Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Floatin' on th' Black Pig, Yarr!
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Fabric control surfaces are fine for low speed aircraft but tend to balloon at higher speeds, leading to aerodynmic problems. By ballooning I mean that the control surface inflates and loses its aerodynamic integrity. There is a lot of coverege of this (in easily understood laymen's terms) in Jeffrey Quill's book "Spitfire" regarding the period that Supermarine looked into the problem of trying to recover a spitfire from a high speed dive by the sheer brute strength of the pilot.
I would recommend Spitfire to anyone who wants an enjoyable and highly educational read.