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Flying wing
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===Overview=== [[File:Northrop N-1M Udvar-Hazy.jpg|thumb|The [[Northrop N-1M]] on display at the [[National Air and Space Museum]]'s [[Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center]] ]] A flying wing is an [[airplane|aeroplane]] that has no definite [[fuselage]] or [[tailplane]], with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, [[nacelle]]s, blisters, booms, or [[vertical stabilizer]]s. <ref name="Crane">Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms'', third edition, p. 224. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. {{ISBN|1-56027-287-2}}.</ref> A clean flying wing is sometimes presented as theoretically the most [[aerodynamics|aerodynamically]] efficient (lowest drag) design configuration for a fixed wing aircraft. It also would offer high structural efficiency for a given wing depth, leading to light weight and high [[fuel efficiency]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weyl |first=A.R. |date=1945-03-01 |title=Stability of Tailless Aeroplanes |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb031228 |journal=Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=73β81 |doi=10.1108/eb031228 |issn=0002-2667|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Because it lacks conventional stabilizing surfaces and the associated control surfaces, in its purest form the flying wing suffers from the inherent disadvantages of being unstable and difficult to control. These compromises are difficult to reconcile, and efforts to do so can reduce or even negate the expected advantages of the flying wing design, such as reductions in weight and [[Drag (physics)|drag]]. Moreover, solutions may produce a final design that is still too unsafe for certain uses, such as commercial aviation. Further difficulties arise from the problem of fitting the pilot, engines, flight equipment, and payload all within the depth of the wing section. Other known problems with the flying wing design relate to [[Flight dynamics|pitch]] and [[Flight dynamics|yaw]]. Pitch issues are discussed in the article on [[tailless aircraft]]. The problems of yaw are discussed below.
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