Summary of Airfoil Data

Recent airfoil data for both flight and wind-tunnel tests have been collected and correlated insofar as possible. The flight data consist largely of drag measurements made by the wake-survey method. Most of the data on airfoil section characteristics were obtained in the Langley two-dimensional low-turbulence pressure tunnel. Detail data necessary for the application of NACA 6-serles airfoils to wing design are presented in supplementary figures, together with recent data for the NACA 24-, 44-, and 230-series airfoils. The general methods used to derive the basic thickness forms for NACA 6- and 7-series airfoils and their corresponding pressure distributions are presented. Data and methods are given for rapidly obtaining the approximate pressure distributions for NACA four-digit, five-digit, 6-, and 7-series airfoils. The report includes an analysis of the lift, drag, pitching-moment, and critical-speed characteristics of the airfoils, together with a discussion of the effects of surface conditions. Available data on high-lift devices are presented. Problems associated with lateral-control devices, leading-edge air intakes, and interference are briefly discussed. The data indicate that the effects of surface condition on the lift and drag characteristics are at least as large as the effects of the airfoil shape and must be considered in airfoil selection and the prediction of wing characteristics. Airfoils permitting extensive laminar flow, such as the NACA 6-series airfoils, have much lower drag coefficients at high speed and cruising lift coefficients than earlier types-of airfoils if, and only if, the wing surfaces are sufficiently smooth and fair. The NACA 6-series airfoils also have favorable critical-speed characteristics and do not appear to present unusual problems associated with the application of high-lift and lateral-control devices. Much of the data given in the NACA Advance Confidential Report entitled "Preliminary Low-Drag-Airfoil and Flap Data from Tests at Large Reynolds Number and Low Turbulence," by Eastman N. Jacobs, Ira R. Abbott, and Milton Davidson, March 1942 has been corrected and included in the present paper, which supersedes the previously published paper.