Quote:
Originally Posted by TomcatViP
No no no..
The tail plane is affected too but this is not the primary prob. In fact it impact the transonic regime by raising the overall drag of the plane as a consequence of the mach shock on the wing itself - e.g : the compressibility - that alrdy affect the plane with a nose down torque.
the thiner is the wing (thickness/cord) , the latter does this occur due to overall smaller camber ratio.
The easiest solution found at the time was to use symmetrical wing section.
Once the wing mach shock wave has been addressed then the tail shock became a problem you are right (take a look to the X1 story) 
~S |
I hate to insist on a topic that I'm not well prepared in, but I believe compressibility shows on your tail surface first simply because the surface itself is smaller than the wing one, and proportionally the control surface is bigger, so the transonic and supersonic effects happen there earlier. But then again I'm happy to be proven wrong..
In other news, from the much hated wikipedia:
"A similar problem affected some models of the Supermarine Spitfire. At high speeds the ailerons could apply more torque than the Spitfire's thin wings could handle, and the entire wing would twist in the opposite direction. This meant that the plane would roll in the direction opposite to that which the pilot intended, and led to a number of accidents. Earlier models weren't fast enough for this to be a problem, and so it wasn't noticed until later model Spitfires like the Mk.IX started to appear. This was mitigated by adding considerable torsional rigidity to the wings, and was wholly cured when the Mk.XIV was introduced."