Editing V-tail (section)

==Ruddervators==
[[File:YF-23 top view.jpg|thumb|A top-down view of the [[Northrop YF-23]] ''Gray Ghost'' prototype fighter jet, showing its distinctive wide V-tail and ruddervators]]
Ruddervators are the control surfaces on an airplane with a V-tail configuration. They are located at the trailing edge of each of the two [[airfoil]]s making up the tail of the plane. The first use of ruddervators may have been on the [[Coandă-1910]]'s X-tail, although there is no proof that the aircraft ever flew.<ref name="L'Aéronautique">{{cite journal |year=1935 |journal=L'Aéronautique |volume=17 |page=333 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFfmAAAAMAAJ&q=Rudlicki++Coanda|title=L'Aéronautique, Volume 17|language=fr }}</ref> The later [[Coandă-1911]] flew with ruddervators on its X-tail.<ref name="Flight28Oct1911">{{Cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1911/1911%20-%200942.html|title = Flight 28 October 1911 |access-date=11 January 2011 |last=Flight |author-link=Flight International |date=October 1911}}</ref> Later [[Poland|Polish]] engineer [[Jerzy Rudlicki]] designed the first practical ruddervators in 1930, tested on a modified [[Hanriot HD.28]] trainer in 1931.

The name is a [[portmanteau]] of "rudder" and "elevator." In a conventional aircraft tail configuration, the rudder provides [[Aircraft principal axes|yaw]] (horizontal) control and the elevator provides [[Aircraft principal axes|pitch]] (vertical) control.

Ruddervators provide the same control effect as conventional control surfaces, but through a more complex control system that actuates the control surfaces in unison. Yaw moving the nose to the left is produced on an upright V tail by moving the pedals left which deflects the left-hand ruddervator down and left and the right-hand ruddervator up and left. The opposite produces yaw to the right. Pitch nose up is produced by moving the control column or stick back which deflects the left-hand ruddervator up and right and the right-hand ruddervator up and left. Pitch nose down is produced by moving the control column or stick forward which induces the opposite ruddervator movements.<ref name="Eckalbar">{{cite web |url=http://www.beechcraft.org/vtail/eckalbar/rudder.html |title=Simple Aerodynamics Of The V-Tail |access-date=2008-08-13 |last=Eckalbar |first=John C. |year=1986}}</ref>