Early aircraft ailerons

Thanks for that explanation , now I understand , it was a picture of a Short which finally prompted me to ask .

This type of aileron carried on into the WW1 with types such as the Short 184 seaplanes and IIRC the early FE.8 fighters had bungees to “assist” the ailerons to remain level.

John

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Early pre-war “flying machines” such as the Bristol Boxkite (or the 1910 Duigan Flyer in the photos attached) didnt have “ailerons” as such, or at least not as we know them today, they were more correctly described “dragerons” for want of a better name (I’m not sure of their true and correct label).

They would “fly” in the slipstream behind the wing until the single cable connecting them to the column would tension and drag them into the slipstream ie causing “drag” and changing the lift and flight of one wing only, the corresponding unit on the other wing would be uneffected.

This is because they were not differential, the port device would be pulled down by movement of the control column via the single cable, but there was no corresponding action on the starboard device which continued to simply fly in the slip stream of the wing, and the single cable between the column and that starboard side would become very slack with excess length.

When the control column was centred the slacking cable on the starboard side would be taken up, and the cable movement on the port side would allow the port device to return to its neutral position in the slip stream of the wing.

When the aircraft landed and ceased airflow and prop wash over the wing, the “dragerons” would both swing down with gravity as there is no second cable to keep them up, and the tensioned cable used to pull them down in flight simply slackens on both sides as they move down, regardless of the column position.

Not quite ailerons but certainly far more useful than wing warping!

regards

Mark Pilkington