Quote:
Originally Posted by lonewulf
The slats were spring loaded and extended or retracted depending on the amount of air pressure being exerted on the leading edge. If you suddenly stalled one wing the slat on that wing might extend suddenly but typically they would extend gradually as airspeed dropped below 200k.
Because the slats could extend asymmetrically, this could result in an uneven airflow over the wings.
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Hi,
There is no spring in the Me 109 slats, they are sucked out by air pressure. AFAIK they are more actuated by the angle of attack of the wing and designed that if it reaches crticial angle, they would deploy. That's why they are working independent, i.e. if they deploy assimetrically, it means that one of the wings have reached a critical angle of attack, the other did not. The uneven airflow is a cause and not an effect of their deployment (if they would not deploy on that wing, the wing would detach the airflow stall).
The very reason of their employment is to make sure that once the wing is near stalling, the slats, by their deployment would keep the outer portion of the wing from stalling, so that ailerons would be still effective.