JANUARY 29TH, 1942

d FLIGHT

A NOVEL FIGHTER DESIGN

Mr. Davis Produces a Wing of Great Thickness and Low Aspect Ratio : Tip
Stalling said to be Avoided

Front view of model of the Manta long-range fighter. Note great wing root thickness.

S I N C E y o u n g David R. Davis succeeded in persuading

the Consolidated people t h a t his formula for calculat-
ing a wing section, patented b y h i m in 1934, ample
proof of the qualities of the Davis wing h a s been forth-
form. W e do not know whether Mr. Davis was led to this
b y mathematical or b y zoological considerations, b u t it is
perhaps, significant t h a t h e has chosen to n a m e his machine
the Manta, which is the devil fish of the ray family a n d mm
coming in t h e Consolidated model 32, better k n o w n a s the n o t unlike t h e new fighter, even to t h e slim fuselage whicfi
B-24, a n d in this country still better k n o w n as the is not unlike t h e tail of t h e r a y .
Liberator, which has a thin wing section of the Davis t y p e , T w o years of wind-tunnel research went into t h e p l a n n i n g
as has also the Catalina flying b o a t . of the Manta, a n d Mr. Davis claims t h a t , in addition to
T h e success of t h e Liberator h a s caused most people the low drag which is so important for high-speed, long-
to think of a Davis wing as being s y n o n y m o u s with a thin range work, his new wing h a s got over the trouble with
wing. T h a t this is not necessarily so seems to b e indicated tip stalling in a very tapered p l a n form. T h e mock-up
by the news from America t h a t Mr. Davis is producing has a wing span of 50ft. a n d a m a x i m u m thickness of 42m.,
a long-range fighter a feature of which is its very thick well forward in the section. W i t h a n engine of 1,200 h . p . ,
wing. Apparently Mr. Davis h a s succeeded in forming a the calculated top speed is 445 m . p . h . when carrying four
c o m p a n y known as the M a n t a Aircraft Corporation of Los cannon, four machine guns, a n d a large a m m u n i t i o n load.
Angeles. His new project is, so far, proved in the wind R a n g e is estimated to b e 2,500 miles.
tunnel only, although a full-
size mock-up has been m a d e , . • • • w n | | | |
and the Manta design office
is said to b e ready for pro-
duction.
I n contradistinction to the
wings of the Catalina a n d
Liberator, the wing of the
Manta long-range fighter is of
low aspect ratio ( 6 : 1 as
against 1 1 : 1 ) a n d of very
considerable t h i c k n e s s / c h o r d
ratio. T h e pictures, for
which we are indebted to
our contemporary, American
Aviation, show the Manta to
h a v e also a n unusual plan

The model on the right gives

some idea of the unusual
plan form. (Below) A
picture of the Manta full-
scale mock-up.

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