Henra, in support of your assertion that the VS will not fall straight down I note that bearfoil's analysis is spot on if you consider perfect surfaces. As soon as turbulance appears, as in the instant it leaves the plane, the instability will increase probably with the rudder flapping madly until the whole assembly settles into a leading edge down fluttering spinning spiral into the ocean. I can't kick the simple image of dropping a playing card or the spinning maple leaf. Since the weight at the one end of the maple leaf is much larger than the equivalent on the VS and at the opposite end I expect the angle to the vertical at which it goes down to be much more extreme than the angle of that pesky maple leaf. Horizontal would surprise me considerably. 20 degrees of 30 degrees off horizontal would not. A lot also depends on how extreme the extra weight in the rudder's leading edge is compared to that in the mechanisms and hinges on the trailing edge.