A KILLING SPEED
With wings designed as at present, aeroplanes will be limited to a top speed of about 575 miles ah hour, according to a demonstration at New York by Dr. George W. Lewis, director of research of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. At that speed, he said, aeroplanes lose all their tilt. Death would face a pilot exceeding that speed, for he would lose control of the machine. Study of this phenomenon, Dr. Lewis said, had been rendered possible by a new “super speed” air tunnel. In the tunnel, only two feet wide, air currents reaching speeds to 750 miles an hour—the speed of sound—were possible by compressed air at a pressure of 3001bs to the square inch being injected into the tunnel through small jets. While speed tended to increase vibration and instability of aeroplanes, lift improved and drag decreased as the size of aeroplanes was extended.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM19360622.2.134
Bibliographic details
Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 22 June 1936, Page 10
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151A KILLING SPEED Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 22 June 1936, Page 10
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