Who remembers the Farnborough demonstration of the single Pioneer in 1951(?) where it was manhandled to a take off position with the tail wheel off the edge of the runway, and the main wheels right on the edge, intending to depart across the runway.
Unfortunately the marshalling team failed to ensure that the tail plane was clear of all obstructions, and when the take off was commenced a runway marker light contacted the leading edge of one side of the tail plane.
The resultant impact removed that side of the tail plane completely, plus attached elevator, but nothing daunted, the plane became airborne ACROSS the runway, and was demonstrated very briefly minus half the horizontal tail. It also landed safely afterwards
It appeared as if all three tail fixtures; fin, and left and right tail plane were inter-changeable in the interests of simplicity, but the method of attachment left something to be desired.
