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A description is included of the outboard horizontal-stabilizer (OHS) concept in which horizontal stabilizer surfaces are supported downwind, and outboard, of aircraft wing tips by means of booms. The essential purpose of such a configuration is to place each horizontal-stabilizer surface in the wing upwash. It is thus possible, as has been verified by wind-tunnel tests, to employ the horizontal stabilizers not only for meeting the requirements of providing pitch stability but also, as shown analytically, for generating additional lift efficiently to augment that due to the wing. A comparison is presented of the performances of comparable OHS and conventional light aircraft configurations showing that for equal cruise drags the conventional configurations employ mainplane aspect ratios two to three times those of the OHS units.

A study was carried out to investigate, experimentally using a wind tunnel, the drag contribution (base drag) due to the flat-end of most van-type semi-trailers used for inter-city tractor-semi-trailer transportation. The study was focused on high cruise-speed operation of such vehicles at about 100 km/h (62.2 mile/h) a speed that can often be maintained for long distances on inter-city runs. It was found that it is possible to reduce overall aerodynamic drags significantly using a modestly tapered after-body terminating in a flat base. It was also shown that such after-bodies can be arranged to permit easy aft-end loading or unloading of trailers and that a reduction of engine fuel consumption at high-speed cruise on a level road of about 14% should be achievable when due allowance is also made for vehicle rolling resistance.