Vickers Wild Goose

Last updated
Wild Goose
RoleResearch UAV
ManufacturerVickers
Designer Barnes Wallis
First flight1950
Number built6+
Developed into Vickers Swallow

Wild Goose was a research unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed and flown by designer Barnes Wallis for his research into tailless variable-sweep aircraft incorporating a radical new control system and capable of high-speed, long-range performance.

Contents

Development

After World War II, designer Barnes Wallis turned his attention from bombs back to aircraft. He undertook a fundamental review of the technology required for high-speed, long-distance flight and concluded that a tailless variable-sweep wing offered major advantages over conventional designs. A major part of this advantage was a radical revision of the flight control system. Control would primarily be effected by moving the wings in flight, avoiding the need for conventional control surfaces or tail. The change was so radical that he even proposed that it should no longer be thought of as an aeroplane but as a new type of flying machine, which he called a wing-controlled aerodyne. [1]

Wallis named the project Wild Goose. His employer Vickers was not able to sponsor such a large-scale project, so the variable-sweep wing anti-aircraft missile Green Lizard was proposed and Wild Goose positioned as necessary preliminary research in order to obtain government funding. [2] By 1949 he was ready to build a large-scale radio-controlled flying model.

Design

The wing-controlled aerodyne, as Wallis called his concept, was aerodynamically extremely clean. It comprised a streamlined ichthyoid (fish-like) body with mid-mounted movable wings on either side. He had learned from his work on the stability of airships such as the R100 that such a streamlined body needed only a small deflection to create large control forces. In the wing-controlled aerodyne, these forces are created by moving the whole wing. Conventional control surfaces including ailerons and elevators were not needed. However Wild Goose, his first large-scale design, was given a swept vertical tail fin. [3]

The launching trolley and radio control system proved more complex and Wallis spent more time on these than on the actual airframe. The trolley was rocket-powered and ran on rails. Early problems with separation for flight led to a doubling of rocket power and a late-release system so that the Wild Goose leaped upward when released, beyond the reach of aerodynamic interactions with the airflow around the trolley. [3]

Operational history

Wild Goose was to be launched from a powered trolley. Teething troubles led to the first two examples crashing on takeoff. The first successful flight came with the third example on 19 January 1950, however the remote pilot crashed it when attempting to land. [4] The next one lasted until 29 April 1952, when it was accidentally flown into a concrete wall after demonstrating that National Physical Laboratory predictions of poor handling were unfounded and vindicating the revolutionary aerodynamics and control system. Further tests and crashes followed, with the project being terminated in 1954 when the military lost interest in the Green Lizard missile to be derived from it. [3] [5]

By this time Vickers had begun studies on a successor to the Valiant V-bomber and for this Wallis was evolving his Wild Goose design into the Swallow. [6]

Related Research Articles

Fixed-wing aircraft Heavier-than-air aircraft with fixed wings generating aerodynamic lift in the airflow caused by forward airspeed

A fixed-wing aircraft is a flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft, and ornithopters. The wings of a fixed-wing aircraft are not necessarily rigid; kites, hang gliders, variable-sweep wing aircraft and airplanes that use wing morphing are all examples of fixed-wing aircraft.

Delta wing wing shaped in the form of a triangle

A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ).

Flying wing tailless fixed-wing aircraft with no definite fuselage

A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage. The crew, payload, fuel, and equipment are typically housed inside the main wing structure, although a flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blisters, booms, or vertical stabilizers.

Barnes Wallis English scientist, engineer and inventor

Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, was an English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II.

Variable-sweep wing Airplane wings capable of changing position to alter their geometry

A variable-sweep wing, colloquially known as a "swing wing", is an airplane wing, or set of wings, that may be swept back and then returned to its original straight position during flight. It allows the aircraft's shape to be modified in flight, and is therefore an example of a variable-geometry aircraft.

Alexander Lippisch German pioneer of aerodynamics

Alexander Martin Lippisch was a German aeronautical engineer, a pioneer of aerodynamics who made important contributions to the understanding of tailless aircraft, delta wings and the ground effect, and also worked in the U.S. His most famous designs are the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket-powered interceptor and the Dornier Aerodyne.

