Notes on gas–dynamic design of supersonic flying vehicles

It is shown that the lift–to–drag ratio of a thin delta wing is significantly lower than the lift–to–drag ratio of an infinitely long swept plate with an identical lift force. The effect of sweep on a finite wing may be used by excluding disturbances from the leading edge of the wing via introducing a “hardened” stream surface (wedge) and increasing the wing length. A three–shock waverider is proposed for choosing the optimal parameters. The sharp wedge may be avoided by replacing planar shock waves by a cylindrical shock wave upstream of the blunted wedge. If the leading edge of the wedge is not parallel to the rib that is a source of the expansion wave, a plate with zero wave drag, generating a lift force, may be obtained behind this rib. The system of regularly intersecting shock waves may be applied to design a forward–swept wing.