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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2231.PDF
SEPTEMBER 25TH, 1941. FLIGHT Fifth of the New Series FRIEND or FOE? Typical British Twin Tail Compared with an Italian TIE Fiat BR20 is one of the veryfew Italian bombers so far seenin the immediate vicinity of this country. It will be remembered thatthe German command did once per- suade the Regia Aeronautica to lend ahand in the highly hazardous business of trespassing over these shores.Doubtless they expected to be able to echo that famousRoman who once said, "Veni, vidi,vici! '' but, though they certainly came,it is equally certain that they did notconquer, and about all that they saw was their own machines being shot outof the sky. It is just possible, however, that asorely tried Luftwaffe may again '' persuade '' Mussolini to contributeto our valuable collection of scrap metal. In any case, the Fleet Air Armgets about quite a lot, and often comes across Italian aircraft nearertheir own territory, so the similarity between the three-quarter rear view ofa Hampden and a BR20, except for their tail units, is well worth illustrating in this series. A glance at the accompanying pictures will show howfar this similarity goes—the well- tapered wings, both with dihedral out-board of the radial engines, the wheels of the retracted undercarriage? pro-truding from the nacelles, the deep bomb bays terminating near the trail-ing-edges and even the retractable tail- wheels. These common features im-part a misleading resemblance, from this particular angle, to two rival air-craft which are quite distinctive in appearance when seen from almostany other viewpoint. But, once again, "by their tails ye shall know them."The twin-tail design of the Hamp- den is typically British, "and followswhat is probably the most frequently favoured cantilever layout for thistype of empennage in this country. The fins and rudders are set inboardfrom the tips of the tailplane and pro- ject below the horizontal surfaces. Theelevator is a single member extending across the span of the tailplane be-tween the rudders and projecting clear of the extremity of the fuselage, andhaving two inset trimming tabs. The trailing-edge is quite straight, the lead-ins-edge backswept and the tailplane tips well rounded. Fins and rudders FIAT BR20 HAMPDEN : Canti-lever unit, fins and rudders set inboardfrom tailplane tips « and extending belowhorizontal surface. Single elevator formsstraight trailing-edge between rudders. conform to the same rather primstyle, having a straight slope to the leading-edge, a straight vertical trail-ing edge and curved apex and base. This design may not be strikinglygraceful, but it cannot be dubbed angular, and it is clean and business-like. The tail of the BR20 would appearto suffer from compromise, for it has the type of tailplane which one asso-ciates with a single fin and rudder; it bisects the rear extremity of the fuse-lage with elevators on either side. The semi-oval fins and rudders do not, inthis case, extend below the horizontal surfaces; they sit on top of them andare set appreciably farther inboard from the tips. Furthermore, the finsare braced by double struts, a feature which accentuates the impression ofcompromise. The whole unit, in fact, suggests that its designer began witha single-tail layout, but later chopped off the single fin and rudder andtacked on the twin vertical members to the existing tailplane—a '' trial-and-error " method by no means un- known in the evolution of tail unitswhose aerodynamical peculiarities are a notorious source of head-aches to airframe de- signers. (Next week: West-land Lysander and Henschel Hs 126.) FIAT BR 20. Double strut-bracedtwin fins and • rudders on top of tailplane which bisects extremityof fuselage. Elevators on either side as in single-tail designs. Tail-plane similar in plan to Hampden but with more backsweep to lead-ing-edge.
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