Will My Idea Fly??

[GeeBeeFan]

I just got an idea for a fairly radical model. I was looking at a page that had caricatures on it. My favorite was this scrunched up looking P-51A. I'm wondering if the aerodynamics of such an aircraft would make it unstable. I am most worried about the short distance between the wing and stabilizers, maintaining pitch stability. If I increase the stab span will that sufficently counter the effects? I assume that the fuselage side area will make up for the repositioned rudder. I figure on using a large wingspan to compensate for the reduced chord and keep wing loading reasonable. At this point its just ideas bouncing around in my head, I just want to know if it will fly, if I decide to persue this thought. I have included the picture to illustrate my idea. What do you think? Have I lost all of my marbles this time? I'll tell you one thing though, it would be different!

Thanks for reading,
~GB Fan

[Ollie]

Instead of increasing the stab area to compensate for the short tail moment arm you could, alternatively, use a symmetrical or reflexed airfoil on the wing for a zero or slightly positive pitching moment coefficient and move the CG forward enough to establish a positive static margin. The force arrangement would be similar to a plank style flying wing. A CG at about 20% of the wing's MAC should be a safe place to start flight testing and adjustment.

[Moogee]

GeeBeeFan - I reckon it can be made to fly.
Recently, a buddy and I have been erring towards what we call cartoon scale - basically caricatures of WW2 planes though not as extreme as the one above. I built a Hurricane that had a purposefully shortened tail moment, increased wing chord and deliberately tall and humpbacked fuselage. Flies like a dream but, as I say it's not in the same league as this one.

I'd make the chord bigger, both on the wing and the stab and just make sure enough span extended out the sides of the fuse. As for the fuse I think it's good to think of them as a way of holding the wing and the tail in the correct relative positions. It'll probably be draggy but with a large prop should be fine.

Good luck!

[vintage1]

Y'now we used to fly C/L combat wings which just had an elevator tacked on the back of the main wing. These evolved from shorter and shorter tails as people sought to escape the prop of teh guy chasing them, and do ever tighter loops.

I think it will fly as long as the CG is well forward, and there is sufficient control movement.

I am more concerned about the lack of lateral area aft of the CG.

I'd knock up a decent wing, amd a profile fuselage, and if its all squirrely laterally, add more fin.

Then build the rael thing!

[Viper Pilot]

GeeBeeFan,

Check this out ! ! !

Really looks "cartoony" to me.

Sorry about the photo quality, but they didn't have digitals way back then.

Viper

[Mike Taylor]

I'd try scooting the wing forward some. Having the nose moment longer than the tail moment is not a good idea. Other than that, wht not? Pizza box fliers work; that one should be able to as well...

[GeeBeeFan]

Thanks for the input guys, that helps alot! I've modified the original drawing a bit to include your recomendations and started drawing in a basic structure. I could probably build and have this thing flying in a couple of weeks but I already have soo many projects going I'm afraid I'll have to put it off for a couple of months. I dont know really, at this point I have three projects already going and I'm starting to just want to see something in the air! It doesn't help just sitting here so I'm gonna go cut some wood.

Thanks.