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Ok, so every aeroplane i've flown on this i can trim the elevators and rudders so that the plane can more or less fly level. However, not every aircraft can trim its ailerons, especially fighters. As such, i cannot trim these aircraft to fly perfectly straight. It isn't a big deal, i managed for ages to fly without trimming anything, but is this my own stupidity, or is it that certain aircraft couldn't trim ailerons?
Annoying the annoying, so you don't have to.
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Moggy, it's because those AC couldn't trim their ailerons, I would think. The Lagg-3, for example, can't trim ailerons...
Not all aircraft have trim on all their control surfaces. Even most modern light aircraft only have elevator trim.
Adding the trim surfaces and the gear to operate them adds weight, complexity, and build time to an aircraft. If the stick/control forces aren't too great, the designers will leave them out.
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ok cheers people. Just what i wanted to know!
Annoying the annoying, so you don't have to.
What about the i-16, it seems to have no trim, including no elevator trim....
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As a point of interest, here in Niagara a fellow named Ed Russel has a Spit, a Hurri and a 109. Talking to the chief pilot, John Romaine, he told me that they'd take the Spit up for a test hop and check the trim. On landing the rigger would use a block of wood and rubber mallet to bash the trailing edge, of the wing which was low, down a bit to increase lift. He showed me the evidence on the port wing and you could clearly see the small bend down just inboard of the aileron.
Rather hit or miss but somewhat effective and, given the life expectancy of a fighter in the war, probably all that was necessary.
Great days all.
Some aircraft had 'fixed' trim, which amounted to a bendy strip of metal on the control surface altered on the ground by mechanics.
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Plantoid 1 Wrote:of the wing which was low, down a bit to increase lift.
Ok first of all, contrarily to what people think, trim tabs work "backwards".
If you have one wing that is dropping, you will bend the tab up. Bending the tab up or down doesnt affect lift in any way. In this case where we bend the tab up on a dropping wing, the tab creates a downward force on the aileron, which then increases the camber and thus the lift on that side.
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Skunkmeister:
The alteration on the Spitfire is made to the wing, not the aileron. Yes, aileron tabs work backwards but a bend down on the wing still generates more lift.
Great days all.
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Oh I see what you are saying. I must have read you too fast.
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