Airfoil Data
USA41

The USA 41 AIRFOIL is a thin 7.7% chord-thickness airfoil with a maximum camber of 3.8% at 30% chord, suited to high-speed UAVs, sailplane tip sections, and propeller blade design. At zero angle of attack the cambered geometry generates positive lift, giving an estimated zero-lift angle of -3.8°.

Thin airfoil theory predicts a stall angle near 11.8° and a peak lift-to-drag ratio around 57 at typical UAV and light-aircraft Reynolds numbers — useful benchmarks before running a full XFOIL or NeuralFoil polar. The slim profile minimises pressure drag at higher speeds but leaves limited spar depth for structural integration.

The USA41 appears in the wing design of at least 1 documented aircraft — notably by Fetters. Its proven track record across canard designs makes it one of the more field-validated profiles in the UIUC database.

Designers evaluating the USA41 typically compare it against profiles of similar thickness: Legionair 140 (digitized and smoothed by MSelig), DF102, DF 101 AIRFOIL, FX 84-W-097, GOE 276 (DAIMLER VII) AIRFOIL. The W1011 is another reference profile frequently considered alongside it.