Empennage

In spite of effective control surfaces, many early aircraft that lacked a stabilising empennage were virtually unflyable.

Structurally, the empennage consists of the entire tail assembly, including the tailfin, the tailplane and the part of the fuselage to which these are attached.

The rear section of the tailplane is called the elevator, and is a movable aerofoil that controls changes in pitch, the up-and-down motion of the aircraft's nose.

The rear section of the vertical fin is the rudder, a movable aerofoil that is used to turn the aircraft's nose right or left.

In some aircraft trim devices are provided to eliminate the need for the pilot to maintain constant pressure on the elevator or rudder controls.

Besides its planform, it is characterised by: Some locations have been given special names: The fin comprises the fixed vertical stabiliser and rudder.

In this position, the tail surfaces interact constructively with the wingtip vortices and, with careful design, can significantly reduce drag to improve efficiency, without adding unduly to the structural loads on the wing.

[13] The configuration was first developed during World War II by Richard Vogt and George Haag at Blohm & Voss.