Summary: Tests were performed in the Göttingen (Germany) and Guidonia (Italy) supersonic tunnels in order to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of projectiles of various shapes. The Mach numbers ranged from about 1.3 to 3.2 for the Göttingen tests and from 1.44 to 2.66 for the Guidonia tests. The results show that increasing the relative length of the nose causes the drag coefficient to decrease and the center of pressure to move forward. For a given length, the nose having minimum drag has a curved profile; the curvature is greatest at the tip and decreases to a very small value toward the rear of the nose, where the shape becomes approximately conical. As the Mach number increases, the drag coefficient decreases and the center of pressure moves toward the tail. For the higher Mach numbers the variation of the drag coefficient and the movement of the center of pressure are small. Existing aerodynamic theory gives values of the aerodynamic characteristics close to those determined experimentally for small flow deviations.

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