Experimental investigation of the forces and moments due to sideslip of a series of triangular vertical and horizontal tail combinations at Mach numbers

An experimental investigation was made at Mach numbers of 1.62, 1.93, and 2.41 of a series of tail combinations consisting of triangular vertical tail attached symmetrically to a triangular horizontal tail to determine the lateral force, yawing moment, and rolling moment due to sideslip. The apex angles of both the vertical- and horizontal-tail surfaces were varied systematically in order to obtain results for an appreciable range of operating conditions. The results of the investigation indicated that, for tails having subsonic leading edges and supersonic trailing edges, the lateral-force derivative and the yawing-moment derivative were predicted satisfactorily by the method presented in NACA TN 3071 except when the leading edges approach a sonic condition. The theoretical rolling-moment derivative was in fair agreement with the experimental derivative. For the limited tests in which both the leading and trailing edges were supersonic, the prediction of the lateral-force derivative and the yawing-moment derivative obtained from NACA TN 2412 was in good agreement with the experimental derivatives, whereas the prediction of the rolling-moment derivative was fair.