ORIGINAL: rmh
Ah the Cantilizer -
What it CAN do is stop air from spilling over the top of the fuselage in knife or extreme yaw-and that can be a good thing-
the spiral correction - I seriously doubt but an improvement from trapping flow - I will buy
As for ''follow the leader '' in Pattern - it is quite common.
Another thing to consider about Pattern Flyers: They are after such small degrees of improvement that if they even THINK they have a
hint of improvement, then they are happy. If they think the extra control surface helps, then they'll be more confident and fly a touch better. Being just a touch better wins contests at the top levels. Improvement is improvement, even if it's only mental.
Some are not quite large enough to make the airplane be considered a reverse-stagger biplane, but I've seen some large ones.