[Frank Colver]

I always like to note here that today marks the 49th anniversary of the day I started construction on my Skysail, November 5, 1971.

The photo was not taken the day i started, I'm not that fast. Unfortunately I did not take any photos that 1st day of construction.

And those up only elevons didn't stay a part of the design after the first flight tests. They caused the nose to pitch up before any roll action would start. I went to tip drag rudders instead and stayed with that choice.

Frank C.

Building the Colver Skysail wing structure photo.jpg (318.23 KiB) Viewed 1034 times

[KaiMartin]

So this is the wing we see in your avatar?

About the up-only elevons:
Excessive pitch seems plausible since the elevons sit at the aft of the wing.
Did you consider symmetrically operated up/down elevons as a cure? IMHO, the pitching moment of opposing elevons should cancel nicely.

---<)kaimartin(>---

[Frank Colver]

I didn't want the control complexity of up-down elevons or ailerons and needing differential to avoid adverse yaw. The tip drag rudders worked nicely and they could pivot up when the wing tips were on the ground,

Yes. it is in my avatar image and there are various photos of it in the air scattered around this forum and HG.org. The photo that appeared in Popular Science is a good one, and it's on my Skysail page in: http://www.USHGA.aero/colver

Below is another set of photos of construction.

Frank

Building the Colver Skysail 1 R.jpg (537.91 KiB) Viewed 995 times