Airfoil Data
RAF33

The RAF 33 AIRFOIL is a 11.0% chord-thickness airfoil with a maximum camber of 5.5% 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 -5.5°.

Thin airfoil theory predicts a stall angle near 11.6° and a peak lift-to-drag ratio around 66 at typical UAV and light-aircraft Reynolds numbers — useful benchmarks before running a full XFOIL or NeuralFoil polar. The 11% thickness provides structural depth for main-spar placement without excessive drag penalty at moderate speeds.

The RAF33 appears in the wing design of at least 1 documented aircraft — notably by Short. Its proven track record across canard designs makes it one of the more field-validated profiles in the UIUC database.

Designers evaluating the RAF33 typically compare it against profiles of similar thickness: GOE 532 AIRFOIL, AH 79-100 B AIRFOIL, RAF 32 AIRFOIL, Eiffel 430 (Lachassgne), RONCZ 1082T VOYAGER TIP OUTER AFT WING AIRFOIL. The GOE 628 AIRFOIL is another reference profile frequently considered alongside it.