During the battle of Midway, Ensign Albert K. Earnest flying Grumman TBF-1 (Bureau # 00380 - the very first production TBF off the assembly line!) of VT-8 (Midway Island) was one of the first of the Midway launched attackers to suffer damage, among other things losing his elevator control. After leaving formation to aim at the nearest Japanese picket ship and drop his torpedo he prepared for the inevitable ditching due to the lack of pitch control and, after instinctively re-trimming for impact, discovered he had pitch control after all. After a long, round-about flight back to Midway he managed to land the second time around (He figured the LSO, still waving frantically, was just going to have to be ignored) with the right landing gear still retracted. The plane was shipped back to North Island Naval Base, San Diego where it was closely examined by Army and Navy engineers and the major aircraft manufacturers. The plane wound up in the back of a hangar gathering dust until, sometime in 1945, some "body" (a chief? an officer? who knows?) decided to scrap it during a base-wide clean-up. I hope they scored well during THAT inspection! In the link below are the pictures of this aircraft at Midway. Worth noting are the tarp that had been used to cover the body of Seaman 1st Class Jay D. Manning in the turret, damage to the underside of the wingtip caused during landing and, germane to the discussion, the position of the elevator trim tab - full nose up - pitch (actually, rate of descent) on final then being controlled by power. The German fighters, as noted by others, use a trimmable stab (just like J-3s and airliners), the 109 manually and the 190 electrically. It always bothered me how losing the controls would cause the loss of trim in the game.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/e...way/mid-4a.htm

"A Dawn Like Thunder" is a good book.