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I knew the HF VII had the revised rudder horn but had absolutely no idea if that made any difference to the tail surface area worth mentioning. I'm home now, so if we compare the Mk VII to its forebear, the Mk V (and therefore every model preceding it):I think I am right when I say that the first Spit with an increased fin was the high altitude Mk VII
I knew the HF VII had the revised rudder horn but had absolutely no idea if that made any difference to the tail surface area worth mentioning. I'm home now, so if we compare the Mk VII to its forebear, the Mk V (and therefore every model preceding it):
_______________Mk V________Mk VII
Tailplane________31.46_________31.46
Chord(ma)_______4.0__________4.0
Incidence________root 0________root 0
_______________tip +/-0.5______tip +/- 0.5
Elevator area_____13.26________13.26
Tab area________0.38__________0.38
Fin area_________4.61__________4.61
Rudder area_____8.23__________8.23
Tab area________0.35__________0.35
but an interesting comment from the official reports
Boscombe Down March 1943. BS229. Stability tests. Both lateral and directional stability was poorer than previous Spitfire marks and longitudinal neutral and poorer than the Mk V and VI. Increased horn balance on elevators.
Pretty sure I read them off correctly but I'll check when I get homeThats odd the figures you have show the tail is the same size on the 2 marks but looking at pictures of the 2 aircraft the tail looks much bigger on the VII. Is it just the different shapes or am I reading the figures wrong