There have been other enhancements to gliders in the previous century
which offered theoretical improvements in performance.
There was a spontaneous outbreak of aileron fences in the mid seventies,
and serious consideration was given to fairings at the wing fuselage
junctions for Libelles. I seem to recall that George Moffat started this
with similar mods to the Nimbus 2 he flew at the Waikerie World comps in
'74. I do remember trying to photograph a Libelle with tufts of wool
in strategic areas and flown by Tim Knappstein from a chase plane
(Minicab) in a particularly hilarious exercise during which Tim held up
cards indicating his airspeed at that point, while we moved in to record
the effects (if any). It was not a success, whether through failure of
the photographic records or some other factor, I never really
discovered. In the end it was easier to buy an up market aircraft
which Tim eventually did - with good results at the Renmark National a
few years later.
As one pilot remarked (of aileron fences) at the time "If you really
believe that it gives you an edge, then it probably does ...."
regards,
TN
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