Swing Wings: Yea or Neah?

"Thomas J. Paladino Jr." wrote in message ...
"BOB URZ" wrote in message
...

Also, most newer fighter designs use twin tails canted out from
perpendicular. Is there a reason this is better than straight
dual perpendicular tails?

That has more to do with steath than anything else. 90-degree angles are a
major no-no in stealth design. So simply canting the tail surfaces inward or
outward can greatly reduce a radar signature. I believe that this was first
discovered on the SR-71; the engineers lowered its signature by something
like 30% or so just by giving it inward canted stabilizers.

I seem to recall that high-alpha directional stability also is
improved. That had a lot to do with the tailplane placement on the
Hornet...a little further forward and canted outward, so when it's
doing its slow, nose-high thing, the tailplanes still are effective.
I would imagine that that's an issue with the Raptor, too.