science

PAR Special

PAR Special is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand PAR Special rather than just read about it. In short: The PAR Special was a high-speed experimental monoplane built by a consortium of aviation engineers, and competed in air races in the early 1950s. Design and development The Special was a project of four St.

Key takeaways

PAR Special belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect PAR Special to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of PAR Special from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The PAR Special was a high-speed experimental monoplane built by a consortium of aviation engineers, and competed in air races in the early 1950s.

Design and development The Special was a project of four St. Louis-based McDonnell Aircraft employees; Arthur Beckington, George Owl, Errol Painter, and Robert Short. They formed a partnership called Parks Alumni Racebuilders, or PAR, named as a tribute to the Parks Air College that all four had graduated from. The Special was a shoulder-wing single-engine pusher monoplane, of wood and metal construction. It incorporated a variable-incidence wing, with a jackscrew mechanism allowing the wing to be adjusted in flight, with the angle of incidence covering the range from 0.5 through to 13.5 degrees. The wings were cantilevered and had a tapered planform, with neither sweep nor dihedral. The pilot was positioned just ahead of the wing, and sat under a bubble canopy. A centrally located Continental C85 engine powered, via an extension-shaft, a two-bladed fixed-pitch propeller positioned aft of the empennage. The aircraft had a Y tail configuration, with an inverted tailfin that ensured that the propeller had sufficient ground clearance. Its undercarriage consisted of tandem main wheels, partially recessed into the underside of the fuselage. Skateboard wheels were attached to the trailing edge of each wingtip. The aircraft was given the race number 87 and the registration N90522.

Operational history The Special was first flown by Art Beckington in February 1950. From that year through to 1952, it competed in several air races, achieving lap speeds of 181 mph (291 km/h). It was not as competitive as had been expected and in 1952 the Special was retired and later dismantled. Its wings, rear fuselage, and tail were passed onto Thomas Trefethen and Harvey Mace, who incorporated them into a single-engine tractor seaplane they had constructed in the mid-1960s, the Mace-Trefethen Seamaster.

Specifications Data from Southern FlightGeneral characteristics Crew: 1 Length: 20 ft (6.1 m) Wingspan: 20 ft (6.1 m) Wing area: 67 sq ft (6.2 m2) Airfoil: NACA 23009-23012 Empty weight: 640 lb (290 kg) Gross weight: 900 lb (408 kg) Powerplant: 1 × Continental C85 flat-four, 85 hp (63 kW) Propellers: 2-bladed Performance

Maximum speed: 234 mph (377 km/h, 203 kn) estimated Stall speed: 65 mph (105 km/h, 56 kn)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with PAR Special

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what PAR Special claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to PAR Special before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about PAR Special ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of PAR Special

In research: PAR Special appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses PAR Special in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: PAR Special is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1950s United States experimental aircraft, Aircraft first flown in 1950, Aircraft with fixed bicycle landing gear, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for PAR Special outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study PAR Special in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what PAR Special means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain PAR Special out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is PAR Special in simple terms?

The PAR Special was a high-speed experimental monoplane built by a consortium of aviation engineers, and competed in air races in the early 1950s. Design and development The Special was a project of four St.

Why does PAR Special matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study PAR Special?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on PAR Special.