Foward-swept flying wing

Thorondor

Active member
Hey y'all, if there is anybody out there with the financial ability (I'm a college student...) to do this experiment, I would love to see it come to fruition.

I have an odd memory of accidentally making an origami forward-swept flying wing that actually flew quite well. I only made one and I was stupid enough to not document how the heck I managed to make it. It wasn't a forward-swept wing attached to a front-sticking fuselage, it was basically a normal flying wing except that it flew backward. Since this is apparently possible, could this be taken up to RC?
 

Madspadder

Well-known member
I designed this years ago. It was made out of coroplast (sign plastic)and flew great. These were called S.P.A.D.S (simple plastic airplane designs) There are still plans floating around for a version of this plane, I think it was called the Draco.
 

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quorneng

Master member
As far as I am aware the only mandatory condition of a stable flying wing is that it has, and can maintain, an appropriate aerodynamic reflex. Provided this is achieved the actual plan shape of the wing is not limited.
The main problem with forward sweep is maintaining the required aerodynamic shape.
 

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
One of the most important aspects of a flying wing is yaw stablility, in a regular backward swept wing the differential drag can take care of that (will still be a bit unstable at low speed and will drift sideways in turns) but a forward swept will actually increase yaw rather than decrease it because of diff drag, like dihedral vs anhedral so you need a fin on the back.
Otherwise, it should fly just fine.
 

Keno

Well-known member
Sweep wing do fly great but you have to consider this wing design moves the CG forward. I see most planes with forward sweep wing are of the "tail less" type design as noted above. They are typically flying darts, wings for lift, powered to keep them in flight. Great planes to fly and have enjoyed flying them for years. Happy flying
 

Thorondor

Active member
How about the Bird of prey? The key is an large rudder behind the CG.

Again with the fuselage. Chop that cockpit off and you got what I somehow accidentally managed to create, although even more strangely it didn't have a tail either.
 

Madspadder

Well-known member
Here is a cg calculator that I used for forward swept designs. Make sure you enter a negative value for sweep. The thing I like about this calculator is if your numbers are right you should see a top down view of your design!!
https://www.ecalc.ch/cgcalc.php