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I've often wondered what the deploy function was for on winglets and tail fins. They didn't seem to have much use at all. So I've never, ever bothered binding that function to an action group. This is my current "Science Plane" - It's got an octo for stability control - a load of science bits a couple of engines and two tail fins, the reaction wheel is not necessary, I just like it for making "on the spot" turns instead of faffing around taxiing in a circle. Its ugly but it flies pretty well and it does the job. The wing section at the front is for a kerbal to stand on when they climb out of the cockpit. As long as you are doing less than 80m/s you don't get blown off the wing. Though I wouldn't recommend "let go" or "climb out" or you will disappear into the distance which is why everything can be reset from the cockpit door - no the wing is to stand on to take surface samples when landed really. Anyway back to my point - I've always had to slow down to do EVA's in flight and to reset the science stuff. This has led me to wish I had air brakes. Today though I thought "I wonder?" so I went back to the SPH and bound the deploy function to RCS toggle because I only have basic action groups available right now. Lo and Behold a PAIR, you must have 2 or things will go very bad for you, a PAIR of fins turn in on each other and produce a massive amount of drag working just like an air brake!. This resulted in my first ever successful landing at the abandoned island air field. As you can see the tail fins are turned inward this allows me to really control my speed on approach to a runway and indeed on the runway itself to aid in braking. I would highly recommend this kind of setup (2 fins or winglets ) to anyone making planes because it's just so useful. The first deployables you get are in Aviation ( Tail Fin ) and Flight Control ( AV-8 Winglet) - Obviously you need Aviation for making planes anyway but there may be a use for deployed winglets in aerobraking maneuvers.

Just wondering. Can you land using drag alone? Parachutes don't count here.

While using them, my craft started spinning, so naturally, I wondered if I rotated it a bit, I could slow it down with the spinning. I'd also like retractable propellers for drag reasons. So, does it work? I've seen airbrakes used as wings for cruise missiles, which means they are aerodynamic, so why not propellers?

I copied my design for an Mun and Minmus LV-N passanger craft. Seen here docked to miner. Inflatable heat shield, reaction wheels, MK2 landing can cockpit, MK3 passenger cabin, cargo bay for science, life support and light cargo, Fuel tank, with radial LV-N, this version miss the airbrakes but the follow up has 6, landing legs on wings to get it wider. In 1.13 I could aerobrake this at 40 km then comming back after an dip outside Kerbin SOI, it would put AP around 200 km. in 1.2, going below 45 km makes it tumble even with rcs and vernier running returning from Minmus so speed would be lower. My heavy tanker has much of the same issue yes its a bit too large for the heat shield so legs and rcs has problems but that should just make it more stable?