High‐Speed Water‐Based Aircraft

Recent technical developments in the field of hydrodynamic sustentation, resulting from the unique techniques associated with the free‐body testing of self‐propelled dynamically similar models, has resulted in a great resurgence of interest in the use of water‐based aircraft in the National Defence. This paper describes some of the more important aspects of this research and discusses possible trends in military water‐based aircraft development. In addition to the military applications of the new high‐speed hydrodynamic developments, consideration is given to the development of transonic water‐based transport designs. Since the days of the famous flying‐boat clippers, over‐ocean transport has all but succumbed to the faster landplane. It is shown that an all‐jet water‐based transport, incorporating unusual safety and performance, is now a practical and logical development.