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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 0202.PDF
FLIGHT JANUARY 31ST, 1946 IN THE AIR IX (PART II) A Spitfire Score From the IX to the XXII : Trimming Problems : The Qriffon- Engined Series By "INDICATOR' WITH the Spitfire, lateral trim always provided someinteresting little problems. In the early days offabric-covered ailerons the usual '' cording'' method was used, and then, when the change-over to metalsurfaces came, the trailing edge used to be reflexed sharply to produce much the same results. Still later, it becamecustomary to obtain even, or nicely averaged, lateral trim by the cleaner and more civilised expedient of '' dressing ''or '' planishing '' the aileron trailing edges over the whole length, using a wooden mallet and a supporting block. Excellent in theory though this might be, the fact remains. that, for one reason or another, only adjustments to the inner foot or two of aileron edge usually produced anymarked effect on the trim, and it was sometimes necessary to '' dress '' the edge almost to the extent of using the much-despised reflex method. Needless to say, the different test pilots' equally differentmethods of indicating trimming defects could cause a good deal of doubt and despondency on the ground. Some, in their reports, wrote in terms of '' inches'' of lateral trim defect, and others in still more mysterious " degrees," while all had their own particular standards of measure- ment in the different Einsteinic universes of their own imaginations. It was a good rigger who could translate the trimming requests of two or. three different pilots, each speaking a different "language," with any real accuracy. Trimming by Degrees The '' inches'' were a relic of the days when we either laid lengths of cord on the aileron's upper trailing edge, or bent the edge sharply along so many inches of span. The measurement by the "degree" system—the ingenious idea, I believe, of.a certain Maintenance Unit test pilot, and applicable only to one or two types—was even more mysterious to the uninitiated, though really very simple. When a particular aircraft was, say, tending to roll to One of the most pleasant Marks was the P.R.U. XI (aboveand top rightj, which had no guns or gun-sight. First of the Griffon-engined Spitfires, the XII (right), had clippedwings and single radiator.
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