The Stanley Nomad is an American

mid-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing config ...

V-tail The V-tail or ''vee-tail'' (sometimes called a butterfly tail or Rudlicki's V-tailGudmundsson S. (2013). "General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures" (Reprint). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 489. , 9780123973290) of an aircraf ...

ed, single seat glider that was designed and constructed by Robert M. Stanley in 1938.Said, Bob: ''1983 Sailplane Directory, Soaring Magazine'', page 64,

Soaring Society of America The Soaring Society of America (SSA) was founded at the instigation of Warren E. Eaton to promote the sport of soaring in the USA and internationally. The first meeting was held in New York City in the McGraw–Hill Building on February 20, 193 ...

November 1983. USPS 499-920

Design and development

Stanley designed the Nomad between 1935 and 1938, while serving in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, building it in the basement of a house that he shared with other sailors in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The aircraft was completed in June 1938. The Nomad is of mixed construction, with a

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

, a wooden cantilever wing with one spar and wooden tail surfaces. The wing and tail are all covered with doped

aircraft fabric covering Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as are ...

. The wing employs a

NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...

23-018

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more Lift (force), lift than Drag (physics), drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foil (fl ...

at the

wing root The wing root is the part of the wing on a fixed-wing aircraft or winged-spaceship that is closest to the fuselage,Peppler, I.L.: ''From The Ground Up'', page 9. Aviation Publishers Co. Limited, Ottawa Ontario, Twenty Seventh Revised Edition, 1 ...

, transitioning to a NACA 23-012 at the

wing tip A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft. Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of sha ...

. The original design had a conventional

cruciform tail The cruciform tail is an aircraft empennage configuration which, when viewed from the aircraft's front or rear, looks much like a cross. The usual arrangement is to have the tailplane, horizontal stabilizer intersect the vertical tail somewhere ...

, but in 1939 this was replaced with one of the first V-tails used on any aircraft and the first employed on a sailplane. The landing gear is a monowheel.

Operational history

Stanley had never flown any glider when he entered the Nomad in the 1938 US Nationals, held in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. ...

. The Nomad's first flight was in the competition and Stanley completed all three parts of his

silver badge Silver is a chemical element; it has symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. Silver is found in ...

on that first flight. On one contest flight he flew almost to

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, which amazed the spectators and other competitors alike. After one out-landing a souvenir hunter stole his removable

elevators An elevator (American English) or lift (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive tracti ...

, putting him out of the remainder of the competition. Stanley brought the Nomad to the 1939 US Nationals and by then the conventional tail had been replaced with a V-tail. At that event he completed the first gold badge in the United States and on 3 July 1939 set a new US altitude record of , which was more than twice the previous record. On the following day, 4 July 1939, he broke the altitude record again, climbing to climbing inside a

cumulonimbus Cumulonimbus () is a dense, towering, vertical cloud, typically forming from water vapor condensing in the lower troposphere that builds upward carried by powerful buoyant air currents. Above the lower portions of the cumulonimbus the water va ...

cloud. He finished second in the Nationals, even though he did not complete the last task. Later while flying

aerobatics Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...

in the Nomad after a poorly completed wing repair the wing failed in flight and Stanley bailed out successfully. The aircraft's remains were sold, the new owner repaired the aircraft and Stanley bought it back from him. Stanley went on to become president of the

in 1940, but never designed another glider. He worked as the chief test pilot for Bell Aircraft Corporation during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and in that capacity made the first flight in the

Bell XP-59 The Bell XP-52 and subsequent XP-59 were World War II fighter aircraft design projects by the American Bell Aircraft Corporation. Both projects featured a twin-boom layout with a rear-mounted engine driving pusher contra-rotating propellers ...

, the first jet-powered aircraft produced in the USA. Stanley's wife, Katherine N. Stanley, donated the aircraft to the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

in 1978 after Stanley's death in 1977. For a time in the 1980s it was on loan to the

National Soaring Museum The National Soaring Museum (NSM) is an aviation museum whose stated aim is to preserve the history of motorless flight. It is located in Big Flats Town, New York, on top of Harris Hill near Elmira. The NSM is the Soaring Society of America's ...

, but in 2011 was on display and suspended from the ceiling of the Boeing Aviation Hangar at the

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous exhibits, ...

Aircraft on display

Specifications (Nomad)

References

External links