Trim Stick Position

[Anaxogoras]

Many of the aircraft we flew had no way to adjust aileron and rudder trim in flight.

[FLS]

Ok, take for example the P-51.

The P-51 had pilot-controlled trim tabs for pitch yaw and roll.  The trim wheels in the P-51 change the incidence of these trim tabs... NOT the entire elevator.

P-51:
Aileron Tab:    http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2005/12/images/walkaround_p51_b_017.jpg
Elevator Tab:   http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2005/12/images/walkaround_p51_b_018.jpg
Rudder Tab:    http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2005/12/images/walkaround_p51_b_023.jpg

Many WWII fighters and bombers had these trim tabs, and that is what the trim wheels are actually changing.

What do you suppose happened to the elevator when the trim tabs moved if you didn't hold the stick?

[FLS]

Many of the aircraft we flew had no way to adjust aileron and rudder trim in flight.

If I post a gunnery thread be sure to mention the C-47.

[Swatch]

What do you suppose happened to the elevator when the trim tabs moved if you didn't hold the stick?

Theoretically if you gave nose-up elevator trim, a free-flying elevator should move slightly to the nose-down, moving the stick also slightly forward.  I thought you were referring to a stick being held at a single position and the trim being used to move the actual control surface in small increments.  Once again, I think we just have a misunderstanding.

Many of the aircraft we flew had no way to adjust aileron and rudder trim in flight.

With just a very quick look at some of the aircraft we have, I was surprised to find many of them actually do have adjustable trim tabs on elevator and rudder, and a fair amount even have aileron tabs.  I wasn't very thorough, but I was expecting fewer of them to have it and I looked at a smattering of both early war and late war fighters and bombers.

Many of the aircraft we flew had no way to adjust aileron and rudder trim in flight.

If I post a gunnery thread be sure to mention the C-47.

?

[Anaxogoras]

With just a very quick look at some of the aircraft we have, I was surprised to find many of them actually do have adjustable trim tabs on elevator and rudder, and a fair amount even have aileron tabs.  I wasn't very thorough, but I was expecting fewer of them to have it and I looked at a smattering of both early war and late war fighters and bombers.

Key phrase here is "in flight."  Spitfires and 109s had rudder and aileron trim that was adjusted by ground crews for straight and level flight at cruise speed.  Otherwise, the pilot had to hold the stick and rudder in place to compensate for torque and yaw.

A general rule of thumb is that if the aircraft is American, it likely had in-flight trim for all 3 axes.  German, British, Russian and Japanese aircraft frequently only had in-flight elevator trim.

[Swatch]

I'm pretty sure later 109s had both adjustable and fixed rudder trim tabs, same with spitfires.   I will say pretty much across the board the Japanese planes are all fixed.

[Baumer]

I can't speak for the other British models but the Typhoon Ib had elevator and rudder trim that was controllable from the cockpit in flight. The same goes for the Hurricane IIC and IID but I'm not sure about earlier versions.

I have the manuals for both, and they clearly call out the elevator and rudder trim wheels in the cockpit for both of them.

[FLS]

I tried my Logitech G940 with Black Shark and when you trim the Cyclic it stays in the trimmed position.

The only issue is when you release the stick the optical sensor turns it off and parks the stick in the center position but that's easily fixed with a piece of tape.