The V-tail or vee-tail (sometimes called a butterfly tail [1] or Rudlicki's V-tail [2] [ citation needed ]) of an aircraft is an unconventional arrangement of the tail control surfaces that replaces the traditional vertical and horizontal surfaces with two surfaces set in a V-shaped configuration. It is not widely used in aircraft design. The aft edge of each twin surface is a hinged control surface called a ruddervator, which combines the functions of both a rudder and elevator.
The V-tail was invented in 1930 by Polish engineer Jerzy Rudlicki [2] and was tested for the first time on an Hanriot HD.28 trainer, modified by Polish aerospace manufacturer Plage and Laśkiewicz in the summer of 1931.[ citation needed ]
The X-shaped tail surfaces of the experimental Lockheed XFV were essentially a V tail that extended both above and below the fuselage.
The most popular conventionally V-tailed aircraft that has been mass-produced is the Beechcraft Bonanza Model 35, often known as the V-tail Bonanza or simply V-Tail. Other examples include the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft and the Fouga CM.170 Magister trainer. The Cirrus Vision SF50 jet is a recent example of a civilian aircraft adopting the V-tail. Some gliders, like the Lehtovaara PIK-16 Vasama, were designed with a V-tail, but the production Vasamas had a cruciform tail. [3]
The Blohm & Voss P 213 Miniaturjäger was one of the first aircraft to have an inverted V-tail. Unmanned aerial vehicles such as the LSI Amber, General Atomics Gnat and General Atomics MQ-1 Predator would later feature this type of tail. The Ultraflight Lazair ultralights, of which over 2,000 were produced, featured an inverted V-tail, which also carried the rear landing gear. [4]
Ideally, with fewer surfaces than a conventional three-aerofoil tail or a T-tail, the V-tail is lighter and has less wetted surface area, so thus produces less induced and parasitic drag. However, NACA studies indicated that the V-tail surfaces must be larger than simple projection into the vertical and horizontal planes would suggest, such that total wetted area is roughly constant; reduction of intersection surfaces from three to two does, however, produce a net reduction in drag through elimination of some interference drag. [5]
Light jet aircraft such as the Cirrus Vision SF50, the Eclipse 400, the Sonex SubSonex or the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial drone often have the power plant placed outside the aircraft. In such cases V-tails are used to avoid placing the vertical stabilizer in the exhaust of the engine, which would disrupt the flow of the exhaust, reducing thrust and increasing wear on the stabilizer, possibly leading to damage over time. [6]
In military aircraft, V-tails reduce the number of right angles on an aircraft, improving its stealth characteristics. [7]
In the mid-1980s, the Federal Aviation Administration re-assessed the Beechcraft Bonanza due to safety concerns. While the Bonanza met the initial certification requirements, it had a history of fatal mid-air breakups during extreme stress, at a rate exceeding the accepted norm. The type was deemed airworthy and restrictions removed after Beechcraft issued a structural modification as an Airworthiness Directive. [8]
V-tailed aircraft require longer rear fuselages than aircraft with conventional empennages to prevent yawing.[ citation needed ] This tendency, called "snaking", was apparent on taking off and landing on the Fouga CM.170 Magister, which has a relatively short fuselage.[ citation needed ]
Ruddervators are the control surfaces on an airplane with a V-tail configuration. They are located at the trailing edge of each of the two airfoils making up the tail of the plane. The first use of ruddervators may have been on the Coandă-1910's X-tail, although there is no proof that the aircraft ever flew. [9] The later Coandă-1911 flew with ruddervators on its X-tail. [10] Later Polish engineer Jerzy Rudlicki designed the first practical ruddervators in 1930, tested on a modified Hanriot HD.28 trainer in 1931.
The name is a portmanteau of "rudder" and "elevator." In a conventional aircraft tail configuration, the rudder provides yaw (horizontal) control and the elevator provides pitch (vertical) control.
Ruddervators provide the same control effect as conventional control surfaces, but through a more complex control system that actuates the control surfaces in unison. Yaw moving the nose to the left is produced on an upright V tail by moving the pedals left which deflects the left-hand ruddervator down and left and the right-hand ruddervator up and left. The opposite produces yaw to the right. Pitch nose up is produced by moving the control column or stick back which deflects the left-hand ruddervator up and right and the right-hand ruddervator up and left. Pitch nose down is produced by moving the control column or stick forward which induces the opposite ruddervator movements. [11]
A T-tail is an empennage configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the top of the fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs from the standard configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the fuselage at the base of the fin.
Aircraft flight control surfaces are aerodynamic devices allowing a pilot to adjust and control the aircraft's flight attitude.