Empennage Tail section of an aircraft containing stabilizers

The empennage, also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow. The term derives from the French language word empenner which means "to feather an arrow". Most aircraft feature an empennage incorporating vertical and horizontal stabilising surfaces which stabilise the flight dynamics of yaw and pitch, as well as housing control surfaces.

Stabilizer (aeronautics) aircraft component

An aircraft stabilizer is an aerodynamic surface, typically including one or more movable control surfaces, that provides longitudinal (pitch) and/or directional (yaw) stability and control. A stabilizer can feature a fixed or adjustable structure on which any movable control surfaces are hinged, or it can itself be a fully movable surface such as a stabilator. Depending on the context, "stabilizer" may sometimes describe only the front part of the overall surface.

Oblique wing in aircraft design

An oblique wing is a variable geometry wing concept. On an aircraft so equipped, the wing is designed to rotate on center pivot, so that one tip is swept forward while the opposite tip is swept aft. By changing its sweep angle in this way, drag can be reduced at high speed without sacrificing low speed performance. This is a variation on the classic swing-wing design, intended to simplify construction and retain the center of gravity as the sweep angle is changed.

Short SB.1

The Short SB.1 was a British tailless glider designed by David Keith-Lucas and Professor Geoffrey T.R. Hill. Built by Shorts as a private research venture to test the concept of the aero-isoclinic wing, it was the first aircraft to incorporate this feature.

Canard (aeronautics) aircraft wing configuration with a small wing ahead of the main wing, or such a forewing

A canard is an aeronautical arrangement wherein a small forewing or foreplane is placed forward of the main wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The term "canard" may be used to describe the aircraft itself, the wing configuration, or the foreplane.

Westland-Hill Pterodactyl experimental aircraft series by G. T. R. Hill

Pterodactyl was the name given to a series of experimental tailless aircraft designs developed by G. T. R. Hill in the 1920s and early 1930s. Named after the genus Pterodactylus, a well-known type of Pterosaur commonly known as the pterodactyl, all but the first were produced by Westland Aircraft Ltd after Hill joined them.

Tailless aircraft

A tailless aircraft has no tail assembly and no other horizontal surface besides its main wing. The aerodynamic control and stabilisation functions in both pitch and roll are incorporated into the main wing. A tailless type may still have a conventional vertical fin and rudder.

Dunne D.5 1910 experimental aircraft by J. W. Dunne

The Dunne D.5 was an experimental aircraft built in the United Kingdom in 1910. Designed by J. W. Dunne and built by Short Brothers at Leysdown, A tailless swept-wing biplane, the D.5 was the first aircraft built by his company, the Blair Atholl Aeroplane Syndicate Ltd. Like its military predecessors it was driven by twin pusher propellers, but it had a considerably more powerful engine.

Wing configuration Describes the general shape and layout of an aircraft wing

The wing configuration of a fixed-wing aircraft is its arrangement of lifting and related surfaces.

BAC/Dassault AFVG

BAC/Dassault AFVG was a 1960s project for supersonic multi-role combat aircraft with a variable-sweep wing, jointly developed by British Aircraft Corporation in the United Kingdom and Dassault Aviation of France.

Outboard tail

An outboard tail is a type of aircraft tail or empennage which is split in two, with each half mounted on a short boom just behind and outboard of each wing tip. It comprises outboard horizontal stabilizers (OHS) and may or may not include additional boom-mounted vertical stabilizers (fins). OHS designs are sometimes described as a form of tailless aircraft.

Tupolev Tu-130

Tu-130 was a concept for a boost-glider launched by an intercontinental three-stage missile by Soviet designer Tupolev.

Vickers Swallow

The Vickers Swallow was a supersonic aircraft project headed by Barnes Wallis, working at the British aircraft company Vickers-Armstrongs. It was a wing controlled aerodyne, controlled in flight by movement of the entire wing, and was the supersonic successor to the Wild Goose project.

References

  1. ↑ Morpurgo (1981) pp.307-9.
  2. ↑ Derek Wood; Project Cancelled, Macdonald and Jane's, 1975. p.184.
  3. 1 2 3 Morpurgo (1981), Chapter 15: Wild Goose.
  4. ↑ Morpurgo (1981), p. 321.
  5. ↑ "Supersonic & Hypersonic Flight", Barnes Wallis Foundation. (Retrieved 19 February 2020)
  6. ↑ Morpurgo (1981), pp. 346-8.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.