Jimmy wrote:
"I too am familiar with the statement regarding spacing between the ends
of the antenna."

Yes, The 19th edition of the "ARRL Antenna Book" has Fig 39 on page 8-35
which shows "Gain of two collinear 1/2-WAVE elements as a function of
spacing between the adjacent ends."
It says nothing of cutting off your ends to spite your array!

You actually get about 3 dBd gain from two !/2-wave dipoles when there
is a 1/2-wave space between their adjacent ends versus only a 1.5 dBd
gain when there is only the space of a short insulator between the ends
of the 1/2-wave dipoles.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI