Like the Saturn V?
The initial concept came from Frederick W. Lanchester, an Englishman, in 1897, when he patented wing end-plates to control wingtip vortices.[wikipedia]
Heinkel He 162
Like the Saturn V?
The initial concept came from Frederick W. Lanchester, an Englishman, in 1897, when he patented wing end-plates to control wingtip vortices.[wikipedia]
Heinkel He 162
Saturn V you say. Do you know what NASA stands for?
National Aeronautic ands Space Agency
They have always done research to benefit aviation.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/about/Organizations/Technology/Facts/TF-2004-15-DFRC.html
The concept of winglets originated with a British aerodynamicist in the late 1800s, but the idea remained on the drawing board until rekindled in the early 1970s by Dr. Richard Whitcomb when the price of aviation fuel started spiraling upward.
Whitcomb, a noted aeronautical engineer at the NASA Langley Research Center, refined the winglet concept with wind tunnel tests and computer studies. He then predicted that transport-size aircraft with winglets would realize improved cruising efficiencies of between 6% and 9%. A winglet flight test program at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in 1979-80 validated Whitcomb’s research when the test aircraft — a military version of the Boeing 707 jetliner — recorded an increased fuel mileage rate of 6.5%.