Scott's results are interesting and readily explainable.

<<In level flight (under auto pilot control, smooth air) at 8500 feet, 74% power
175 IAS, 197 TAS AOA=2.4*, Longeron (L)=0*>>

A good baseline

<< and then the weight is transferred to the FS 84 Location. The auto pilot requests trim assist and the Reichel trim wheel is rotated forward (nose down) about 1/6th of a turn.  176 IAS, 197 TAS AOA= 2.2* to 2.4*, L=0* to -.2*.>>

The tail needs to provide less down force to keep the airplane level.  The wing needs to generate less lift since the tail is pushing down less.  Since the wing needs to provide less lift, the required AoA decreases.  Since the trim angle of attack decreases, the trim system needs to be adjusted.  (Airplanes are not trimmed to fly at constant speed, they are trimmed to fly at constant AoA.  Phugoid oscillations, for example, are varying airspeed maneuvers where the angle of attack is constant.)  Since the tail and the wing are generating less lift, they also generate less drag, and the speed increases. <<Leaving the weight in the back, the power was reduced to 62%.  161 IAS, 180 TAS AOA= 2.7* to 2.9*, L=.4*>>

Less power makes the plane slow down (duh) and the angle of attack must increase to generate the same lift.

<<The weight was moved back to the front and the nose was trimmed up.  161 IAS, 181 TAS AOA=2.7* to 2.9*, L =.4* to .6*>>

No significant change.  The airspeed change here is the wrong way but I submit it is too small to be real.

<<Conclusion: I won’t be abnormally shifting weight to try to increase speed.>>

Works for me!

By the way, changing the tail incidence angle has an even lesser effect than this.  The plane needs to be balanced with a certain amount of down force from the tail.  Does it really matter if you have a more cambered airfoil (deflected elevator) or a less camberes airfoil at a higher angle of attack (changing the tail incidence angle)?  Well, yes, there's more drag with the less cambered airfoil at higher alpha but the far larger effect is the drag-due-to-lift.

Don't go cutting off your tails and reattaching them to win races.  You'd go faster by losing ten pounds, and live longer, too.  (And yes, I'm still trying but it's not working for me either!)

- Rob Wolf