Research shows that the unusual design stands to gain up to 20 percent better fuel efficiency than an Airbus A350 jetliner, considered today’s most advanced design. At full scale, the Flying-V ...

What You Need to Know: The Vought V-173, or “Flying Pancake,” defied traditional aircraft design with its flat, flying-wing shape. Invented in the 1930s by Charles Zimmerman, the V-173 was ...

If someone claimed their new aircraft design used two 80 hp Piper ... The U.S. Navy’s Unconventional ‘Flying Pancake’ Fighter Vought V-173 prototype's 427 square feet of wing area gave it ...

Access to the cockpit was via a series of recessed steps up the back of the aircraft instead of the lower trap door design used on the V-173. While maintaining the same basic layout as the V-173 ...

V-22 guys would totally relate to the way this particular aircraft operates.” Zimmerman’s design could achieve a zero-roll takeoff with a 25-knot headwind, according to National Air and Space ...

The Flying-V, an experimental aircraft that promises significantly greater fuel efficiency over more conventional commercial jet designs, is moving towards a larger, more complicated version since the ...