Airfoil Data
GW25
GW 25
Wing Geometry Simulator
The GW 25 is a 14.1% chord-thickness airfoil with a maximum camber of 7.0% at 42% chord, suited to high-lift UAV wings, RC sailplanes, and low-Reynolds-number slow-flyers. At zero angle of attack the cambered geometry generates positive lift, giving an estimated zero-lift angle of -7.0°.
Thin airfoil theory predicts a stall angle near 10.9° and a peak lift-to-drag ratio around 72 at typical UAV and light-aircraft Reynolds numbers — useful benchmarks before running a full XFOIL or NeuralFoil polar. The 14% thickness provides structural depth for main-spar placement without excessive drag penalty at moderate speeds.
The GW25 appears in the wing design of at least 9 documented aircraft, including designs from General and Leading. 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 GW25 typically compare it against profiles of similar thickness: Rhode St. Genese 34, FX 74-CL6-140, FX 84-W-218, GOE 227 (MVA H.37) AIRFOIL, Eiffel 385 (S.T. Ae). The GOE 301 (FRIEDRICHSHAFEN G 13) AIRFOIL is another reference profile frequently considered alongside it.
Aircraft Using the GW25 Airfoil
General Atomics Altus I | General | Drela GW-19/GW-25 | Drela GW-27 |
General Atomics Altus II | General | Drela GW-19/GW-25 | Drela GW-27 |
General Atomics Gnat-750 | General | Drela GW-25 | Drela GW-27 |
General Atomics Predator (RQ-1) | General | Drela GW-19/GW-25 | Drela GW-27 |
General Atomics Predator B (RQ-9) | General | Drela GW-19/GW-25 | Drela GW-27 |
General Atomics Prowler I | General | Drela GW-25 | Drela GW-27 |
General Atomics Prowler II | General | Drela GW-25 | Drela GW-27 |
General Atomics Reaper (MQ-9) | General | Drela GW-19/GW-25 | Drela GW-27 |
Leading Systems Amber | Leading | Drela GW-25 | Drela GW-27 |
Wing lofting: 9 of these aircraft taper from GW25 at the root to a different tip section. Use the Tapered filter to isolate them, then click any tip airfoil link to compare geometries.
Related Airfoils
Engineers evaluating the GW25 frequently compare it against profiles with comparable geometric constraints. Below are the closest matches based on maximum thickness (14.1%) and max camber (7.0%).