Predator tail
 

I was watching an interesting thing on the Discovery channel about UAVs and the future. They of course showed the Predator. The original has those really big anhedral tailed tail fins sticking all the way to the ground. They look way too long. The prop blades are not that long. The Predator B which was also showed uses a V tail with a short dorsal, half of the span of the earlier Predator tail.

Does anyone know why the original tails are so long? Surely something that is that close to conventional layout, fairly slow speed, etc. does not need stilts for tails.

RE: Predator tail
 

Of course the V tail is really big too. Really strange based on some gliders I have seen.

RE: Predator tail
 

Ben,

I wonder if the inverted V on the recip version was to protect the prop in the event of over-rotation on takeoff/landing. They may have since determined that it's not required.

RE: Predator tail
 

Ben,

It looks like the dorsal on the "B" is still long enough to prevent a prop strike.

RE: Predator tail
 

My take on it would the prototype with the long "verticals" worked, so don't mess with success..
And then it got -more- successful, so the empennage was looked at critically...
I like the B version..

RE: Predator tail
 

Possibly the large tail size is a result of how short-coupled the aircraft is... almost a necessary evil with the pusher configuration.

I didn't see a side view
 

I had always seen the airplane apparently from a front quarter view. In it the wheels looked like they are right in front of the tail. A real side view sure changes things. I don't think I need to ask the question anymore.

Thanks Paul.

It is a rather homely beast in either configuration. Not the kind of airplane that, when standing around swapping war stories, you want to say you worked on. The word functional comes to mind. But indeed it does work.