The Corsair has proven to be a fun plane and the basis for some good experimantation. Because of the horid difficulties of the inverted gull wing, flaps would be difficult at best, especially in a profile, in hiding the separate linkage needed to actuate the flaps at two different angles. This is why I elected to make the design without flaps. Traditionally non flapped planes run Tail Volume Coefficients (TVC) in the .180 to .300 territory. The Corsair has the TVC pumped up to somewhere in the .400 to .450 range. I'd need to check my figures, but it is close. The Corsair tail does not have to overcome the downward pitching effect when the flaps are deflected, making the tail more effective. At the same time, the large TVC creates a design that has very nice stability in level flight. Of course, the Shark 402 airfoil is a key to top performance in the corners.
A similar design philosophy evolved in the Ringmaster 526 and 576. This design has and airfoil with the high point rather far forward and uses small half span flaps that are about 1/3 the size of "normal" flaps. This creates a nifty approach in the middle of the wing which has a change in camber with the flaps deflected, while the outer portion of the wing effectively flies in a washed out angle of attack in the corners. This acts like a roll stabilizing method. Also with the smaller flaps, the elevator is more effective than on designs with larger flaps. Dee Rice has the first 576 and is beside himself with its flying qualities. He let various people fly it at the Memphis contest, among none other than our SH site master, "Sparky". I think Dee was in danger of loosing his set of plans for them at that time. That week, I sent the Sparkster his own set of plans so he can go nuts himself on another 576. It would be fun to get his thoughts about the flying impressions of the 576. The 526 is just a smaller version of the 576 targeted for the Brodak 40. Dee and I just got through making a run of 576 and 526 Ringmaster short kits and they are all gone, but when I get the laser up and running we will be cranking out more of everything. As it is said: "Please Stay Tuned!".
Well, now, there's a bit of rambling about a couple different design approaches. That is the latest from the Skunk Works here in the outback of Idaho.
Pat Johnston