Talk:Rockwell-MBB X-31

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[edit] Tailless?

Does anyone have a source that shows the tail was actually removed from the second X-31? All the sources I've read (e.g. [1]) seem to imply that the tailless stuff was just a simulation - no change was made to the physical aircraft although it could, in theory, have been done. --Scott Wilson 10:31, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree, I've rewritten it to match the NASA reference. The German article mentions one of the goals was testing flight without rudder and the German reference http://www.waffenhq.de/specials/experimental/x-31.html states the rudder was deactivated, not removed, in the test on 17th March 1993. And the NASA ref explains the quasi tailless tests in 1994.-213.219.184.105 22:23, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

As an engineer involved in the flight testing at Pax River, I can say that the aircraft was never flown in a tailess configuration. There are numerous artistic concept and photoshop doctored images of the aircraft shown without it's tail but this structural alteration was never performed. As mentioned above the quasi tailess flights may have been performed however the tail was left intact so the maneuvering would have been done through using the thrust vectoring capabilities and control surfaces other than the rudder. -5/18/2007 MCK