Model Aircraft Aerodynamics Paperback – Illustrated, January 15, 2015

Andy Lennon RIP, one of the best model designers around, especially if you like something unique at the flying field.Not the easiest build, but wonderful flying.

Incredibly well thought out and put together book. Will be enlightening to the beginner and the fluid dynamicist alike. Covers everything from Reynolds numbers to dynamic soaring. A must read for any model builder and an approachable book for anyone with an interest in aerodynamics.

Even though its focus is models, this book is a great inexpensive companion to the far more costly textbooks on full-scale airplane design. A lot of its discussion is applicable to aircraft of any scale. About 1/3 of the book is devoted to airfoils, including discussions of section shape, camber, turbulent flow, laminar flow and the impact of Reynolds number. Like the other reviewer I particular like the appendixes which cover almost 130 pages of this book. The appendixes contain most of the math in the book, including the mathematical formulas for computing lift coefficient, camber, drag, static margin, etc. Mostly, though, they contain wind tunnel test results and profile shapes for many airfoils, not just the NACA ones, but also Eppler, Wortmann and Selig profiles and a few others that I had never heard of. The NACA profiles are easy to find (like in 'Theory of Wing Sections') but its nice to see such an extensive list of the harder-to-find profiles as well.

This book contains a lot of information about wing design, theory and applied aerodynamics. It's not for the feint of heart, or someone who is intimidated by math. Though the author does a good job of minimizing equations and complex physics. One of my complaints is that a lot of the illustrations are on different pages than the text that references them. I realize this is hard to get around, but I found it annoying when trying to understand a concept in the text I had to bounce back and forth to an illustration on another page. If you are a serious glider pilot or someone who likes to design RC airframes, this book should be on your shelf.

This is sort of a classic updated periodically. It has some math in it, but it is not overwhelming and if you skip those parts you won't be lost on the concepts, which are well explained within the scope of the book. It will not teach all there is to know about model aerodynamics.

This a "Must to have" book! not only for airplane modelers, the low Reynolds researchers will encounter this book interesting. With a simple and clear language, the author explains step by step the law motions in Chapter 1, "Fundamentals", then the factors affecting the Lift and Drag plus Scale effect and the Boundary layer are taked in the subsequent chapters. In the chapters 8 & 9, respectively, the author explain a very important topic, The turbulent & laminar flow aerofoils; this excellent book is completed with the chapters 14, "propellers" and the chapter 15, "The Helicopter rotor".Is an author's goal to include the Appendix 1, "Example of calculations", and Appendix 2, "wind tunnel test results". Also, the Appendix 3 bring the Aerofoil ordinates, and Appendix 4, some References.

If you are looking for a book that you can use to help you make design decisions in your own models, look elsewhere. Most (if not all ) topics in this book are touched on in VERY shallow detail. Many topics in this book that deserve a full chapter or more of discussion, have only a paragraph or two. Just not enough depth to be useful. Maybe could be useful if you need a low level introduction to these basic principles, but even still, the topics are pretty poorly covered.

I have recently studied the 2009 edition. First, I confess prejudice, since he references my work on airfoils. But this is a truly excellent volume, well written, well illustrated, virtually without equations and correct in every respect. I could not find a single item that was wrong, or even required more precise expression. I expect that readers who do not have college aerodynamics may find it a little abstruse. But the truth is seldom simple.Most of the reviews give good, useful descriptions of the content. It is a pity that one reviewer was so totally ignorant as to knock the book because it "used Bernoulli for airfoil lift"!! The book he quotes as a basis for this nonsense is actually incorrect, and is widely known as a joke in the professional business. It is sad how definite fools may be. And how harmful!