Awesome forum… think I might be spending a lot of time here in the future. I’m a filmmaker by trade but I’ve always been interested in the science of flight… I got some free time this semester so I thought maybe I could do some reading.

 

Anyone know some beginner books (or links) on the physics of flight? Things like calculating lift, wind resistance, etc

 

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

Brad

Paloaltothemovie.com

Wikipedia is a good place to start. but remember, it is only a breif, often simplified, overveiw. the references and external links usually provide much betterquality and indepth information.

 

and you can always ask specific questions here.

Besides what i_a said, which is good stuff, I think that a good place to start is a fluid mechanics text. If you aren't technically trained, a book like Steven Vogel's Life in Moving Fluids is very good. It is a fluid mechanics book for biology majors, but as someone who has studied a lot of fluid mechanics, I thought it was very well done. Chapter 11 is called "Lift, Airfoils, Gliding, and Soaring" and Chapter 12 is entitled "The Thrust of Flying and Swimming" If you are technically trained, there are many, many good fluids books out there.