A Stake in the Ground: How Boundary Layer Control Was Implemented on a Production Tactical Aircraft

摘要

Boundary Layer Control (BLC) in the form of chordwise blowing was developed and fielded in the 1950s to help mitigate the problems of low speed flight of the emerging high performance tactical jet aircraft. The most capable tactical aircraft of its era, the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II, employed BLC from its inception. While the history of the aircraft is well known, the BLC system is accorded little attention. Here the Phantom's BLC system is described in as much detail as the available technical documents allow. Topics include development history, system layout and components, and operating conditions. Special attention is given to events arising in the development that should be familiar to today's Active Flow Control community. Knowledge of this past success in the face of wide-ranging technical challenges provides present-day researchers an enriched perspective from which to plan, execute, and evaluate their work.