PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - which was the first aircraft to use fly by wire
Old 15th April 2006 | 21:56
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On-MarkBob
 
Joined: Mar 2006
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From: Herefordshire
FW190 German WWII fighter was reputably the first fully operational FBW! The pilot sat on a bullet proof box that contained the battery and the electric contol servos. The stick went down and into the box. The electric master servos (in th box) sent electric current to the control surface slave servos. There were reports that the FW190 could loose half a wing and still Fly! Blow off one aileron and the other still worked. technically there was no computer to interface the system so it was quite raw. Probably one reason why we will never see a proper one flying again, too risky these days.

Since there was no cable back-up and the system was electrically controlled only, I think that this aircraft was by definition a FBW aircraft.

Bob.
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