How does the elevator and rudder etc. get moved?

[KatieLuna]

I never see any control horns on late war aircraft, how did they get the torque required at high speeds to rotate the elevator

 purely mechancially from the pilot's strength. I understand that in many aircraft it was a "man's job" (see quote) to pull the control column about, but was the moment arm really that small, and how exactly was it connected. I would like to know, especially any engineer's drawings and extra reading, as I'd like to be an engineer. :D

 

Quote

The controls have 75 lbs. Tension and it’s a man’s job to pull one of these baby’s into a 60 degree bank without losing altitude. -Charles Ralph Campbell, 1944, on the topic of a B24.

Quote from:

 

[Wolfram-Harms]

59 minutes ago, TheTacticalCat said:

I never see any control horns on late war aircraft, how did they get the torque required at high speeds to rotate the elevator...

 

Those control horns, or sometimes curved metal parts, were inside tailplane.

Here is a wonderful website with images from a Spitfire.

 

http://spitfiresite.com/2010/07/anatomy-of-spitfire-cockpit.html/07ar_fuse_001

 

You can see how the stick input for the elevators is led via a metal rod underneath the pilot's seat.

Aft of the seat it gets transposed onto a control horn, which is connected to wire cables. Enjoy!

 

***   ***   ***

 

When I read such letters of fallen soldiers, be they British, French, Germans or Americans - WW1 or WW2 -

then I feel a hollow helplessness, and the thought is always the same in the end: what a waste!

They were all so young.

What would have become of them?

Which plans did they have?

They were clipped in bud.

 

What a waste...

 

 

[senseispcc]

The pilots of the B24 had a left arm with twice the muscles of the other.

[Art-J]

TC, google "aerodynamic balance", "horn balance" of controls and "servo/Flettner tab". In short, control surfaces are never hinged exactly at their leading edges, but much further, so that part of the surface in front of the hinge axis compensates for forces buildup on the part aft of the axis. One can also add a little movable tab (NOT a trim tab), which does the same compensation job.

 

These solutions are still very much used nowadays, even on big planes with boosted controls.

[-TBC-AeroAce]

Don't for get the power of pulleys and gears.