While the date of original publication might lead one to think this material must be out of date, that is simply not true and the Theory of Wing Sections is one of the most valuable references in any aerospace engineer’s personal library. Many of the more important airfoil shapes have their test results summarized in the Theory of Wing Sections, a Dover paperback publication authored by Ira Abbott and Albert Von Doenhoff and first published in 1949. This data is most conveniently presented in plots of lift coefficient versus angle of attack, pitching moment coefficient versus angle of attack, drag coefficient versus lift coefficient, and pitching moment coefficient versus lift coefficient and is found in literally hundreds of NACA and NASA Reports, Notes, and Memoranda published since the 1920s.
Lift, drag, and pitching moment data for hundreds of such airfoil shapes was determined in wind tunnel tests by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and later by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In Chapter 3 of this text we discussed many of the aspects of airfoil design as well as the NACA designations for several series of airfoils.