A conventional fixed-wing aircraft flight control system (AFCS) consists of flight control surfaces, the respective cockpit controls, connecting linkages, and the necessary operating mechanisms to control an aircraft's direction in flight. Aircraft engine controls are also considered as flight controls as they change speed.
The Beechcraft Bonanza is an American general aviation aircraft introduced in 1947 by Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. The six-seater, single-engined aircraft is still being produced by Beechcraft and has been in continuous production longer than any other aircraft in history. More than 17,000 Bonanzas of all variants have been built, produced in both distinctive V-tail and conventional tail configurations; early conventional-tail versions were marketed as the Debonair.
The empennage, also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow. The term derives from the French language verb empenner which means "to feather an arrow". Most aircraft feature an empennage incorporating vertical and horizontal stabilising surfaces which stabilise the flight dynamics of yaw and pitch, as well as housing control surfaces.
A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, stability and trim in yaw. It is part of the aircraft empennage, specifically of its stabilizers.
An aircraft stabilizer is an aerodynamic surface, typically including one or more movable control surfaces, that provides longitudinal (pitch) and/or directional (yaw) stability and control. A stabilizer can feature a fixed or adjustable structure on which any movable control surfaces are hinged, or it can itself be a fully movable surface such as a stabilator. Depending on the context, "stabilizer" may sometimes describe only the front part of the overall surface.
The Aeronca Chief is a single-engine, light aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear and two seats in side-by-side configuration, which entered production in the United States in 1945.
An aircraft in flight is free to rotate in three dimensions: yaw, nose left or right about an axis running up and down; pitch, nose up or down about an axis running from wing to wing; and roll, rotation about an axis running from nose to tail. The axes are alternatively designated as vertical, lateral, and longitudinal respectively. These axes move with the vehicle and rotate relative to the Earth along with the craft. These definitions were analogously applied to spacecraft when the first crewed spacecraft were designed in the late 1950s.
The Bréguet Type III was an early biplane built by Louis Bréguet in France in 1910.
The Pelikan tail is an experimental tail design for fighter jets. It was originally conceived by Ralph Pelikan, who was hired by McDonnell Aircraft, later worked for McDonnell Douglas after the merger of McDonnell with Douglas and, after another merger, retired from Boeing. The concept was used in the Northrop YF-23 fighter. However, it has been considered or included in design specifications in the McDonnell Douglas BAE Joint Strike fighter (JSF) design which was eliminated before prototype stage
In aeronautics, a tailless aircraft is an aircraft with no other horizontal aerodynamic surface besides its main wing. It may still have a fuselage, vertical tail fin, and/or vertical rudder.
The UltraFlight Lazair is a family of Canadian designed and built twin-engine ultralight aircraft that were sold in kit form between 1979 and 1984.
The Beechcraft Model 34 "Twin-Quad" was a prototype airliner designed and built by Beechcraft in the period between World War II and the Korean War. At this time many aircraft manufacturers in the United States anticipated a boom in civil aviation and a large number of designs left the drawing board only to ultimately fail. The Model 34 was one of these failures, partly because of its unusual design, and partly because of the thousands of ex-military transport aircraft that were available at the time for a fraction of the price of a new aircraft.
Supermaneuverability is the capability of fighter aircraft to execute tactical maneuvers that are not possible with purely aerodynamic techniques. Such maneuvers can involve controlled side-slipping or angles of attack beyond maximum lift.
The Nieuport II was a mid-wing monoplane racing or sport aircraft built by the Société Anonyme des Établissements Nieuport between 1910 and 1914 and was noted for its high performance using a small twin-cylinder engine, and winning many races, primarily in France before being used as a trainer during World War I by French flying schools.
The Hanriot 1909 monoplane was an early French aircraft constructed by Rene Hanriot, a successful automobile racer.
The Koolhoven F.K.44 was a two-seat, single engine sport monoplane designed and built in the Netherlands in the early 1930s. It was built to order, but only one was completed.
A slow roll is a roll made by an airplane, in which the plane makes a complete rotation around its roll axis while keeping the aircraft flying a straight and level flightpath. A slow roll is performed more slowly than an aileron roll; although it is not necessarily performed very slowly, it is performed slowly enough to allow the pilot to maintain balance, keeping a steady flightpath, pitch angle, and height (altitude) throughout the maneuver. The maneuver is performed by rolling the airplane at a controlled rate with the ailerons, and moving the elevators and rudder in opposition, or "cross-controlling," to keep the plane on a steady, level flightpath.
The Wilford Gyroplane was based on a German autogyro first flown in 1926. After E. Burke Wilford bought the rights and patents, it was developed in the US until 1936.
