NASA’s Flight Aerodynamics Introduction (Annotated and Illustrated);

The science of aerodynamics can be traced back thousands of years to its beginnings but, remarkably, only one human life span has separated the first heavier-than-air powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk from the first manned moon landing. The last few decades have witnessed phenomenal growth in the science and technology of aerodynamics and no letup is in sight. For those who possess an interest, the task of education encompassing all the various aspects of the subject is staggering. Specialization is indicated but a background knowledge is an essential of any education.
This volume is a result of several semesters of the author's teaching of an introductory course in aerodynamics to apprentices and technicians at the NASA Langley Research Center. The problem faced was to provide more than a layman's treatment of the subject but not the detail as taught in many individual courses on the college level. The result is a highly qualitative, illustrated set of notes which, through the teaching process, was modified to fulfill the objectives better.
A thorough revision of these notes with considerable up-to-date material has resulted in the text as presented herein. It is hoped that this volume will stimulate the reader's interest to pursue more specialized education in the many topics of aerodynamics.
Bonus chapter (Aerodynamics Overview) included.
Hyperlinked index for easy navigation. 251 pages. 171 illustrations and diagrams.
Includes the following sections:
Foreword
I. A Short History of Flight
II. Background Information
The Atmosphere
Winds and Turbulence
The Airplane
III. FLUID FLOW
The Fluid
The Flow
Ideal Fluid Flow
Real Fluid Flow
IV. SUBSONIC FLOW EFFECTS
Airfoils and Wings
Aerodynamic Devices
Propellers and Rotors
V. TRANSONIC FLOW
VI. SUPERSONIC FLOW
The SST
Sonic Boom
VII. BEYOND THE SUPERSONIC
Hypersonic Flight
Lifting Bodies
Space Shuttle
VIII. PERFORMANCE
Motions of an Airplane
Class 1 Motion
Class 2 Motion
Class 3 Motion-Hovering Flight
IX. STABILITY AND CONTROL
Stability
Control
Appendix A - AERONAUTICAL NOMENCLATURE
Appendix B - DIMENSIONS AND UNITS
Appendix C - COORDINATE SYSTEMS
Bibliography
Bonus Material
Aerodynamics: An Explanation
Overview
History
Design issues with increasing speed
Continuity assumption
Laws of conservation
Incompressible aerodynamics
Subsonic flow
Transonic flow