Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
There are many problems to be solved when it is required to fly an aircraft at speeds approaching the speed of sound. When the speed of the aeroplane exceeds its critical Mach number, regions of supersonic flow appear at points on its surface, where the velocity of the displaced air is greatest. These regions of supersonic flow increase in size with increasing speed until the flow is wholly supersonic. The range of speed in which this mixed flow occurs is called the transonic range. In this range an aircraft will experience a sudden increase in drag, trim changes, loss of control effectiveness and possibly instability, or buffeting.
Read before the Brough Branch in April 1959 and awarded the 1960 N. E. Rowe Medal for the 21-26 years of age group