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Old 8th January 2009 | 20:29
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Mad (Flt) Scientist
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Joined: Sep 2002
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From: La Belle Province
Originally Posted by BOAC
Less form drag and weight when 2 surfaces provide the same control forces as 3?
Not really. For two surfaces to provide the same forces as three, they have to be 50% larger. There's no magic extra force available with the surfaces inclined relative to a notional "aircraft vertical".

If there were really such a significant efficiency improvement, you can be damned sure there'd be a lot more V tails around - no-one's going to ignore a "free" performance improvement.
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