PRINCIPLES OF SUPERSONIC MISSILE FLIGHT [Main Title]

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  • Title: PRINCIPLES OF SUPERSONIC MISSILE FLIGHT [Main Title]
  • Film Number: AMY 839
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Detailed technical film with intertitles, addressing the principles of supersonic missile flight.
  • Description: Reel one: “Shock Waves and Expansion Waves” - Explanation of a shock wave. Subsonic flight described using a dart. Ratio of speed of air to speed of sound resulting in Mach No.(M) explained. Supersonic speed M>1, Sonic speed M=1, Subsonic speed M<1. Flight Mach No. used to describe flight speed. “Supersonic Flow Past Solid Bodies” - Axisymmetrical flow, two dimensional flow and three dimensional flow explained. “The Plane Shock Wave” - formation of a shock wave on a wing. Reel two: “Prandtl Meyer Expansion Wave” - Explanation of the Prandtl Meyer Expansion Wave compared to the shock wave. Comparison of subsonic and supersonic flow past a wedge shaped wing and a cylinder/cone object. “Lift And Compressible Flows” - Resultant forces effect on airflow (lift and drag) on a wing and a missile (wing lift, body lift, tail lift). Side component of lift explained. Effect of turns on missile. “Factors Determining Lift” - incidence, speed of air, air density, plan area of wing, mach number. Reel three: “Compressible Air Flow” - effect of reducing the cross section of a duct to increase the airspeed. Increase of speed produces a decrease of pressure which in turn produces a decrease in density. Examples of the effect. Air flowing at 400fps into a duct which tapers to half size exits at >800fps. Formula to calculate explained. Subsonic flow versus supersonic flow. “Wing Lift, Centre of Pressure and Drag” - “Lift of a Wing” Reel four: Lift and drag explained. Aerodynamic considerations for missile design. “The Breakdown of Drag” - components of drag explained (profile drag + wave drag = drag). “Wave Drag” - various elements of wave drag explained. Reel five: “Incidence Wave Drag” - various components of incidence wave drag explained. “Profile Drag” - components of profile drag explained (Skin Friction Drag + Base Drag + Form Drag = Profile drag), “Wing and Body Design” - double wedge/modified double wedge wings, bi-convex section, various wing planforms. Reel six: Wing design continued. Tapered wing design. Large/small apex angle delta wings compared. “Centre of Pressure” - how wing design affects CoP. “Considerations of Body Design” - how body shape affects drag. Reel seven: Interference Effects – Missile Control” - “Interaction of wing and body” - effect of wing on lift of body. “Wing Tailplane Interference” - tailplane placement to counteract loss of lift due to wing affecting air flow. “Control (I) Climb and Dive” - Effect of lift v weight and incidence on flight of missile. Reel eight: “Control (II) Roll” - counteracting roll. “Control (III) Heading” - addition of vertical wings to aid turning. Reel nine: “Stability” - explanation of the factors involved in ensuring stability of missiles in flight. “We have presented the basic features of natural stability of missiles. Certain other forces have not been mentioned, (for example, those which damp the oscillations) as these are subject for mathematical analysis. The conclusions we have reached remain basically correct.”
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: AMY 839
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1946-1975
  • Production Date: 1958-01
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Air Ministry (Production sponsor) National Interest Picture Productions Ltd (Production company) Hopkins, A E C (Production individual) Di Palma, Peter (Production individual) De Mornay, Charles (Production individual) North, Ron (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 9 Length: 8053ft
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    AMY 839

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