Hallion, On the Frontier, p. 57.
[41]. Ibid., p. 96.
[42]. Gordon Swanborough and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1990), pp. 456, 459; Barrett Tillman, MiG Master: The Story of the F-8 Crusader (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2007), pp. 55–60.
[43]. Anderton, “NACA Formula Eases Supersonic Flight,” 15; Hansen, Engineer in Charge, p. 339
[44]. René J. Francillon, Grumman Aircraft Since 1929 (Naval Institute Press, 1989), p. 377; Swanborough and Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, pp. 256–257.
[45]. René J. Francillon, Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987), pp. 329, 331, 342.
[46]. Richard T. Whitcomb and Thomas L. Fischetti, “Development of a Supersonic Area Rule and an Application to the Design of a Wing-Body Combination Having High Lift-to-Drag Ratios,” NACA RM-L53H31A (Aug. 18, 1953); and Richard T. Whitcomb, “Some Considerations Regarding the Application of the Supersonic Area Rule to the Design of Airplane Fuselages,” NACA RM-L56E23a (July 3, 1956).
[47]. Richard Witkin, “Aviation: 2,600 M.P.H.,” New York Times, Oct. 20, 1957, p. X33.
[48]. “Aero News Digest,” Aero Digest (Sept. 1955): p. 5. Aero Digest released the story without permission because publisher Fred Hamlin learned that the NACA had arranged, without his knowledge, to make the announcement in the rival journal, Aviation Week, on Sept. 19. “New Design Increasing Airplane Speeds Hailed,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 12, 1955, p. 10; Alvin Shuster, “‘Pinch-Waist’ Plane Lifts Supersonic Speed 25%,” New York Times, Sept. 12, 1955, p. 15.
[49]. Quoted in Alvin Shuster, “‘Pinch-Waist’ Plane Lifts Supersonic Speed 25%,” New York Times, Sept. 12, 1955, p. 15.
[50]. Commentary by Robert Hotz, “The Area-Rule Breakthrough,” Aviation Week (Sept. 12, 1955), p. 152.
[51]. “New Plane Shape Increases Speed,” The Washington Post-Times Herald, Sept. 12, 1955, p. 18; “New Design Increasing Airplane Speeds Hailed,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 12, 1955, p. 10; “Radial Shift in Air Design Bared by U.S.,” Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 12, 1955, p. 1.
[52]. “Area Rule and Coke Bottle,” Aviation Week (Sept. 12, 1955): p. 13. This source appeared as a sidebar in Anderton, “NACA Formula Eases Supersonic Flight.”
[53]. Richard Witkin, “The ‘Wasp-Waist’ Plane,” New York Times, Oct. 2, 1955, p. 20.
[54]. Maurice A. Garbell, “Transonic Planes Cut Drag with ‘Wasp Waist,’” Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 14, 1955, p. 5.
[55]. James J. Hagerty, Jr., “The Collier Trophy Winner,” Collier’s (Dec. 9, 1955): n.p.
[56]. “Designer to Be Honored For Pinched-Waist Plane,” New York Times, Nov. 23, 1955, p. 48.
[57]. Neal Stanford, “Wing Design Seeks Speed,” Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 17, 1970, p. 5.
[58]. “Whitcomb Receives NACA’s First DSM,” U.S. Air Services (Oct. 1956): p. 20.
[59]. Rowes, “When You Ride Tomorrow’s Airplanes, You’ll Thank Dick Whitcomb.”
[60]. Joseph R. Chambers, Innovation in Flight: Research of the NASA Langley Research Center on Revolutionary Advanced Concepts for Aeronautics, NASA SP-2005-4539 (Washington, DC: NASA, 2005), p. 18.
[61]. Whitcomb also rejected the committee’s emphasis on variable-geometry wings as too heavy, which led to his ejection from the design committee by Stack. Eric M. Conway, High Speed Dreams: NASA and the Technopolitics of Supersonic Transportation, 1945–1999 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), pp. 54–55; Becker, High Speed Frontier, pp. 55–56.
[62]. Conway, High Speed Dreams, p. 55; Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, p. 56; Quote from Chambers, Innovation in Flight, p. 28.
[63]. Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, p. 331.
[64]. For more information on the history of airfoils and their theorists and designers, see Anderson, A History of Aerodynamics.
