EVER since the Wright brothers came up with the idea of wing warping to steer their plane, aircraft designers have dreamed of altering the contours of their creations on the fly. The shape of an aircraft’s tail and the length of its wings, for example, determine its flying characteristics, so being able to alter them during flight could make existing designs more versatile, and turn specialist aircraft into workhorses that can carry out all kinds of tasks.
Now a new design approach based on smart materials and actuators could turn shape-shifting from a dream into the hottest aeronautical must-have since…
