REVIEW - 2014-12

It is hard to believe that an entire year has passed since I had the opportunity to build the JR Forza 450. With a lot of love, crashes, and tender care, my little Forza has been a true joy to fly.

Winglets-Are They Worth It?

WHITCOMB winglets are small, nearly vertical winglike surfaces mounted at the wing tips to provide a reduction in induced drag. Winglets were developed by Dr. Richard Whitcomb of the NASA Langley Research Center. Most of the published data has concentrated on improving the efficiency of subsonic jet transports, however, winglets have been installed on the new Learjet Longhorn business jet, two of Burt Rutan's very efficient light planes, and the IAI Arava STOL transport. Therefore, winglets have proven effective at all subsonic Mach numbers at full-scale Reynolds numbers. The purpose of this article is to report on a preliminary investigation into the use of winglets on a 2-meter class sailplane.