A B-52 lost 80% of its vertical stabilizer in flight due to turbulence -- and the pilot flew it to a safe landing. I've seen the pics.
Yes, losing the vert stab by itself should not have caused immediate loss of control.
More likely, the very stab and engines left for a common reason: High aerodynamic load on surfaces that never meant to fly sideways at 300+ kts. I.e.: loss of control first, then loss of large surfaces. Bomb or bad design, who knows?
--Boot Hill
I have seen it too. It was not on takeoff. That is much more critical.
It still left 20%, which on a B52 is as much vertical stabalizer as some other planes have total. Those vertical stabalizers are tall.
The B52 uses spoilers for roll control. Aelorons cause more adverse yaw than spoilers.
Losing 100% of the vertical stabalizer is one of the most serious things that can happen to an airplane. It is 100% un-controlable.
The Wright Brothers made hundreds of test flights on a glider trying to figure out why it sometimes would go into a spin.
One of the most important inventions they made was how to control a tendency for the craft to go into a spin, by adding yaw control. That alone would have made flight not possible.