Supersonic, I'm going to do it.

Yep, you heard me right, I'm going to build the world's first supersonic RC plane, almost doubling the world's present RC speed record. Reason why I'm doing this is to get the attention of the aerospace industry so that they might consider me someday.

Yes, I know the technical challenges will be enormous, but that is why I am doing this, to demonstrate what I can do. Plus it will finally be a chance for me to put my degree to use.

Now the biggest challenge will be finding a place for me to actually fly supersonically, not that every flight has to be supersonic. I am aware that when airplanes travel at that speed a sonic boom is usually created. However, since this design will be smaller, so will the sonic boom.

Another concern of mine will be heat, as air friction compresses the air, heating it up. The temperature I estimate I will reach will exceed the maximum of some of the components, so I will need some sort of cooling mechanism, and just fans won't cut it.

Now I know some of you may have alarming concerns, but if you calmly address them with me I will address them. I'm posting this here because I may need advise for the type of parts I need and other recommendations you may have.

Aerospace V logger out.

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  • There's no way a $8 plastic rotor is going to withstand a 700 mph airstream. Even if the blades didn't fold back and break off, the RPM needed to travel through the air at that speed would explode the rotor. 

    Isn't it easier to do something like an alcohol ram jet or other similar engine? You'll definitely never go supersonic without some form of AB or Rocket motor. And an afterburner means unholy amounts of fuel.....

    You going to have to sit and whip out the physics books and start doing math. How much energy does it take to hit 800 mph at sea level, then take that and divide up the energy density of your fuel and see how much this thing will weigh. 

    • My posts indicated it IS fueled by alcohol. If it were not for the electric ducted fan in front of the burner, it actually would be a ram jet. It's just that ram jets don't produce static thrust.

      And yes, I have been doing many of the calculations. And it's not how much energy you need, it's how much power you need.

  • Now if you do it with a Foamy, I'll be really impressed !

    • No way will this thing be made from foam, you can count on that.

  • So you are going to design your own engine from the ground up. That will be interesting. 

    • Not completely. It will use the E-flite Delta-V 32 EDF as a compressor, but it will also use an ethanol fueled augmenter with a linear aerospike nozzle.

  • MR60

    You should reuse some of the Area 51 retro engineered alien tech, such as magneto-Hydro-Dynamic techniques (MHD) generating high magnetic fields at the nose level of your plane, high amps currents, to create an aspiration force that will suck the air in front of the plane. (the old F=B x I x L electromagnetice formula)

    That way you will avoid the supersonic boom.

    However I'm afraid that if you do this, the military will lock you away in groom lake and we will never hear about you anymore on this forum.

    • I think radio shack has (MHD) on sale ;-)

  • What is your budget for this project?
    • Presently my funds are very tight but I guess around $3000 ought to do it. However, that does not cover the R&D costs.

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