Mxsmanic wrote:
So how do they work? You have to extend your foot (press the toes
forward) to apply the brakes, right? Which in turn implies that you
might have to deliberately hold the tip of your foot back in order to
avoid applying the brakes. I've always wondered about that.

Unless your feet are more than about 15" you can't reach the brakes
with your heals on the floor. When you need the brakes you simply slide
your feet up the peddle to hit the brake and then come back down.

I used to fly an Aeronca with a heal brake and a puck tailwheel. About
1/2 the landings required brake to stay aligned (since the puck has
such little friction with the ground), but the heal brake is basically
either on or off. You so straighten a landing out by "pumping" the heal
brake to avoid over braking. It was certainly better than the J-3
though. I always flew with slippers because that is the only way I
could wrap my feet around the top of the rudder to reach the brake. I
kept real shoes in the back in case I had to land somewhere.

-Robert