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An Analytical Study Of T-38 Drag Reduction In Tight Formation Flight, Eugene H. Wagner Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the benefits of flying in a tight formation, mimicking the natural behavior of migratory birds such as geese. The first phase of the research was to determine an optimal position for the wingman of a tight formation flight of T-38 Talon aircraft using the HASC95 vortex lattice code. A second wingman was then added to determine the benefit derived by increasing formation size. The second wingman was predicted to derive an even greater induced drag benefit than the first wingman for T-38s operating at Mach 0.54 at a 10,000-foot altitude. The predicted values were 17.5% savings for …