Balancing of Flaps: Aerodynamic and Mechanical Methods of Reducing the Effort Required

TRAILING edge flaps, it seems, have come to stay for some time; the devices that looked almost too good to be true when first investigated have proved invaluable, not only as aids to landing more heavily loaded aircraft, but more recently they have been shown to be extremely useful in helping take‐off. Evidence of the importance they have lor designers is the large amount of experimental work done on them in all the research establishments of the world, and as a result a lot is known of their aerodynamic characteristics so that it is not difficult to choose, from all the types available, a flap to serve any particular purpose. The object of this article is therefore not to discuss the effects of flaps on lift, drag or stability and control, but briefly to examine them, from one particular aspect that has not received a great deal of attention up to the present, that is—balance.