Talk:Hurel-Dubois HD.31

}Why are high-aspect ratio wings preferable to the normal kind? Drutt (talk) 00:32, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

High Aspect Ratio
The greater the wingspan, the lower the induced drag, which is a significant drag component at low speeds. Thus aircraft which would spend lots of time hovering around an area, could do it at low speed without requiring as much power to stay there.When you get to regular cruise speeds, you don't need a lot of wing area, so if you put your needed wing area in a long-span wing, the wing becomes thin and narrow, and thus harder to build successfully (it must be strong and not-too flexible). So, high-aspect ratio wings are only used if their LOW-DRAG nature is so necessary that the structural challenges can be tolerated.

The formulas:Induced drag = (Weight^2)/(Dynamic pressure^2 * Wingspan^2 * Pi * efficiency factor)

(the efficiency factor depends on the layout; it is 1.0 for an elliptical wing, and about 0.98 for a straight-tapered wing, and maybe 0.95 for a non-tapered wing)

Aspect ratio = (Wingspan^2)/(Wing area)

Hope this answers the question. Raymondwinn (talk) 22:47, 17 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you. Is the wing used on this machine comparable to the Davis wing of the B-24? Drutt (talk) 19:50, 18 July 2008 (UTC)