Originally posted by Vermillion
Thank You Porta In two years of bickering and squeaking on this board, your the first person to come forward and actually explain what a flettner tab actually is. Now, does anyone have any actual data on how effective they are? Also, its my understanding that G10's were mostly old aircraft remanufactured to K4 standards, why did the G10's not have the tabs, or do we know that they did not have the same control tabs for sure?
A not insignificant minority of K-4s did not use Flettner tabs, but from what I have read, most (that is over 50%) did.Don't forget that the K-4 also had geared elevator tabs - not just the ailerons.As far as why they weren't fitted to G-10's, I am not totally sure.
Plans were for the G-14 to also have geared tabs on both ailerons and elevators but, for some reason, they came off the production lines with geared tabs only on the elevators (the ailerons only had fixed trim tabs).This resulted in a very large disparity between the stick force that had to be applied by the pilot to move the elevators and ailerons.To put it at its most basic, the pilot could could move the stick back or down much more easily than he could left/right.
This lack of control harmony was simply too great and G-14s had their geared elevator tabs modified in the field so that they remained in a fixed position, thereby reinstating some measure of control harmony at the expense of ease of handling in the pitching plane.Why weren't the flettner tabs just applied to the ailerons to also improve handling in the rolling plane? To be truthful, I am not exactly sure, especially since most K-4s were equipped thusly.The same answer (or lack of it) applies as to why most G-10s weren't equipped with flettner tabs.
As far as what G-10s were made from, Manfred Griehl's book on the Bf 109G/K states that G-10s were made from the following components (recycled as much as possible from existing airframes but from newly manufactured parts when absolutely necessary):-
- External stores of the Bf 109G-14 or K-4
- Electrical system of the Bf 109G-5 (modified)
- Undercarriage of the Bf 109G-2 or K-4
- Radio installation of the Bf 109G-5
- MW 50 system of Bf 109G-6/R2 but with 115L MW tank
- Fuselage of the Bf 109G-6 or K-4
- Fixed armament from the Bf 109G-5
- Flying controls of the Bf 109G-2
- Wings of the Bf 109G-2, G-14, and K-4
- Powerplant of the K-4 (where possible)