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Old 04-04-2011, 08:17 AM
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Location: Oslo, Norway
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xfullboost View Post
Once my Hurricane is at a good temperature, and I set the prop angle to pull forward, my plane seems to pull left. And hard. Any ideas?
This is called engine torque and is quite normal. Ot is the result of a very large and heavy mass (the axel and the propeller) spinning at high speed. It pulls on the plane to spin with it in the same direction. The felt result is that the plane pulls to port.

It is easily countered by applying rudder to starboard, or to set the trim-tab to full starboard. If you look at the rudder trim wheel in the cockpit, you will even see it is marked with settings for take-off. Once airflow around the tailfin has reached sufficient speed (at around 70 mph), it counters the torque. The effect will still be there though. If you see the Hurricane from dead on, you may notice the tailfin is slightly offset to port. This is to balance out the torque in normal flight.

A very nice and descriptive page about a wartime flight in a Hurricane:

http://gibberandsqueak.blogspot.com/...ar-mukund.html
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Last edited by Friendly_flyer; 04-04-2011 at 08:34 AM.
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