The Simplification of Lateral Control: A Discussion of the Importance of Rudders and Ailerons

THERE has been a very marked tendency of late towards simplifying the control of aeroplanes. Those who have read M. MIGNET'S book on the reasons that led him to develop his Pou de Ciel, will remember that he decided to go back to the beginning, as he himself had found the complications of the normal triple control confusing and complicated. He has consequently gone back to a design which is in essentials strongly reminiscent of the early tandem monoplane evolved by S. P. Langley. This included a heavy dihedral angle with two main planes set in tandem at a fore‐and‐aft dihedral to each other. Lateral stability and control was dependent entirely upon the dihedral angle and the rudder, ailerons being absent.