Wingless aircraft

[Jeb x Valentina]

hi! I wanted to make this challenge to make a lifter body aircraf after this picture

 

and, it should be that hard in KSP, right? 

 

NORMAL: fly it on kerbin, unmanned allowed

CHALLENGE: kerbin, manned

SUPER CHALLENGE: laythe, either manned or not

IMPOSSIBLE: surprise me!

 

You must send screenshots (or video) of ur WHOLE mission, good luck!

Edited March 23 by Jeb x Valentina

[Admiral Fluffy]

Isn't a wingless aircraft just a rocket?

(Yes, I know what a lifting body is)

[Kasyan]

KSP doesn’t really interpret lifting bodies correctly. If we’re talking stock parts only, you can either clip wing parts inside the fuselage (which means there still are wings, they’re just kinda hidden) or use the Mk2 fuselage parts (AFAIK the only lifting-body parts in stock), which look nothing like the NASA lifting bodies in your picture. So I am not sure if your challenge is possible without sort of “cheating”.

[adsii1970]

If memory serves me right, those are based off the XF-85 air frame. They were incapable of taking off a runway by themselves and were to be carried by a strategic bomber. Ugly as mud aircraft. I made one way back when in KSP 0.90 and let me tell you this - the thing flew horribly! I even created a larger "launch" aircraft to haul it to it's recommended ideal cruising altitude of 14,000 meters. It was horrible to fly; although I added landing gear to mine, the original XF-89 "Goblin" didn't have any. It was to dock with the carrier craft and return to its base of origin.

 

[ColdJ]

Yep, basically a manned bomb that used speed to see how far it could skip on the atmosphere in a straight line before hitting the ground. If you want to think outside the box. The manned capsules are actually configured so that their undersides are lifting bodies. Pretty weird looking craft you would make but might be possible.

[spacejet]

.

Edited April 4 by spacejet

[ColdJ]

The first one worked just like the real things, Run off the end of the runway, constanly pull back on the stick, You could roll but don't bother trying to turn. The second I hid 4 of the smallest elevons in just behind the cockpit, can climb and turn with some effort. Neither one would be able to land intact without parachutes. I just EVA and parachute the Kerbal while the craft crashes into the sea. Cockpit is from Mk2 expansion.

 

[QF9E]

Does this qualify? I did use some wing panels as lift elements, but it does not have wings protruding from the body. Part clipping was kept to a minimum.

 

[swjr-swis]

I could troll a bit and submit my miniature Nanoo 'aircraft'. But even though it uses no wing parts, the heatshield sort of is, in a typical kerbal way. So let's not.

C'mon, we can do truly wingless aircraft, people. It's really not rocket science, not even for Kerbals!

 

How about the SWiS FlyBoy I then? (supposed to be Flying Body One, but Logistiks told us they were still waiting on a new shipment of 'd', 'e', 'n' and 'g' letters, so we had to shorten the name).

19 parts, of which zero wings. Aerodynamic lift is entirely provided by the Mk2 body parts used. The elevons only provide control, together with the Panther thrust vectoring.

No expenses spared otherwise! Full state-of-the-art Mk2 body and cockpit, two seats, twin afterburning engines, and even actual landing gear. The works! Intakes are clipped, for balance.

Very controllable flight, capable of mach 2.9 @ 9 km and climbing cruise flight, and forgiving enough to enable off-runway landings.

Craft file: https://kerbalx.com/swjr-swis/SWiS-FlyBoy-I

[swjr-swis]

Btw, if you want to see a really amazing example (not mine): https://kerbalx.com/9595w/Wingless-plane

No wings at all either, and even no control surfaces.

[CFYL]

*Not exactly replying to this challenge but..*

In the summer of 1983 some F-15 fighter jets of the Isreal air force was doing routine training, when two of them CRASHED together in the air. Pilots of one plane ejected immediately. The other plane made it to an airport 16km away. 

They almost lose control several times on their way, but they maintained stability by... simply switching on the afterburner

When the pilots walked out of the cockpit they found out that they had lost one of their main wings (They could't see the wings cuz it was blocked by the fuel mist)

Imagine you are a ground staff and you see this approching your airport at twice the standard landing speed

And witness this crap plane land successfully

The manufacturer (McDonnell Douglas) studied this miracle accident and they concluded that, the F-15 had a very "fat" body and it can fly without wings, if fast enough

This plane was later fixed and even shot down a fighter jet of another country several years later(I hope this won't be so political...)

OK this may go to some asymmetrical airplane thread but the conclusion given by McDonnell Douglas was just...

Spoiler

"Sir, I've hit that F-15 and ripped both its wings off. The sky is clear"

"Nice shot soldier. Now you can..."

Beep... Beep... Missle approaching. Missle approaching.

"Wait a sec, What * I'm locked on by that F-15?"

Boom

(20 minutes later)

The F-15, without wings, lands on a loooooooooong runway by flying at some Mach0.7 close to the ground, gears and main structure intact.

I think this spoiler isn't political... (The miracle did happen in real life in 1983; the spoiler is just a fiction)

Edited May 5 by AllenLi

[CFYL]

I hope this isn't off topic but here's my submission, a crewed plane using only Mk-I tanks and a guidance nosecone...

Stock aerodynamic does allow "lifting body" or something similar with a relatively large AoA or fast speed. No wings/flaps/elevons, altitude control by RCS and engine vectoring. 

