摘要 |
A VTOL flying-wing aircraft has a pair of thrust-vectoring propulsion units (2, 3; 4, 5) mounted fore and aft of the aircraft pitch axis (PA) on strakes (6, 7) at opposite extremities of the wing-structure (1), with the fore unit (2; 4) below, and the aft unit (3; 5) above, the wing-structure (1). The propulsion units (2-5) are pivoted to the strakes (6, 7), either directly or via arms (56), for individual angular displacement for thrust-vectored manoeuvring of the aircraft in yaw, pitch and roll and for hover and forward and backward flight. Where propulsion units (52-55) are pivoted to arms (56), the arms (56) of fore and aft propulsion units (52, 54; 53, 55) are intercoupled via chain drives (57-60) or linkages (61). The wing-structure (1; 51; 78) may have fins (47;84), slats (81) and flaps (82) and other aerodynamic control-surfaces, and enlarged strakes (84) may incorporate rudder surfaces (80). Just one propulsion unit (21) may be mounted at each extremity of the wing-structure (22), and additional fan units (48, 83) may be used for augmenting lift and for yaw control. |