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Old 12th Feb 2003, 14:31
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Few Cloudy

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Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Luton Beds UK
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5 pennyworth...

The Handley Page Victor Mk1 had an all flying tailplane too. It was pretty "touchy"and the feel came from "feel cans" filled with dynamic pressure air.

When you trimmed, you actually trimmed the feel can mechanism until you felt no pressure, leaving the control run - and with it the tailplane, at whatever angle it was.

As the aircraft got older, these feel cans became leaky, resulting in an extremely light elevator control - which made it, however too easy to overstress the ship. (AUW <80 tons, flying in formation in certain versions).
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