5.1 Airfoil Discussions

AQUILA

• AQUILA-PT (Fig. 12.1)

With the level of sophistication in F3B today, it is hard to believe that in 1977 Skip Miller flew his “modified” Airtronics AQUILA sailplane to a first place finish at the first F3B RC Soaring World Championships. One can only speculate on the performance differences between Skip Miller’s “modified” AQUILA and the stock version; nevertheless, the stock AQUILA was a formidable RC sailplane from the mid 70’s to early 80’s.

In comparison to other popular airfoils of the time, the AQUILA airfoil gave excellent thermal performance. However, the high camber was a handicap at high speed. Recognizing this deficiency, Airtronics introduced the SAGITTA with the Eppler 205 airfoil, which had the desired high-speed qualities. The popularity of the AQUILA waned, and production was finally discontinued.

Also see: S2091, SD7032, SD7037, FX60-100 Digitizer plot: Fig. 10.1 Polar plot: Fig. 12.1 Lift plot: Fig. 12.2

Thickness: 9.38% Camber: 4.05%