Here's an image for you to see these little fins. What are they used for?
Source (image has been modified to indicate location of fins).
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3$\begingroup$ Related: aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/3382/… $\endgroup$– Peter KämpfFeb 3, 2016 at 7:19
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2 Answers
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Well, those fins were put there to increase yaw and pitch stability on the D version because of the change in the centre of gravity due to a higher fuselage from the C version. This D model also had more powerful engines than the C model. To add on, the strakes at the bottom were added for the same reason too.
More info can be found here.
answered Feb 3, 2016 at 2:48
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3$\begingroup$ Almost correct! The 1900 has a higher fuselage than the King Air, this made those fins on the horizontal tail necessary. $\endgroup$ Feb 3, 2016 at 7:17
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$\begingroup$ You might also add that the D model (pictured in the question) had more powerful engines necessitating some of the modification from the C model. $\endgroup$ Feb 3, 2016 at 12:54
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$\begingroup$ That's a crapload of additional drag just to make the thing fly well. Seems like bad design. $\endgroup$ Feb 3, 2016 at 15:02
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1$\begingroup$ Well, it wasn't the original design... and it's a lot cheaper to redesign King Air into the 1900 than to redesign an entire new aircraft. Would your customers like a marginally higher fuel bill, or would they prefer to pay twice as much for an aircraft built to a new design? $\endgroup$ Feb 4, 2016 at 16:13
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1$\begingroup$ Considering the fuel bill will eventually add up to far more than the price of the aircraft for an airline, I would think the later. $\endgroup$ Feb 5, 2016 at 10:30
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Some of the answers are referring to the dual aft strakes on the underside of the fuselage below the tail. The dual aft strakes are Indeed there to increase stability, specifically for one engine operations. They remove the yaw damper limitation. To answer the question, the 1900 has the same horizontal stabilizer as a King Air 200. Obviously the 1900 is far longer and bigger than the King Air 200 and needs those extra modifications on the tail. Basically it saved Beechcraft from redesigning an entire new tail, saving quite alot in design costs. Both the C and D models have the “fins” you have circled in your picture. If you think that the dual aft strikes are a bad design, you are completely wrong. Operators actually pay huge amounts of money to fit them to older model King Air 200s part of the Raisbeck upgrade. They improve efficiency and as mentioned earlier remove any yaw dampener limitation.
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4$\begingroup$ What is the yaw damper limitation? Is that that flight is prohibited if the yaw damper is out of service? $\endgroup$ Oct 18, 2018 at 16:59
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$\begingroup$ The lower strakes prevent flow separation at high angle of attack, which only shows what a poor design the original aft fuselage is. $\endgroup$ Sep 14, 2019 at 2:16