VIDEO: A beautiful documentary from 1950s about aerofoils and planes in transsonic-supersonic flight

I've always been fascinated by aerodynamics especially in transsonic-supersonic regime. Most explanations of the shockwave formation and how it relates to aerofoils are not very clear at all. They get bogged down in defining terminology and theory.

I was suprised to see that this OLD educational film explains it all in perfect clarity. It gives a comprehensive exposition on the topic with informative graphics and Schlieren photography of shockwaves. It even discusses how the shockwave formation affects plane's drag and lift coefficients, shock stall behavior, and how the shock stall can be mitigated. For the first time I could really understand what makes the shockwaves and how the air flows across them.

Part I (approaching transsonic):



Parts II (transsonic) and III (supersonic):



Last Edited by Dr. Strange on 11/19/2020 05:39 AM