The Vee Tail in Spin: An Account of Experiments Made in 1932 on the Rudlicki Oblique Empennage

Abstract

Rather more than four years ago there was published in AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING the first description of a novel type of tail, described by its inventor as an oblique empennage, to which we gave the name “The Rudlicki Vee Tail.” For it were claimed advantages in resistance, weight and improved field of fire to the rear. In a leading article we hazarded the suggestion that it might also have valuable qualities as an anti‐spinning device. This suggestion aroused interest at the time and we understood that official investigations were to be made to test its soundness. Only recently we learnt that in fact these experiments were made at Farnborough, but for some reason the results were never published. They did not support the view we put forward and the vee tail appears not to have the qualities in spin that seemed possible. In spite of the lapse of time we got into touch with Mr. Stephens, who carried out the experiments, and he has kindly written this account of them for publication here, as we feel that some readers may still be interested in having the matter cleared up even after this long interval

Citation

Stephens, A.V. (1936), "The Vee Tail in Spin: An Account of Experiments Made in 1932 on the Rudlicki Oblique Empennage", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 8 No. 11, pp. 302-302. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb030112