The Little World

I have always thought that wing dams were an admission of error on the part of an aircraft designer. Yet they feature on any number of Eastern and Western jets – mostly the ones that have swept wings. You may know them as stall fences or barriers. They keep the air moving back past the airfoil section of the wing to help it fly as it slows down.

Yet planes never needed them when they were prop-driven. A burden of faster flight and no primary airstream

I’m willing to bet the MiG builders wanted to avoid them and had to put them on after testing. There’s three per side on the MiG 17 and they are ugly things. Fortunately they are moulded well by Zvezda and will paint up beautifully.

Fast forward to the next build from Sword where the wing fences on an RF 84 are separate and have to be trimmed and cemented. The job will be difficult and the results may be slightly ugly.

Still liking the MiG.