38J Bug? Can't turn right with right aileron and flap shot off.

[DaveJ]

I Had my right aileron and right flap shot off in a dogfight last night in a P- 38J. After that, low and behold I found out I could not bank right AT ALL. I tried every thing I could think of to get my plane under control- full rudder to the right, full aileron trim to the right, brought my remaining flap in- but to no avail, and I could only keep banking and rolling left. I had no other damage to my plane. Usually, when you've had your aileron and flaps shot off it makes it harder to bank to one side, but doesn't stop you completely. I have no film of this unfortunately, but I still think it might be something to check out. I'm not sure whether this is a bug, or if im just missing something here entirely.

~DaveyJ

[Strip]

I could think of to get my plane under control- full rudder to the right, full aileron trim to the right, brought my remaining flap in- but to no avail, and I could only keep banking and rolling left.

       When you get a flap shot off it becomes stuck in the position it was damaged in. In AH you don't actually "lose" the flap when it falls off. Even tho you lose the flap visually the lift component is still there. So when you retracted the left flap you still had the lift from the right flap. This created a strong lift differential inducing a roll to the left. Had you not moved the other flap to the up position you should have been able to roll right. The 38 has no engine torque so other than losing a wing tip you should have been able to roll right under just about all circumstances.

Strip