• Indeed. The point of a control surface is that they generally increase or decrease the overall amount of lift of the aerofoil they are attached to (or comprise, in the case of the Typhoon’s foreplane, or a stabilator etc.) by modifying the aerofoil profile/angle of attack.

    I’m not aware of any control surfaces that aren’t an aerofoil shape, but even if it was just about reaction due to a surface hitting the air at an angle, that would still be about creating a pressure differential between the lower and upper surfaces.

  • I’m not aware of any control surfaces that aren’t an aerofoil shape

    There are spoilers with no curvature, and the effect on the aerofoil to which they are attached is not one of changing camber or AoA

  • Quite correct, I should have said ‘control surfaces that don’t modify the shape of an aerofoil’.

    You could probably argue that a spoiler does modify the camber/AoA of an aerofoil, analogous to the way a split flap does. At least, I say you could, but it’s 24 years since I last studied aeronautics and I’ve forgotten most of it, so my degree of confidence about what does and doesn’t modify an aerofoil’s camber/AoA is not high.

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