Theory of Wing-Body Drag at Supersonic Speeds

At subsonic speeds the pressure drag arising from the thickness of the body or wings is negligible so long as the shapes are sufficiently well streamlined to avoid flow separation. In that range there exists no possibility of either favorable or adverse interference on the pressure distributions themselves. If one body is so placed as to receive a drag from the pressure field of another then the second body is sure to receive a corresponding increment of thrust from the first. At supersonic speeds this tolerance, which was permitted the designer, disappears and the drag becomes sensitive to the shape and arrangement of the bodies.To be sure, the primary factor here is the thickness ratio, but nevertheless there exist arrangements in which a large cancellation of drag occurs.