Ok Syd: Forgive me if I ramble a bit tonight, but I've been up to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo all day working on an F-14, and I'm a bit tired. I've had some time to consider your points, and concede that the shape (elliptical) and dihedral of the coupe wing does not have much to do with the anti-spin characteristics of the coupe. But you may recall that this all started because of my preference of more elevator uptravel, which may change the whole picture. My statement about wing shape-dihedral combo may still have merit, but most likely cannot be proven, at least on this forum. The question as to whether this combination positively affects the ability of an aircraft to "fly itself" out of a spin, begins with the assumption that EVERY aircraft that CAN spin, must either inadvertently, or purposely be "made" to do so. I'm not a believer in recurrent coincidence, and the fact that aircraft incorporating these wing features behave much the same relative to spin recovery, supports my theory. The elliptical wing was considered during the coupe's design period, to be the most efficient wing designs , and may be the reason that Fred chose it. However, he did not choose to build his wing in the traditional elliptical method. In a true elliptical wing, each rib is of different length, causing the mfg. costs to skyrocket. Thats why more planes of the period did not incorporate them. Fred got his elliptical wing by building a normal wing ( using a rather abnormal but cost efficient spar arrangement) and using large ailerons to get the shape. That "abnormal" spar arrangement also causes better airflow over the wing. ( in the Rag wing only according to some schools of thought) As far as the wings being "twisted" as someone else suggested? Well I'll see for myself tomorrow, when I remove ours for transport. But I'd be surprised. Syd, Believe me, I know what causes a spin, and how to recover, if in fact a particular aircraft is recoverable, But your comments are well taken, in that regard, especially for low timers that in todays system are not taught "hands on" spin entrance and recovery. I enjoy reading your postings, and shall print your comments for my files. I take any opportunity to gather coupe history. Thanks. And now I'm putting my weary bones to bed. G'nite <G> Doug
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