ISSN (O): 2393-8609

International Journal of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Volume 6 – No.2, September 2019

Review Paper on Wing Folding Mechanism

Aman Upadhyay Harsh Mehra

BE Mechanical Engineering BE Mechanical Engineering
Chandigarh University Chandigarh University
amanu.1698@gmail.com hhmehra@gmail.com

ABSTRACT This review paper discusses the solution to the problem

In this paper, we will describe the importance and arising due to this increased traffic and the availability of less
implementation of the wing folding mechanism. These days space at the airport to park the aircraft. Wing folding
we are seeing the growth of air passengers, air traffic and the mechanism can be implemented to passenger aircraft to solve
problem lesser space at the airport for parking of aircraft. This this problem. Once, an efficient wing folding mechanism is
paper reviews the wing folding mechanism and its developed it can be implemented to the huge airliners like
implementation to save the airport space to accommodate Airbus A380 and Boeing 777X or many other passenger
more aircrafts. Wing folding mechanism is used to fold the aircraft. This will result in saving a lot of space at airport
wings of aircraft parked at airport to save the space and reduce results in lesser demands of extra terminals. It will also result
the wingspan. Further, this wing folding mechanism is also in time-saving as the wing can be folded while taxing on
implemented in flying cars. runways more aircraft can move on adjacent runways and
transportation of the aircraft will be easier.
Keywords This paper discusses different wind folding mechanism
Wing Folding Mechanism, Flying Cars, Folding Wing, available and their implementation.
Aircrafts, STO Wings
2. LITERARY REVIEW
1. INTRODUCTION A study on the past Foldable Wing Aircrafts was done.
The insight into our future is a sky full of aircraft and flying
machines. Future is no far when we will see skies full of This concept of Wing Folding was first originated as the
flying cars and aircrafts. We are seeing a huge expansion of necessity of space required for aircraft on naval deck space
the Aircraft industry. where there is very limited space. The first wing folding
mechanism was developed and patented by the Short Brothers
In today’s era we are seeing a tremendous increase in the in 1913 for Biplane ship-borne aircraft like their short folder.
production and demand of aircraft and so is the increase in the In that mechanism, the wings were hinged and folded along
air traffic. With the increase in the demand of the aircraft, the with the fuselage. Short Brothers were the world’s first
size and length of the aircraft are also increasing. With this aircraft manufacturer.
exponential increase in demand and manufacturing of aircraft,
there is an increase in air traffic. Air traffic is one of the major
problems that all the airports are facing. Due to the increase in
the air traffics there is a very less space to park the aircraft at
airports or taxing the airliners at runways. Aircraft like Airbus
A380 and Boeing 777 has a wingspan up to 80 m requires a
lot of space in the airport to stand and will taxi to the runway.
Specialized hangers and maintenance rooms are made for
these giant birds.

Fig. Grumman F4F Wildcat with STO Wing Folding

Mechanism

American World War II birds were loved for their wing

Fig. Douglas Skyraider folding mechanism as they were saving a huge space at the

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 ISSN (O): 2393-8609

International Journal of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Volume 6 – No.2, September 2019
naval aircraft carriers. After the Short Brothers, Grumman the wing is folded along the fuselage are Grumman E-1
came with their STO Wing Folding Mechanism. It was the Tracer, Fairey Fulmar, Grumman E-2 Hawkeye and many
first American company to build the aircraft with wing more aircrafts.
folding mechanism. Grumman F4F Wildcat by Leroy
Grumman was the aircraft manufactured with the wing
folding mechanism. It was the carrier-based aircraft which has
the STO wing folding mechanism. This STO wing folding
mechanism was the major source of the wing folding
mechanism implemented to civilian aircraft these days.
Grumman E-2 Hawkeye Shipboard Airborne Early Warning
Aircraft and its derivative C-2 Greyhound is still used, which
works on the same concept as that of STO Wing Folding
Mechanism. Another Grumman Naval Aircraft which is based
on the STO Wing Folding Mechanism is F-14 Tomcat.
Those days the wing folding mechanism was just limited to
the Military and Navy Aircrafts as there was a huge demand
for saving the space at naval decks and to increase the fleet of Fig. Grumman E-2 Hawkeye
the aircraft.
But with the expansion of the Aircraft industry and an Double Fold- In this folding mechanism the wing is folded
increase in the air passengers and aircraft we are facing the into two or more parts. Aircrafts using this technique are
need for space at the airport these days. As the number, if Supermarine Seafire, Fairey Gannet, etc.
aircraft are increasing there is also an increased demand for
the area for them at the airport for taxing and parking. Folding
mechanisms are very rare on the existing airliners and
passenger aircraft. The airliners which are very tall or wide
also face the problem for getting fit into the hangers. With the
aircraft like Boeing B-50 Superfortress, AIRBUS A380 and
many huge aircrafts face a problem not only for parking at
airports but also for keeping them in hangers. Although
Boeing B-50 has its foldable tail which helps it in to enter
hanger. Different aircraft like Saab 37 Viggen and Boeing 377
Stratocruiser have folding rear fins which make it easier to
enter the hanger. Boeing 777 (Classic) twin jet engine offers
folding wingtip.

Fig. Supermarine Seafire

Folding of Wings are classified into different types:
Simple Fold- In this the wing of aircraft is folded horizontally
or vertically. Some of the aircraft using this mechanism are Rotating Wing – In this the wing rotates parallel to the
Short Folder S.64, De Havilland Sea Vixen, Hawker Sea fuselage. An example is V-22 Osprey.
Furry, Hawker sear Hawk, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, F11F
Tiger with downward-folded wingtips, MIG 29K, RAD
Baccaneer S.2, F-8H and there are many more aircraft.

