Present Status of Lateral-Control Devices for use with Split Flaps, Special Report

The increased use of split flaps for the dual purpose of reducing the landing speed and shortening the landing glide of airplanes has established as acute the problem of obtaining satisfactory lateral control to be used in conjunction with the flaps with out the sacrifice of any of the effectiveness of the flaps. A large amount of work is being done on this problem by various organizations and individuals. Several of the devices developed seem usable, some of them unquestionably so. The present paper attempts to summarize the most promising results obtained to date. Topics covered include ordinary ailerons, external ailerons, floating ailerons, upper-surface ailerons, and spoilers. Although the external ailerons above the trailing edge of the wing and the spoilers at the rear of the wing appear quite promising, it would seem that probably the most satisfactory immediate solution of the problem, including the obtaining of light and smoothly graduated control forces, would in most cases be obtained by the use of the arrangement in which the flap is retracted ahead of ordinary narrow-chord ailerons and is deflected to the rear as well as downward when in use.