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The Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake" designed by Charles H. Zimmerman was an American experimental test aircraft built as part of the Vought XF5U "Flying Flapjack" World War II United States Navy fighter aircraft program. Both the V-173 and the XF5U featured an unorthodox "all-wing" design consisting of flat, somewhat disk-shaped bodies (hence the name) serving as the lifting surface.〔Chant 1984, p. 53.〕 Two piston engines buried in the body drove propellers located on the leading edge at the wingtips.〔Winchester ''X-Planes'' 2005, p. 223.〕 ==Design and development== In the 1930s, Charles Zimmerman was a noted aeronautical engineer who advocated the concept of "discoidal" aircraft, the so-called "Zimmer's Skimmers"〔Pearson 2002, p. 50.〕 and worked on a variety of projects on his own and with the Vought company. After testing using scale models, including a remotely controlled, electrically powered large-scale model, designated the Vought V-162, the US Navy approached Zimmerman and offered to fund further development. Data and concept documentation was given to the Navy in 1939, with wind tunnel tests on full-scale models being completed in 1940-1941. The original prototype, designated the V-173 (''Flying Pancake''), was built of wood and canvas and featured a conventional, fully symmetrical aerofoil section (NACA 0015). Designed as a "proof-of-concept" prototype, the initial configuration V-173 was built as a lightweight test model powered by two 80 hp (60 kW) Continental A-80 engines turning F4U Corsair propellers. These were replaced by a pair of specially modified 16 ft 6 in three-bladed units. A tall, fixed main undercarriage combined with a small tailwheel gave the aircraft a 22° "nose-high" angle.〔Schoeni 1975, p. 568.〕 The disc wing design featured a low aspect ratio that overcame the built-in disadvantages of induced drag created at the wingtips with the large propellers actively cancelling the drag-causing tip vortices. The propellers were arranged to rotate in the opposite direction to the tip vortices, allowing the aircraft to fly with a much smaller wing area. The small wing provided high maneuverability with greater structural strength. In January 1942, BuAer requested a proposal for two prototype aircraft of an experimental version of the V-173, known as the VS-135. The development version, the Vought XF5U-1, was a larger aircraft with all-metal construction, and was almost five times heavier.〔Winchester ''Concept Planes'' 2005, p. 247.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vought V-173」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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