2-860-717 - Heritage Space/Heritage Images

Evolution of the airfoil, 1908-1944. Diagrams showing the historical evolution of airfoil sections. The last two shapes are low-drag sections designed to have laminar flow over 60 to 70 percent of chord on both the upper and lower surface. Examples illustrated include designs by the Wright Brothers, the Aerodynamics Research Institute in Göttingen, Louis Bleriot, the Royal Air Force, and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.