An analytical study of the induced drag of canard-wing-tail aircraft configurations with various levels of static stability

SummaryThe prospect of reducing the induced drag of an aircraft by using both a canard and tailplane for trimming is investigated and results are compared with those for conventional tail-aft and canard arrangements. It is concluded that improvements of approximately 20% in lift-drag ratio are theoretically possible at high lift coefficients by the use of an additional trimming surface.