NACA Research Memorandums

The drag of bodies has now assumed greater importance because, as shown in NACA RM L53I15a, 1953 and NACA RM A53H18a, 1953, the transonic drag rise of an airplane can be the same as its equivalent body. Obviously, the airplane designer would like his airplane to have a low-drag equivalent body. This paper shows some of the factors which minimize the drag of bodies at transonic and supersonic speeds and shows some of the penalties caused by deviating from low-drag body shapes. Drag reductions can be obtained in two ways, first, through increasing the body fineness ratio, and second, through better shaping of the body profile at a given fineness ratio. The effects of fineness ratio are discussed first and then, more completely, detail-shape effects