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Just a few pics of Miss A and her lost trim tab. According to one of the team members, someone out near the pylons got lucky enough to see it come down and brought the damaged trim back.
Duane
Attached Files
One more blade and a little less roar, Team Rare Bear ROCKED in 2004 !
Just a few pics of Miss A and her lost trim tab. According to one of the team members, someone out near the pylons got lucky enough to see it come down and brought the damaged trim back.
Duane
Attached Files
One more blade and a little less roar, Team Rare Bear ROCKED in 2004 !
You are correct about a number of racers losing trim tabs. Dan Martin lost a rudder trim tab in his early racing years. The way I see it is the G forces on the control serfaces causes fatigue over the years and the hinge breaks down. Miss A trim tab was torn away from the hinge. I could be spitting in the wind with my analysis, but what the hell. I was out at pylon 2 when she came over and lost the tab. It was one of the pylon judges who retreived the tab from the desert. We all wondered what fell off the aircraft until the judge walks back with this two foot section of trim tab.
In a 1989 heat race, Merlin's Magic lost a rudder trim tab while coming down the chute just as the planes were released for the start. Stu said that the rudder pedals suddenly shook violently kicking his feet off of them. He began to pull up off of the course thinking there was some major engine problem. Quickly, though, everything smoothed out so he finished the race minus a trim tab. That was the same year that Bob Hoover collided with a truck on the ramp in his Mustang. He let us borrow his rudder to finish off the week of racing. In the off season Stu modified another rudder and had a tube welded on the trailing edge in place of the trim tab. We also painted the new "race" rudder yellow, in honor of Bob Hoover. We currently keep that rudder on the aircraft year round. It is a controversial subject as to run with or without a rudder trim tab while racing. In my experience, at speeds over 400 mph on the course it actually takes a bit of right rudder to keep a coordinated turn, in our airplane, around the pylons. We use a yaw string on top of the cowling so we can monitor coordinated flight while being heads up. Interesting subject.
Sitting here in my Merlin's Magic hat (partially because I'm a fan, partially because I'm going bald), reading your post. Great stuff. Thanks for the insight.
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