Review of Flight Tests of NACA C and D Cowlings on the XP-42 Airplane

Results of flight tests of the performance and cooling characteristics of three NACA D cowlings and of a conventional NACA D cowling on the XP-42 airplane are summarized and compared. The D cowling is, in general, characterized by the use of an annular inlet and diffuser section for the engine-cooling air. The D cowlings tested were a long-nose high-inlet-velocity cowling, a short-nose high-inlet-velocity cowling, and a short-nose low inlet-velocity cowling. The use of wide-chord propeller cuffs or an axial-flow fan with the D cowlings increased the cooling pressure recoveries in the climb condition at the expense of some of the improvement in speed.