SPACEPHOTOS

A close up of the Supersonic Natural Laminar Flow (SS-NLF) experiment on the F-15B. The wing shape - designed by the Reno Aeronautical Corp. - had only minimal sweep and a short span. The low sweep angle gave this airfoil better take off and landing characteristics, as well as better subsonic cruise efficiency, than wings with a greater sweep angle. Engineers had reason to believe that improvements in aerodynamic efficiency from supersonic natural laminar flow might actually render a supersonic aircraft more economical to operate than slower, subsonic designs. To gather substantiate data, the SS-NLF experiment used an advanced, non-intrusive collection technique. Rather than instrumentation built into the wing, a high resolution infrared camera mounted on the F-15B fuselage recorded the data, a system with possible applications for future research aircraft.