Could be easy to confuse the stitching to rivets??????

The answer I got then was to reduce weight but not so much in terms of overall airframe weight but in terms of the weight the pilot had to shift when moving the control surfaces.
Paul

I do not remember seeing that thread, but I´ve been thinking about this statement, and the more I think about it, the less I can see it being the case. Heaviness of movement due to metal surfaces on things like ailerons, elevator and rudder could and would have been easily ballanced out be by mass balance and/or aerodynamic ballance!

However, on a different tangent maybe it is right, of sorts. Maybe it was down to overal weight saving on the aircraft. Having metal clad surfaces, which then would need mass/aerodynamic ballance would increase the overal weight of the aircraft, while if built light with fabric covering would not be needed?? A real shot in the dark here.

Let´s take an example here, and I´m hoping for help from all the Spit nerds out there as I´m half a globe from my references! The early Spits all suffered from extreme aileron contol forces above (IIRC) 380 mph. During flight testing it was found that the fabric on the ailerons was “bulging” and messing up the airflow. IIRC from somewhere in the middle of the Mk.V production range, all ailerons where metal clad and the aileron control forces at high speed were reduced significantly. Now a question for the Spit gurus. Was a mass ballance intoduced into the ailerons at that stage?

Next, again using the Spit as a measurement, all the way up to the end of the production, elevators and rudders were fabric covered. The Spit, and certainly the early ones were very marginally stable (some might say very unstable) in the longitudinal (how do you spell that) axis due to aft center of gravity. A number of Mk.V broke up in midair. The fix was to add bobweights in the contol run to fool the control forces felt by the pilot, and assist in bringing the problem under control. It worked a treat! No more inflight brake ups. So the reason an aircraft like the Spit has fabric covered elevator and rudder is due to weight saving measures at the tail, to have the center of gravity as far forward as possible. To fit metal surfaces with (possible) mass ballance would have made the instability even worse! I´m open to suggestions:D

Hi guys,

I´ve been following this debate with great interest. I´d like to say that I´m a split personality on this one. Of course aircraft are meant to fly and should, if at all possible, remain airworthy.

BUT, and there is a big but an aircraft restored to flying status today, just like I´m hopeing to achive with my Gemini, will not serve any useful function as an educational tool about Miles construction techniques in the years to come. I´ve had to make too many changes to the original, like different plywood (the original specs no longer exist), different glue (the original was cr*p) and I´ve had to rework parts of the structure with new material. In future this aircraft will tell you very little about Mr. Miles´s construction other than it has the same basic dimensions and looks and (hopefully) flys the same as the Gemini coming of the line in 1947.

That´s where museums come in. They should preserve the aircraft in as original form as possible for use as technical references/educational tool in future years. Too see an original Gemini, we have nowhere to go today, but once the Hooton Park example is finished, we should have a museum quality example to look at.

At the end of the day, there is room for both the flying and muesum standpoint. However, if there is only one example of any given type know to be in existance, I would much rather see that one in a museum rather than flying. If the museums have no interest in it, then a private owner can restore it to flying condition just to preserve the shape.

Galdri… that was put in merely to wind up Rikki the webbie who is Icelandic and is taking some flak from us on this.

But it is good natured – we are all in the poo at the moment.
I hold no brief for some of Mr Brown’s actions, I didn’t vote for him – honest..

Moggy

How true:eek:

Extend my regards to the webbie. At least he gets paid in foreign currency, not worthless Icelandic Krona. He is a rich man compared to many of us:D

(But not in Iceland) Moggy

Hahahahaha, Very, very funny. By the looks of it, your own (british) banking system is/was headed the same way judging by Mr. Browns latest action.

Mr. Brown single handely made the crises a lot worse than it had to be by his wote winning intervention,to useing terrorist laws to freeze Icelandic assets in the UK. So now the Icelandic nation is a terrorist state by his (and your?) deffinition. My rant is probably more suited for GD, so I´ll leave it at this.

Why would anyone want to go to a place like that?? Are you a relative?

Should be in General, I think?

First flight for me was in a Cessna C-152 Aerobat TF-FTG in 1989 at the age of 16. Must have left a lasting impression since I´m still flying.