Confused about the 163.

[bustr]

When you F3 on the runway and sit under a wing, then hit the flaps button. What looks like air brakes lower from the bottom of the wing. Then even in flight, what looks like flaps on the trailing edge inboard don't move at all. What are the ones inboard on the rear of the wing then? 

[Golden Dragon]

Hey Bustr.  Those are called split flaps on the underside of the wing. They actually produce more lift than conventional trailing edge flaps.  The other devices are elevons.  A combination of elevator and aileron for pitch and roll control of this elevator-less rocket ship.

- 00pk

[colmbo]

Split flaps are normally at the trailing edge of the wing, at least in any description I have been able to find.

[Golden Dragon]

I guess it doesn’t matter if they are.  I’m sure the German engineers did a lot of testing before choosing that location.  It’s truly amazing what they did in terms of aerodynamics and rocket and jet propulsion.  We are all very fortunate that Hitler was such a fool.

[bustr]

The push down panel is the landeklappe while what looks like a flap is the trimmklappe.

Landing flap and I'm not sure about the timmklappe because that is one huge trim tab then.

I have the manuals for the 163, just confused to why such a large trim tab.

[Greebo]

The flaps below the wing are landing flaps, the trailing edge flaps were called trim flaps and the outer surfaces were the elevons. The landing flaps were added after the test pilots complained they could not slow down the plane sufficiently for landing with the trailing edge flaps alone. Re-engineering the wing to fit these landing flaps significantly delayed the 163 project.

[bustr]

Got it now, both trailing edge movable surfaces are the aileron and trim tab. Turned off combat trim on the ground and used F3, then watched the trailing edge as I rolled my pitch up and down.