Airfoil Data
USA40B
USA 40 B AIRFOIL
Wing Geometry Simulator
The USA 40 B AIRFOIL is a 10.6% chord-thickness airfoil with a maximum camber of 5.3% 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 -5.3°.
Thin airfoil theory predicts a stall angle near 11.7° and a peak lift-to-drag ratio around 65 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 USA40B appears in the wing design of at least 8 documented aircraft, including designs from Bird and Brunner-Winkle. Its proven track record across canard designs makes it one of the more field-validated profiles in the UIUC database.
Designers evaluating the USA40B typically compare it against profiles of similar thickness: EPPLER 638 AIRFOIL, SPICA 11.73% smoothed, FX 61-147 AIRFOIL, GOE 775 AIRFOIL, USA 27 AIRFOIL. The Zv(15-35)16 is another reference profile frequently considered alongside it.
Aircraft Using the USA40B Airfoil
Bird Biplane | Bird | USA 40B mod | Constant |
Bird C | Bird | USA 40B mod | Constant |
Bird CJ | Bird | USA 40B mod | Constant |
Bird CK | Bird | USA 40B mod | Constant |
Brunne & Winkel Biplane | Brunne | USA 40B | Constant |
Brunner-Winkle Bird A | Brunner-Winkle | USA 40B mod | Constant |
Brunner-Winkle Bird BK | Brunner-Winkle | USA 40B mod | Constant |
Brunner-Winkle Bird BW | Brunner-Winkle | USA 40B mod | Constant |
Related Airfoils
Engineers evaluating the USA40B frequently compare it against profiles with comparable geometric constraints. Below are the closest matches based on maximum thickness (10.6%) and max camber (5.3%).