Aeroplane has been one of the most fascinating innovations in the history. Looking back to the early age, people just had slightest idea and was making prototypes and sketch on paper about how they were going to fly in the sky. All of these wanderer’s innovating thinking led to the invention of the aeroplane eventually.
We might see a lot of aeroplanes flying by and use them to go from one part of the world to another which by road would have been either impossible now or no one is signing up for thus long winding trip. Yet, how does a plane work and what design is it based on? Are there only these passenger flight design we typically see exist or any other design exist?
Stratojet coming to the market
To break it down, from the beginning of the Wright Brothers era until a certain standard of design was set, there were many technological approaches came changing and getting outtaken by other design which proved to be sightly improved over others.
Eventually, it was in 1947 when a design implemented like one in the Boeing B47 stratojet. The tube and wing format design came into existence. This may look and sound mundane to use, imagining you get the design, this was a huge surprise and unique design that came out at that time. This tube and wing design became the standard for the general airlines as well. It was since then the whole airliners use this design until today.
Advantages of Boeing B47 stratojet design
So, what is the fuzz about this tube and wing format? Why did it stick around and others did not? Yes, there were lot other design has been experimented and still on, but none could replace tube and wing format. This is not for fashion but tube-and-wing format plays significant role to keep the plane stable and horizontal. This kind, where the engines are generally placed both side of the plane is there to maintain a gravitational pull downward and the tail and tail wings provide the counter balance against that downward gravitational force.
Another advantage of this format is the fact its pilots need not to be trained for each new plane. This was done so in a way that all the pilot of this format know how this wing-and-body works.
One more advantage is the fact this design is flexible and works as a great template for any new plane built on this format. This design was incredibly utilised by Boeing.
The issues of Boeing B47 stratojet design
The major downside of this format is, this format take a heavy toll on fuel consumption. The mechanism of this design consumes a heavy amount fuel. With each lift off, it burn hectic amount of fuel. To tackle this issue, major big aerospace companies like Nasa, Boeing, Airbus all invested a handsome amount of resources to research a new kind of design.