Talk:Aileron

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of the Aviation WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see lists of open tasks and task forces. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.	Aviation Portal
Start	This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
Additional information and associated projects or task forces: This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar: not checked Supporting materials: not checked To fill out this checklist, please add the following to the template call: <!-- B-Class-1. It is suitably referenced, and all major points have appropriate inline citations. --> |B-Class-1=yes/no <!-- B-Class-2. It reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain obvious omissions or inaccuracies. --> |B-Class-2=yes/no <!-- B-Class-3. It has a defined structure, including a lead section and one or more sections of content. --> |B-Class-3=yes/no <!-- B-Class-4. It is free from major grammatical errors. --> |B-Class-4=yes/no <!-- B-Class-5. It contains appropriate supporting materials, such as an infobox, images, or diagrams. --> |B-Class-5=yes/no Aircraft WikiProject

I see that somebody has added a page called "Ailerion(s)"... Is that a valid alternate spelling? I think not, but wanted to check.4.5.120.133 17:25, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Certainly not an alternative! - Adrian Pingstone 18:22, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Invention of ailerons 2 Alerion 3 Merge tag 4 Steering

[edit] Invention of ailerons

It looks like there is some good and controversial history over the invention of the aileron, with half a dozen people claiming the first use. I might get around to writing a section on it, but in the meantime there is quite a good summary on aerospaceweb.

The claims seem to include:

• 1868 Matthew Boulton of England - patent but no practical use
• 1903 Richard Pearse of New Zealand - possibly more like flaps [1]
• 1903 Wright brothers - but for wing warping, although patent extended to any roll control
• 1909 Henri Farman of France on the Farman III
• 1911 Aerial Experiment Association and Alexander Graham Bell - patent
• 1913 Glenn Curtiss continued to improve the design from the AEA and got sued by the Wright brothers

-- Solipsist 08:34, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Pearse was 1902. His aircraft took off (before the Wright brothers) but it was not a "controlled" flight and he crashed into a hedge. The ailerons were trailing-edge, hinged type (rather than the Wrights' wing-warping method).

[edit] Alerion

Alerion redirects here, apparently as a misspelling. Charge (heraldry) suggests that an alerion is a sort of fantastic bird. I am wondering if the two usages are related. - Smerdis of Tlön 16:49, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merge tag

• oppose I oppose merging this article with Flight controls, especially since it's already pretty long by itself. The merge tag was added by an anonymous account, with no explanation placed here on the talk page, so I suggest simply deleting the tag if the original editor does not bother to come here and explain in the next couple of days. David 01:02, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

I added the merge tag together with the too long tag, because in my view this article really needs to be cut down and subsumed into the flight controls article. In other words, it should be merged because it's too long. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.6.157.14 (talk) 23:42, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

• • Thanks for the clarification (and please remember to sign your comments). I disagree with both: the aileron is critical in the development of aviation, has an interesting history, and is controversial (due to the dispute over who invented it) — together, that should be more than enough to justify a short, ~900 word article like the one we have currently. The article seems to have had a lot of work put into it, especially with the animated graphic. David 12:49, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

• Given the absence of any further discussion, I'm going to remove the too-long and merge tags. This article is not too long by [standards], it covers an important topic in the history of aviation, and it's both carefully detailed and illustrated. David 16:39, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Steering

Is it worth mentioning that the aileron is the primary steering control on most (non-dihedral) aircraft? To the novice, it's not clear why control in the roll axis will bring about a turn, whereas control in the yaw axis usually results only in sideslipping. The answer is that by rolling, a large component of the wing's lift is directed horizontally; this centripetal force causes the turn. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.171.29 (talk) 19:24, 15 April 2008 (UTC)