Fig. V-22 Osprey

Fig. F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

Over-Swept Wing- In this the wing are in over sweep

Afterward Fold - In this folding mechanism, the aircraft's position. An example is F-14 Tomcat.
wing is folded along the fuselage. Different aircrafts in which

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 ISSN (O): 2393-8609

International Journal of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Volume 6 – No.2, September 2019
Besides STO Wing it was the first monoplane in carrier
service.

3.3 How Folding Wing Work

The concept of the folding wing is as old as the aviation
industry. Wing folding mechanism makes use of the two-stage
process. In the first step, the trailing edge of the wing moves
up by rotating. They are actuated hydraulically or most
recently electrically. Outer wing rotates around the hinge and
after getting in two parts they are locked. In the second step,
wing slides down while being rotated to the rear of aircraft.
The STO-Wing which was first incorporated to the wildcat
had a hand crack like structures underside the wing which
Fig. F-14 Tomcat allowed the flight deck to control the folding wing manually.
Further, it came with hydraulic actuators.

Apart from these, there are more aircraft which have the 3.4 Advantages of STO-Wing
folding wing-like Sukhoi Su-33 and Lockheed S-3 Viking. Out of all the folding wing mechanism available the STO
wing is more preferred because of:
As per the International Civil Aviation Organization, the
maximum wingspan of commercial aircraft cannot exceed 65 Weight of aircraft can be saved by using this mechanism over
meters. So, the wing folding mechanism will help the huge the existing horizontal axis folding mechanism. It is a
airliners like Airbus A380 having a wingspan of 80m. relatively simpler mechanism. Since implementing vertical or
horizontal folding mechanism is a great problem for big
Not only the aircraft but many Naval Helicopters have airliners like Airbus A380. Vertically it is not possible
foldable rotor blades which helps in saving space onboard because of the size of the hanger. Its horizontal and vertical
ships. distance can be changed using its axis rods.
Apart from the advantages of folding wing mechanism have 3.5 Requirements and Consideration
some disadvantages also. Compared to fixed-wing it is The concept of Wing Folding Mechanism was first coined
heavier and has a more complex connection of actuators, fuel
during world war due to lack of space on naval carriers and
and electricity.
huge demand for aircraft. World war aircraft were small
3. METHODOLOGY aircraft and has very small wingspan. For designing or making
3.1 STO-Wing wing folding mechanism for commercial aircrafts following
All the wing folding mechanism we are seeing today is based considerations need to be required:
on this mechanism or is a derivative of this mechanism. STO-
Wing was patented by the Leroy Grumman. a) Simplicity in Design
b) Should be as per the wingspan of aircrafts.
During World War II, with the growing demand of aircraft for
c) Area requirement.
the US Navy, the Grumman engineers came up with a
solution to accommodate more aircraft on a naval aircraft d) Different design for Twin-engine aircraft
carrier ship. The obvious solution for that problem was to fold e) Should be made as per space and hanger size of all the
the wings. But every time they tried they failed. And then airports present in the world.
Leroy Grumman came up with STO-Wing. Initially, these f) Commercially Viable
wings were operated by Hydraulics which increased the
weight of aircraft. Due to this added weight, the performance Initially, for the incorporation of the wing folding mechanism
of aircraft was reduced. So, a lighter manual system fitted in commercial aircraft, there would be the requirement of a lot
with safety locks were used. When these aircraft were
introduced, the capacity of aircraft carriers increased by 50 of investment in terms of human, financial and technological.
per cent. It should be such made that it can be implemented to both
commercial and passenger aircraft. For four-engine aircraft, it
3.2 F4F-4 Wildcat Specifications is not feasible, so some different mechanism needs to be
This was one of the Grumman Aircrafts which were designed.
incorporated with STO-Wing. It has a wingspan of 88 feet and
a length of 29 feet. Plane's empty weight is 5,895 pounds and
the gross weight is 7,975 pounds. It has 1200 hp Single Prat
&Whitney engine with two-stage, two-speed supercharger.

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 ISSN (O): 2393-8609

International Journal of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Volume 6 – No.2, September 2019

Fig. Grumman’s TBM Avenger was one of the first aircraft incorporated with STO-Wing

4. CONCLUSION
The increasing population of aircraft passengers and an
increase in air traffic need improvement in the aviation
industries. As future insights show that the future is full of
flying machines and aircraft. Future is not so far and so we
need to prepare ourselves for the future to adopt the flying
world.
With the increasing air traffic, there is a demand for airside
space at the airport for taxing and parking of aircraft. For that,
we can incorporate the wing folding mechanism to aircraft.
Once, an efficient wing folding mechanism is developed it can
be implemented to the huge airliners like Airbus A380 and
Boeing 777X or many others passenger aircraft. This will
result in saving a lot of space at airport results in lesser
demands of extra terminals. It will also result in time-saving
as the wing can be folded while taxing on runways more
aircraft can move on adjacent runways and transportation of
the aircraft will be easier.

5. REFERENCES
[1] Design, analysis and optimization of Wing Folding
Mechanism, Dishant Kothia IJAME, Vol 3 Sept 2016
[2] https://www.tested.com/tech/568755-airplane-origami-
how-folding-wings-work/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding_wing
[4] Wing-folding mechanism of the Grumman Wildcat.
c2016. [Date 2014 September 6].
https://www.asme.org/getmedia/2d64abc8-3fa3-4d29-
92d4-40db4777e8b2/238-Grumman-Wildcat-Sto-Wing-
Wing-folding-Mechanism.aspx
[5] https://web.archive.org/web/20151021083204/https://ww
w.asme.org/getmedia/2d64abc8-3fa3-4d29-92d4-
40db4777e8b2/238-Grumman-Wildcat-Sto-Wing-Wing-
folding-Mechanism.aspx

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