Asymetrical Wing Lengths

[Ural Rider]

In the Squadron Signal book "Macchi C.205 Veltro Walk-Around", it mentions "As with all Macchi fighters, the C.205's starboard wing was 20cm shorter in span to compensate for propeller torque."
How common was this ?

 

[vikingBerserker]

I've never even heard of that before.

 

[mudpuppy]

I'm with you fellas, on this one. I had never heard this either, not doubting what you'd read, Ural...just it comes as news to me. If the starboard wing was required to be a wee bit shorter to compensate for engine torque does this just represent an instability of the Macchi design or do other planes have the same problem.
I know there are some pilots and aviation engineers types around so I am quite curious to hear from them.
Regards,
Derek

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I would not be surprised. I've heard of off setting the vertical stabilizer as well.

 

[Marcogrifo]

Yes, it's true: both Macchi's C.202 and C.205 (that were equipped with the same wing type) had asymmetrical wings for torque compensating.

Cheers

 

[Lucky13]

I'll be.....

 

[comiso90]

I wonder if there were any negative side effects?

i cant believe I didnt know about that...

.

 

[Colin1]

So how would that work?
Which wing would be shorter wrt prop rotation?

My take on torque-related problems is that the ground-handling characteristics got nastier, how would this help?

 

[Soren]

As mentioned, it was to counter torque effects and yaw. The vertical stabilizer was slightly twisted to the left for the same reason.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Why do I picture two guys screwing up and making one wing longer then the other with one of them saying:

"it's to compensate for propeller torque.....really!"

 

[Butters]

I never knew that, but then I'm not all that familiar with Italian fighters. Does anyone know if this was the case with any other fighters?

JL

PS: I seem to recollect that some fighters had the engine thrustline offset from the longitudinal axis of the fuselage to reduce torque effects. Is this true, or am I just confused again?

 

[GrauGeist]

Blohn and Voss were working with Asymetrical configurations, although they took it to an extreme. Thier best known example would be the Bv141.

I think the BvP178 was the best looking of thier designs, though it didn't get past the testing stages.

 

[gumbyk]

PS: I seem to recollect that some fighters had the engine thrustline offset from the longitudinal axis of the fuselage to reduce torque effects. Is this true, or am I just confused again?

Butters, this is a fairly common design feature, not restricted to fighters.

Most aircraft, no matter how low-powered have either the vertical fin or the engine offset by a small (2-3º) amount. It's fairly hard to see, unless you are looking straight down on the aircraft when the cowls are off.