Plane v. Sound

Suppose it were possible to fire a blank cartridge so big and loud it could be heard across the U. S. Suppose such a cartridge were fired in New York as starting signal for a Westbound airplane. Three hours and 20 min. later the noise of the explosion would echo up San Francisco's Market Street and just 76 minutes after that the airplane would swish down upon San Francisco Bay, at a landing speed of 103 m. p. h. It would, that is. if Engineer John Stack knows how to use a wind tunnel and a slide rule.

Engineer Stack works in the Langley Field. Va. laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Last week his latest study of high-speed flight was published in the initial issue of Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences. Engineer Stack concluded that a properly streamlined monoplane, using an existing type of engine (e. g. a 2,300-h. p. Rolls-Royce) would fly 544 m. p. h., or 72% as fast as the speed of sound. Such a ship would have a tubular fuselage 40 in. in diameter, a single tapered wing of 29 ft. span. Its surface would be perfectly smooth, its engine enclosed, cooled by skintype radiators. The pilot would see either through transparent panels in the fuselage, or indirectly by mirrors.

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