Lifting Body Aircraft

[_The_Burn_]

I noticed that the mk.2 spaceplane fuselage parts produced some lift, and I was wondering if I could make a airplane fly without wings, just using the lift produced by the body. NASA made a few planes using this concept back in the 60s and 70s (ex. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Marietta_X-24B) I put some parts together and came up with this:

It is not truly a pure lifting body aircraft, as the control surfaces act as little wings, but it is pretty close.

Flying:

It is a little unstable in the roll axis, and cannot really yaw that much, but it still flies. Max speed below 1000m is around 250 m/s. When taking off, it tends to bounce around some.

Download:

http://www./view/kcsafy1zc34yhqq/Lifting_Body_Prototype.craft

There is not any real use for this aircraft (except for a compact reusable reentry vehicle, maybe).

[_The_Burn_]

Ok, my screenshots aren't coming up.

Here is a link : http://imgur.com/a/uWRyF#0

Hopefully this works.

[Rune]

Much better now that I can look at pics, and nice little thing you have there! I also messed around with lifting bodies jsut after 0.25 came out, but I didn't make a plane, I made a spaceplane!

Rune. Oh, and for learning how to put pics here, quote my message, or pick the "BBCode (message boards & forums)" link on imgur.

[_The_Burn_]

Well, I think I've been one-uped

I'm interested in your spaceplane, is there a place I can download it?

[Rithsom]

Here's a very simple 100% lifting body aircraft I made in a couple minutes. It has a top speed of 280 m/s at sea level, even if the fuel tank is full.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Rthsom

[_The_Burn_]

Is it controlled solely by reaction wheels and engine vectoring?

[Rithsom]

Is it controlled solely by reaction wheels and engine vectoring?

Yep. The Mk.2 Drone Core that it uses has an unusually high amount of torque, so winglets or control surfaces are unnecessary.