Swept Forward?
 

What, if any, advantage can be gained by employing a swept forward fin, and/or horizontal stabilizer? Assume that the wing is not swept forward. Also, how about a swept forward canard? And for completeness, what about swept forward wing-tip plates?

I've attached a picture of the types of configurations I'm interested in finding advantages for.

-Q.

Swept Forward?
 

Do it for style reasons if you like but there's no real aerodynamic reason for doing it.

On the other hand the hinge lines wil be more complex.

The wing is a different story. With it's higher lift coefficients and greater spanwise airflow issues sweep is more of an issue.

Swept Forward?
 

Stealth, maybe? :D

Swept Forward?
 

a088008,

Apart from the tip plates, I think that moderate forward sweep would have little aerodynamic effect. Tip plates, if intended to reduce induced drag, seem to be more effective if positioned toward the rear of the wing chord. One reason that various surfaces are sometimes swept, forward or rearward, is to get the aerodynamic center of the surface where you want it, when the position of the root is somehow constrained. This sometimes leads to a surface that is swept, even though there is not a fundamental performance advantage to the sweep.

banktoturn