[65]. Rowes, “When You Ride Tomorrow’s Airplanes, You’ll Thank Dick Whitcomb,” p. 165.
[66]. Thomas Grubisich, “Fuel-Saver in Wings,” The Washington Post, July 11, 1974, p. C1.
[67]. Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, p. 331.
[68]. Grubisich, “Fuel-Saver in Wings.”
[69]. Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, p. 331.
[70]. Welch, “Whitcomb,” p. 5.
[71]. Richard T. Whitcomb and Larry L. Clark, “An Airfoil Shape for Efficient Flight at Supercritical Mach Numbers,” NASA TM-X-1109 (Apr. 20, 1965).
[72]. For a first-person account of the development of the supercritical wing, see Richard T. Whitcomb, “Research Associated with the Langley 8-Foot Tunnels Branch: Lecture at Ames Research Center, October 21, 1970,” NASA TM-108686 (1970).
[73]. Richard T. Whitcomb, “The State of Technology Before the F-8 Supercritical Wing,” in Proceedings of the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire and Supercritical Wing First Flight’s 20th Anniversary, May 27, 1992, NASA CP-3256, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: NASA, 1996), p. 81; Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, pp. 331–332.
[74]. Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, pp. 332, 394, 401.
[75]. Thomas C. Kelly and Richard T. Whitcomb, “Evolution of the F-8 Supercritical Wing Configuration,” in Supercritical Wing Technology—A Progress Report on Flight Evaluations, NASA SP-301 (1972), p. 35; Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, pp. 332–333.
[76]. Kelly and Whitcomb, “Evolution of the F-8 Supercritical Wing Configuration,” in Supercritical Wing Technology, p. 35; Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, pp. 333–334.
[77]. Neal Stanford, “Wing Design Seeks Speed,” Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 17, 1970, p. 5.
[78]. Thomas C. McMurtry, Neil W. Matheny, and Donald H. Gatlin, “Piloting and Operational Aspects of the F-8 Supercritical Wing Airplane,” in Supercritical Wing Technology—A Progress Report on Flight Evaluations. NASA SP-301, (Washington, DC, NASA, 1972), p. 102; Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, pp. 335, 337.
[79]. Joseph Well, “Summary and Future Plans,” in Supercritical Wing Technology, pp. 127–128.
[80]. See Jon S. Pyle and Louis L. Steers, “Flight-Determined Lift and Drag Characteristics of an F-8 Airplane Modified with a Supercritical Wing with Comparisons to Wind Tunnel Results,” NASA TM-X-3250 (Jan. 16, 1975); and Lawrence C. Montoya and Richard D. Banner, “F-8 Supercritical Wing Flight Pressure, Boundary-Layer, and Wake Measurements and Comparisons with Wind Tunnel Data,” NASA TM-X-3544 (June 1977).
[81]. Becker, High Speed Frontier, p. 59.
[82]. Grubisich, “Fuel-Saver in Wings.”
[83]. Stacy V. Jones, “New Aircraft Wing Invented,” New York Times, May 1, 1976, p. 46.
[84]. Grubisich, “Fuel-Saver in Wings.”
[85]. Richard Witkin, “McDonnell Douglas Unveils New Cargo Jet,” New York Times, Aug. 6, 1975, p. 65.
[86]. Chambers, Innovation in Flight, p. 183; Hallion, On the Frontier, p. 204.
[87]. Hallion, On the Frontier, pp. 206–207.
[88]. Ibid., p. 172.
[89]. For an overview of NASA development of supercritical airfoils up to 1990, see Charles D. Harris, “NASA Supercritical Airfoils—A Matrix of Family-Related Airfoils,” NASA TP-2969 (1990).
[90]. Blackwell, “Influence on Today’s Aircraft,” p. 114.
[91]. “Dr. Whitcomb to Receive $25,000 Award from NASA,” NASA Release No. 74-148 (June 4, 1974): pp. 1, 3, File CW-463000-01, National Air and Space Museum Archives; Gorn, Expanding the Envelope, p. 337.
[92]. Grubisich, “Fuel-Saver in Wings.”
[93]. “Richard Travis Whitcomb: Distinguished Research Associate,” NASA Langley Research Center, Apr. 1983.
[94]. Welch, “Whitcomb,” p