Your eyes are not deceiving you: The wing of this plane is oblique, turned 60-degrees across its fuselage. It’s name is the AD-1 and it’s the weirdest plane ever created by NASA. But why did they make it this way?The AD-1 Oblique Wing Research Aircraft was designed and made at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center–located in Edwards, California, in the western Mojave Desert–in the mid-1970s. Engineers were curious about the aerodynamic characteristics of such a plane, as well as the control laws required to govern it. Their objective? Better fuel economy: Wind tunnels at NASA Ames showed that an oblique wing design will use half the fuel at supersonic speeds, thanks to superior aerodynamic qualities.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=115689