(Afterburner-aided takeoff, go supersonic.)

Some other pics

Spoiler

Then stage the parachutes and attempt landing near Island airport.

But the 4 parachutes aren't enough to slow the plane down.

Attempt 2: I removed 90% fuel to make the plane lighter, but the fuel tanks are still required to generate "lift" (looks like "sideforce" by colour)

Then the afterburners are switched off for a longer flight.

Trying to aim at Island airport.

Pitching/Rolling/Turning on the yaw axis are all directly possible, thanks to RCS thrusters. It can also fly well with engines off because of the fuel cut.

But the speed is still tooooo high.

So I ejected and landed on a personal parachute.

In conclusion, it's a pure stock wingless aircraft using only speed, AoA and Mk-1 tanks to generate "lift", and using RCS-assisted altitude control. It flies fairly well, stable in all situations. But considering the fact that the plane failed the landing, I would personally put it into the unmanned list.

[cantab]

Very nicely demonstrated by AllenLi.

On the general topic. All parts that produces drag will also produce lift if they have a non-zero angle of attack. (In KSP and in real life). The non-wing parts just have a really lousy lift-to-drag ratio, and usually a bad lift-to-mass ratio too.

Selected parts produce "wing lift" which gives them a better L/D ratio. They include the wings (dur), control surfaces, and Mk2 parts. They will show a lift value in the part information window on the left in the VAB/SPH.

[Jeb x Valentina]

On 3/25/2022 at 10:10 AM, ColdJ said:

The first one worked just like the real things, Run off the end of the runway, constanly pull back on the stick, You could roll but don't bother trying to turn. The second I hid 4 of the smallest elevons in just behind the cockpit, can climb and turn with some effort. Neither one would be able to land intact without parachutes. I just EVA and parachute the Kerbal while the craft crashes into the sea. Cockpit is from Mk2 expansion.

 

That is just perfect, you win the challenge! (unless someone does it on laythe 

[Klapaucius]

I built this a while ago. I don't know if this counts or not, since I am using flaps, but I'll post anyway.  The craft file is on KerbalX: 

https://kerbalx.com/Klapaucius/Petrov

 

 

[Jatwaa]

https://gfycat.com/concerneddensegalah

 

Have fun

[thegleam]

The has no hidden wings and relies on the lifting mechanics provided by the mkII capsule. This can easily be manned but i thought that part of the challenge was to make it umanned so i threw out the kerbals seen in the beginning. If there are anything else i need to do please tell me as this is my 1st challenge

[imcute]

does a hovercraft with no wings(a rocket with twr strictly equal to 1) count?

[imcute]

Good news:I did it

Bad news:i dont have a screenshotter

Bad news:i underestimated the power of s3 ks25 engines and the lift of mk2 plane components so it got 500m/s on the runway and can't stop leviating and got 3000m/s on 10000m(kal underclocking for fuel,thats my brand new kal core)

it still lifts at 100m/s vertical speed even it i slightly tilt it DOWN a bit

20000 meters,4000m/s,even when i make it always tilt down a bit

30000m,6000m/s,slightly tilted down,the overheat bars almost filll up

well when i look at map,i find out that this is an escape trajectory(if i dont slightly tilt down) and will encounter mun

lucky!

40000m,7000m/s,i need to revert due to nose cones sublimating

the plane,now too high for wings to slightly tilt it down,rapidly increases height,and slows down 100m/s before leaving atmosphere

[imcute]

oh gosh!when i checked fuel panel,i found out that it burnt half of its fuel meaning that i forgot to turn the kalcore on!

excess dv and twr!

nope the fuel is half is just bc i disabled the rear fuel tanks and emptied them for a stable mass center

had to replace the nose cones into armored clampotrons due to additional 200 heat capacity

Edited June 22 by imcute
a

[imcute]

okay i hyperedited it into laythe orbit and deorbited it

lemme see

its mini version works quite well on laythe(original not tested)

[18Watt]

I accidentally have an entry for this challenge.  I was building a boat for another challenge, and eventually realized it was capable of controlled flight.

Spoiler

The goal was a boat with amphibious capabilities, which could maintain 170+ m/s on water.  This is one of the designs that met the design goals:  It's a pontoon boat, with twin MK2 hulls.  Powered by 4 standard electric rotors, each having 16 blades.  Twin rudders for directional stability, and twin horizontal fins to help trim the boat in water at speed.  I was able to hit 179 m/s on water.

Unfortunately, it occasionally ends up airborne.  Turns out it is fairly controllable in the air.

Pretty good climb performance.  At low altitudes it is able to climb vertically.

In level flight it can hit about 300 m/s.

I wouldn't call it maneuverable, but it is controllable enough to make turns.  I'm controlling the pitch by adjusting the deploy angle of the horizontal AV-R8 winglets.  Manually, by sliding the slider..

Approach to landing, gear down.

Gently!

Landed.

Unfortunately, the ability to maintain controlled flight makes using this vessel in the other challenge questionable.  Using MK1 pontoons instead of MK2s would make it less capable of flight, although at these speeds pretty much anything can be made to fly.  Removing the horizontal fins would also eliminate the ability to control the thing while airborne, but I need those fins for stability while in the water.

Anyway, it ended up being an example of a working wingless aircraft.