During the Second World War, the Americans used airplanes with four propellerdri

Question

During the Second World War, the Americans used airplanes with four propellerdriven engines in bombing raids, with two engines mounted on each wing, one nearer the fuselage, and one toward the end of the wing. One type of airplane, the Flying Fortress, was famous for its ability to land safely even after suffering severe damage; in particular, it could land with only one engine out of the four remaining. Suppose that this airplane lost three of its four engines.

A) Would it be easier to fly with:

• one of the engines nearest the wingtip, or

• one of the engines nearest the fuselage remaining?

Why?

B) In another case, one such airplane lost hydraulic power, and could no longer steer the airplane in the normal way. However, the pilot landed it safely by adjusting the power supplied to the engines (all of which were undamaged). How could a pilot steer the airplane simply by adjusting engine power?

Please Show All Work!

Explanation / Answer

A) If you have only one engine working , It would be easier to fly with engine nearest to fuselage(centreline) as the thurst produced will be symmetric. The engine near the wingtip will produced asymmetric thurst and Pilot has to deflect rudder continuously for the straight flight. This causes more turbulane and drag.

B)Adjusting engine power simply means adjusting engine thrust.Suppose Pilot increases the power of right wing engine and simontaneouly decreases power of left wing engine. These asymmetric thrusts will force the airplane to move in a particular desired direction.

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