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>From the letters to the editor page of the New York Times, Sept 30, 1990 To The Editor: "New Plane Wing Design Greatly Cuts Drag to Save Fuel" (Science Times Sept. 11) reports that the performance of airplane wings has been improved by incorporating small holes to draw off air where the wings are subject to turbulence. This surprising recipe reminds me of a story that Vladimir Engelhardt, the leading Soviet biochemist, told our biochemical delegation to the Soviet Union in 1960. Today's news reports of Soviet economic problems may give the story added interest. It seems that a newly designed plane lost its right wing in its first test flight. In a test of a second prototype of the same design, the left wing broke off at the same position. The manager of the factory consulted the wisest, oldest plane designer in the Soviet Union, who pondered the problem and advised drilling small holes through both wings, at 10-centimeter intervals, along the line of cleavage. The plane then flew successfully. When asked how he knew that the holes would balance the forces and strengthen rather than weaken the wings, the consultant explained that some problems are too complex to solve by direct analysis and hence must be approached by analogy. He built on the analogy that Soviet toilet paper never tears along the line of perforations. Bernard D. Davis Boston, Sept. 12, 1990
(From the "Rest" of RHF)
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