Airfoil Data
CURTISC72

The Curtis C-72 is a 11.7% chord-thickness airfoil with a maximum camber of 5.9% at 30% chord, suited to general-aviation and UAV wing design. At zero angle of attack the cambered geometry generates positive lift, giving an estimated zero-lift angle of -5.9°.

Thin airfoil theory predicts a stall angle near 11.6° and a peak lift-to-drag ratio around 68 at typical UAV and light-aircraft Reynolds numbers — useful benchmarks before running a full XFOIL or NeuralFoil polar. The 12% thickness provides structural depth for main-spar placement without excessive drag penalty at moderate speeds.

The CURTISC72 appears in the wing design of at least 32 documented aircraft, including designs from Curtiss and Curtiss-Robertson. Its proven track record across conventional and rotorcraft designs makes it one of the more field-validated profiles in the UIUC database.

Designers evaluating the CURTISC72 typically compare it against profiles of similar thickness: GOE 431 AIRFOIL, FX 84-W-150, EPPLER E1212 AIRFOIL, NACA CYH, FX 78-PK-188/20. The BOEING VERTOL V43015-2.48 AIRFOIL is another reference profile frequently considered alongside it.