Editing Lifting body (section)

==Body lift==
[[File:General Airborne Transport XCG-16 -- 2000-3085 (flight).jpg|thumb|Burnelli General Airborne Transport XCG-16, a lifting body aircraft (1944)]]{{More citations needed|section|date=April 2025}}
Some aircraft with wings also employ bodies that generate lift. Some of the early 1930s high-wing monoplane designs of the [[Bellanca Aircraft Company]], such as the [[Bellanca Aircruiser]], had vaguely airfoil-shaped fuselages capable of generating some lift, with even the wing struts on some versions given widened fairings to give them some lift-generating capability.  The [[Gee Bee Model R|Gee Bee R-1 Super Sportster]] racing plane of the 1930s, likewise, from more modern aerodynamic studies, has been shown to have had considerable ability to generate lift with its fuselage design, important for the R-1's intended racing role, while in highly banked pylon turns while racing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=384 |title=Granville Gee Bee (series) Racing Aircraft |date=June 8, 2009 |publisher=Militayrfactory.com |access-date=20 December 2011}}</ref> [[Vincent Burnelli]] developed several aircraft between the 1920s and 1950 that used fuselage lift. Like the earlier Bellanca monoplanes, the [[Short SC.7 Skyvan]] produces a substantial amount of lift from its fuselage shape, almost as much as the 35% each of the wings produces. 

Fighters like the [[F-15 Eagle]] also produce substantial lift from the wide fuselage between the wings. Because the F-15 Eagle's wide fuselage is so efficient at lift, an F-15 is able to land successfully with only one wing, albeit under nearly full power, with thrust contributing significantly to lift. In the summer of 1983, an Israeli F-15 staged a mock dogfight with Skyhawks for training purposes, near Nahal Tzin in the Negev desert. During the exercise, one of the Skyhawks miscalculated and [[1983 Negev mid-air collision|collided forcefully with the F-15's wing root]]. The F-15's pilot was aware that the wing had been seriously damaged, but decided to try and land in a nearby airbase, not knowing the extent of his wing damage. It was only after he had landed, when he climbed out of the cockpit and looked backward, that the pilot realized what had happened: the wing had been completely torn off the plane, and he had landed the plane with only one wing attached. A few months later, the damaged F-15 had been given a new wing, and returned to operational duty in the squadron. The engineers at McDonnell Douglas had a hard time believing the story of the one-winged landing: as far as their planning models were concerned, this was an impossibility.<ref name= noWingF15 >Jon Easley [http://www.uss-bennington.org/phz-nowing-f15.html (9 Aug 2001 09:01:17 EDT) NO WING F15] JEasley198@aol.com</ref>

In 2010, [[Orbital Sciences]] proposed the [[Prometheus (spacecraft)|Prometheus]] "blended lifting-body" [[spaceplane]] vehicle, about one-quarter the size of the [[Space Shuttle]], as a [[private spaceflight|commercial]] option for carrying astronauts to [[low Earth orbit]] under the [[CCDev|commercial crew program]].<ref name=osc2011>{{Cite web |url=http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publications/OrbitalQuarterly_Winter2011.pdf?prid=762#search=%22prometheus%22 |title=The Shape of Things to Come – Orbital's Prometheus™ Space Plane Ready for NASA's Commercial Crew Development Initiative}}</ref>
The [[VTVL#Other approaches|Vertical Takeoff, Horizontal Landing]] (VTHL) vehicle was to have been launched on a human-rated [[Atlas V]] rocket but would land on a runway.<ref name=wsj20101214>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704694004576020192942362626?mod=WSJ_topics_obama Orbital Proposes Spaceplan for Astronauts], ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'', December 14, 2010, accessed December 15, 2010.</ref>
The initial design was to have carried a crew of 4, but it could carry up to 6, or a combination of crew and cargo. In addition to Orbital Sciences, the consortium behind the proposal included [[Northrop Grumman]], which would have built the spaceplane, and the [[United Launch Alliance]], which would have provided the launch vehicle.<ref name=ps20101216>[http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-12/jumping-new-space-race-orbital-sciences-unveils-mini-shuttle-spaceplane-design Jumping into the New Space Race, Orbital Sciences Unveils Mini-Shuttle Spaceplane Design], ''[[Popular Science]]'', 2010-12-16, accessed 2010-12-18. ''"Orbital Sciences isn’t the kind of independent, private, “new space” enterprise as, say, SpaceX. It’s a consortium of defense and aviation heavy-hitters: Northrop would build the plane, and the rockets would be provided by United Launch Alliance (read: Boeing and Lockheed)."''</ref>
Failing to be selected for a CCDev phase 2 award by NASA, Orbital announced in April 2011 that they would likely wind down their efforts to develop a commercial crew vehicle.<ref name=nsj20110422>{{cite journal |title=Orbital may wind down its commercial crew effort |journal=NewSpace Journal |date=2011-04-22 |url=http://www.newspacejournal.com/2011/04/22/orbital-may-wind-down-its-commercial-crew-effort/|access-date=2011-04-25 |quote=''CEO Dave Thompson said ... "I don’t, at this time, anticipate that we’ll continue to pursue our own project in that race. We’ll watch it and if an opportunity develops we may reconsider. But at this point, I would not anticipate a lot of activity on our part in the commercial crew market."''}}</ref>

Design principles of lifting bodies are used also in the construction of [[hybrid airship]]s.