ORIGINAL: JeffH
on today's planes, does the inverted airfoil also help rotate the aircraft for take off? The L-1011 with the full flying tail would be increasing the angle of attack in relation to the airfoil, therefore causing it to produce more lift and raise the nose quicker/easier to get the plane flying with less tail forces, and also less drag. Pulling up elevator on the C-130 would be in effect putting the flaps down on a wing. This would cause the tail to produce more lift, negative in this case, to rasie the nose....
Read Tall Paul's post again. The inverted airfoil doesn't "help" any particular condition. It reduces the trim demand to get the plane in trimmed flight (no stick forces required). It does this by biasing the tail lift downward (relative to a symmetrical airfoil), which is usually helpful, as the tail is usually "pushing" down.
One exception would be if you want to fly inverted. This hurts a lot, because you now have to put extra force (directly or with trim) to keep the plane level- it's (the stab) also going to stall sooner, which isn't too severe unless you're close to the ground! It's the same effect as flying something like a trainer, with say a flat bottom airfoil, inverted. It takes much more AOA to get the necessary lift, and you will stall sooner (at a higher speed).