NASA AD-1 Oblique-Wing Research Aircraft
The AD-1 was a low-speed research aircraft built to investigate an oblique wing that pivoted across the fuselage as a single structure. NASA used it to examine handling and aerodynamic behaviour with the wing set at different sweep angles. It first flew in December 1979 and completed 79 flights before its final flight in August 1982. The programme demonstrated the concept at low speed while revealing structural flexibility and coupled handling effects at larger sweep angles. Its results did not validate a full-size transonic transport.
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Identity
- Aliases
- AD-1Ames-Dryden-1Ames-Dryden AD-1
- Family Name
- NASA AD-1
- Full Name
- NASA AD-1 Oblique-Wing Research Aircraft
- Roles
- researchexperimental
- Status
- retired
- Type
- aircraft
Details
- Aircraft Specs
- Configuration
- fixed_wing
- Description
- The AD-1 was a low-speed research aircraft built to investigate an oblique wing that pivoted across the fuselage as a single structure. NASA used it to examine handling and aerodynamic behaviour with the wing set at different sweep angles. It first flew in December 1979 and completed 79 flights before its final flight in August 1982. The programme demonstrated the concept at low speed while revealing structural flexibility and coupled handling effects at larger sweep angles. Its results did not validate a full-size transonic transport.
- First Flight Year
- 1,979
- Last Flight Year
- 1,982
Links
- Official Url
- https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/ad-1/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- October 17, 2026 at 13:24:04 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 17, 2026 at 13:24:04 UTC