Flying in the Stratosphere: A Theoretical Examination of the Possibilities of Achieving Great Speeds at very High Altitudes

Abstract

Having taken up our position on the above definition of this fundamental point, which closes the long‐standing discussion between upholders of the airscrew and those of the reaction system (just as in earlier days the distinction between impulse and work closed the classic discussion between the followers of Leibnitz and Descartes), we must now admit, without going into details, that this supposed attainment of equal efficiencies cannot be considered easy, if even possible, for the normal speeds of flight. It must also be admitted that a power unit, consisting of engine, compressor and jet, is at first sight a unit more complex, heavier and more bulky than the ordinary engine‐airscrew unit which has now been reduced to a high degree of simplicity and neatness. There is no doubt at all that in the sphere of the sub‐acoustic velocities the airscrew will reign supreme.

Citation

Crocco, G.G.A. (1932), "Flying in the Stratosphere: A Theoretical Examination of the Possibilities of Achieving Great Speeds at very High Altitudes", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 4 No. 8, pp. 204-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb029581