mike furline wrote:
Matt Gunsch wrote:
maybe because it can be made to rotate the other direction
The DB 601/605, Merlins, and Allisons all rotate the same way(excluding P-38 version). Right handed as viewed from the cockpit.
IIRC the Bf-109F(and later variants) had the vertical stab designed to compensate for a RH rotation.
Were the Hispano built airframes designed with a LH vertical stab for use with the Hispano-Suiza 12Z left hand rotation? I believe the first 25 or so airframes where German built and sent as kits, so one would presume they had RH verical stabs.
AFAIK Hispano Aviacion (HA) received 25 fuselages in 1942/1943 without vertical and horizontal stabilizers. They also received the correct necessary blueprints. When they used the LH rotating Hispano-Suiza 12 Z-89 and 12 Z-17 engines, the vertical stab was designed appropriately. Around 90 built. When they built the "Buchons", the new built ones got the same vertical stabilizers as the original German DB-engined versions. They knew what they were doing. However when the ~ 90 HS-engined ones were changed to RR´s, the "wrong" fins were not changed, Spanish Air Force left them as they were built. So there were some "Buchon"-conversions, that had the wrong fin for Merlins. One of them was the first D-FMBB of Messerschmitt Stiftung, sn. 195. In 1983 this airframe was a 100 % loss due to a takeoff accident. The actual D-FMBB is a different airframe, sn. 156.
Michael