I recently built a plane with foreword swept wings (here: https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/7AOApP/XF-13-Vanguard) and after I finished it I was suprised that the wing setup seemed not to affect the performance or aerodynamics of the aircraft in any way. Has anyone else tried this and noticed the same thing? Or am I missing something?
@Raptor412 I had the same problem when designing this plane. You might have to move the engines to a different spot in relation to the wings.
@JShay that's funny, cause I just downloaded that the other day! I noticed that as well when redesigning the plane I linked in this thread.
Huh that's weird when I did that I went in loop de doops till I crashed
Forward swept wings are supposed to enhance performance at supersonic speeds, however, I believe they aren't traditionally implemented on aircraft because of some sort of twisting to do with the wing tips hitting the airflow first rather than the wing root. But like someone else suggested, I doubt this feature is modeled into SP.
Check out my stiletto racer. I used forward swept wings mounted at the furthest rear of the plane, and it definitely affected the performance of it. You can notice that the CoM is BEHIND the CoL, which usually results in instability. In this case, it resulted in better pitch control.
@Skua @FullFruntall check out the newest variant I just posted, it performs much different from the original.
@FullFruntall alright I'll make a second version and try that. Thanks!
@Skua awesome thanks! And my personal favorite is the Grumman X-29.
@ExperimentalDesign shouldn't do. Most of the factors that make forward-swept wings weird in real life (stalling differently and structural issues at the root) aren't modelled in SP, so as long as you keep your CoL in the right general area, we're free to make as many sweet Su-47 ripoffs as we like
@ExperimentalDesign You would need to put your main wings right at the back or near the back of the plane and place your horizontal stabilizers at the front of your craft or at least in front of your main wings. If done correctly you should get a hyper maneuverable aircraft.
@Skua So the foreword swept wing won't have anything to do with the effectiveness of the dihedral?
@ExperimentalDesign you mean dihedral? It does. An upwards dihedral increases roll stability, giving your plane a tendency to roll towards horizontal. A downward one, or anhedral, does the opposite
@Skua maybe the angle at which the wing sits vertically would affect it?
@FullFruntall so since my horizontal stabilizers are swept back it counteracts the wing angle? And where would the wings be placed to increase the effectiveness of the foreword swept feature?
I have Arrrow Hayd. As for your aircraft, your wings are pretty much in the middle still with only the tips really being swept forward. Also your tail counters any forward sweptness that you have on your main wings.
Sooo technically you have a standard balanced aircraft.
I've built a fair number of planes with forward-swept wings, it doesn't make any difference. In real life it affects where the wing stalls, but I don't think SP models that
Check out my dragonfly