What about Flying Whales...
PART 1
I have been investigating the technical aspects of airships for over 30 years. I have only worked on small projects lacking real funding, but I was watching the Cargolifter project closely (zome 20 years ago), and worked on their Joey demonstrator airship which sold at their bankruptcy sale for near $15,000, after their spending over $2 million on it, I heard. Except for the tail fin structures which they contracted to an outside company it was pretty crudely designed and built, NOTHING to inspire confidence.
They spent around 300 million dollars on that project. Near half went to pay another company to build their giant hangar in Brand. With the rest they paid their 490 employees and had no airship even started building. It would not surprise me if Flying Whales ends up near the same.
With modern fabrics as used for inflatable stadiums and similar, a full rigid structure is not necessary below 500 meters length. At least Cargolifter recognized that.
Professor Naatz of Germany tested tail fin positions and effects early on, and published his findings in 1924. See: https://lnkd.in/gvfdwN4V
He clearly showed that the best location for tail fins is about 85% back from the bow. Any further back loses the important and "free" positive effect of stabilizing and control forces on the envelope (or hull in a rigid). Naatz does not mention the also very positive effect of reducing delays in control surface effects, up to several seconds saved at landing speeds of large ships.
So WHY does Flying whales have its fins at the very rear, which reduces their effectiveness (requiring a larger surface area), adds to delays in control response, and adds unnecessary stresses to the framing, especially torsional stresses which would tend to twist the tails off under assymetrical gusts?
Three reasons. Number ONE. Airplanes do it. But airplanes do it because nobody wants to sit "in the tail" and it is easier to keep the tail fin structure and its many cable, electrical and fluid connections outside the pressurized central section. That does NOT apply to airships.
Number TWO. They literally have not done their research and don't know what they are doing.
And Number THREE. It is supposed to resemble a whale, of course.
Continued in Part 2
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