Most respectfully
And believe me I understand the implications of the following, a minor challenge to two of my three most esteemed aerodynamic fonts.
At High angles if attack, sure enough, the VS/Rudders are "hooded" from symmetric flow. This directional sincerity is falling off as the Chines on either side of the forebody start to shed flow rather than direct it. Without these chines, the fuselage would wobble uncontrollably side to side as very high AoA is approached. The Chines do not "energise" the flow to enhance aft controlled Yawing moment, instead, they provide the stability needed to Replace that lost by the "shaded" VS/Rudder.
The concept was practicalized in the development of the F-16, an aircraft fought for and supported in every respect by Colonel John Boyd USAF. At Nellis in the early seventies, Boyd developed a method to shed energy in gobs and milliseconds while gunfighting with his students in Fighter Weapons school, the Air Force corollary and predecessor of "Top Gun".
As described in Robert Coram's Book, "Boyd, The Fighter Pilot Who changed The Art Of War", Boyd would allow a student on his six as both accelerated to ~450 knots. After allowing the student to close, Boyd "flat-plated" his F-100, presenting a 90 degree AoA ( Zero IAS, Zero Lift) as his aircraft shed energy so quickly, and decelarated, that the bogie flew past and got hosed. It was this Flat Plating, that led to the Hard chines on the Falcon, and later, articulating strakes, that gave the Fuselage longitutidinal stability while at AoA of 70 or more degrees.
I am aware of a patent involving the science behind this work, I'll look for it. ( Brian, the F-16 does pretty ok with its single tail. no?)
Airfoil
Last edited by airfoilmod; 2nd June 2008 at 02:31.