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A comment on Boom has orders for 76 of its future supersonic passenger jets. Parent comment

Re:Boom has orders for 76 of its future supersonic passenger... by swendoog on Monday October 23, 2017 @01:07AM (#15530859)
Why has nobody designed a variable width wing? One that can expand / contract for different speeds?

Naïve question, I know. Just curious...

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Re:Boom has orders for 76 of its future supersonic passenger... by WalterBright on Monday October 23, 2017 @04:04AM (#15531539)
They're called flaps and slats.

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/flap.html

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Re:Boom has orders for 76 of its future supersonic passenger... by gns24 on Monday October 23, 2017 @05:19AM (#15531810)
Barnes Wallis developed some interesting designs in the early 50s: http://www.sirbarneswallis.com/Supersonics.htm
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Re:Boom has orders for 76 of its future supersonic passenger... by webreac on Monday October 23, 2017 @01:45AM (#15530982)
Concorde has a variable width wing.
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Re:Boom has orders for 76 of its future supersonic passenger... by DuskStar on Monday October 23, 2017 @02:46AM (#15531171)
I think they mean variable geometry more in the line of the B-1 Lancer or F-14 Tomcat... And the answer is probably cost, complexity, reliability and weight.
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Re:Boom has orders for 76 of its future supersonic passenger... by WalterBright on Monday October 23, 2017 @04:03AM (#15531532)
All four of those.
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