What to expect when you thin down an airfoil
Hi Michael -
What chuckn says is not necessarily true. A symmetrical airfoil has to maintain a positive angle of attack in order to generate lift. True, some thicker symmetrical airfoils will take advantage of the the differentiation between the air pressure above and the higher density pressure below to achieve some lift, but basically at 0 angle it is just a directional vane. By eliminating the lower curve ChuckN is right, you have a flat bottomed foil similar to a Clark Y - BUT - it is a much thinner airfoil with about 1/2 the frontal area! It should create enough lift at speed to cancel any positive angle and the aircraft should fly faster. It will also probably land faster and stall at a higher speed. In many, many years past when I was flying Controline speed, my favorite and fastest wings started at the root as a Clark Y and gradually transformed to a symmetrical tip. Might be an interesting experiment for a pylon racer wing.
Don't forget the Hardhats!
Phil