All metal Mosquito ??

[MarkRS]

Check out the claims for this wooden Spitfire! I want one, but my wife won't let me!

http://www.spitfirebuilder.4t.com/catalog.html

Quote from the site:

"The use of both classic construction methods and the wood sandwich skins result in an aircraft that is a ton lighter than the original Spitfire Mk, IX, yet is stressed to 10G ultimate load. At 2,000 pounds lighter with the 1200 horsepower Allison V-12, the SAC Spitfire will easily outperform any original MkIX. Acceleration and rate of climb, will be nothing short of breath taking. Turning performance, maneuverability, low speed handling, and balanced field length will be noticeably better than an original metal Spitfire."

[MarkRS]

Another quote from the site:

"The beautifully rounded shape of the Spitfire's fuselage is built with the same "balsa-ply-balsa" sandwich construction technique as used on the famous De Havilland Mosquito, giving tremendous stiffness and strength, but a lot less weight than metal."

I rest my case.

[Kutscha]

So this wooden Spitfire IX has a tare weight of 3800lb.

[Bill Walker]

The aeronautical equivalent of vapourware.

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by MarkRS

Another quote from the site:

"The beautifully rounded shape of the Spitfire's fuselage is built with the same "balsa-ply-balsa" sandwich construction technique as used on the famous De Havilland Mosquito, giving tremendous stiffness and strength, but a lot less weight than metal."

I rest my case.

Have you considered termites, beetles, worms, fungus?

Maybe the RAF could save some coin by building a fleet of Eurofighter Typhoons made of less expensive stealthy materials, like balsa-wood.

[MarkRS]

Originally Posted by Six Nifty .50s

Have you considered termites, beetles, worms, fungus?

Maybe the RAF could save some coin by building a fleet of Eurofighter Typhoons made of less expensive stealthy materials, like balsa-wood.

Do you want to build a plane from them or are you worried about them eating the structure? Seriously, today you can protect the wood from all bugs and fungus completely.

The other problem with wood or any composite aircraft is surface heating at high speed. You need a heat shield or sacrificial surface to protect the temperature sensitive structure. Aluminium is not much better which is why Titanium is used a lot.

[Empiricist]

The Americans were consultants at Mosquito manufacturing process although the British not necessarily want to remember about it today. Three Mosquitos were tested throughout the war in the USAAF R&D center at Wright Field.

What is mentioned above is a special veneer for aviation industry, not a plywood. The forumers many times do not differentiate plywood from veneer in airframe construction. In interwar period and during WWII the Americans were the world's leaders in plasticized veneers, molding technologies (Duramold process) and the autoclaves for an airframe construction -- pioneer autoclaves as known today for the GRP- or carbon-made airframes. For example, there was a feasibility study done during WWII to manufacture all-wood P-39 fighter. As it was counted then all-wood P-39 would be close to 10mph faster than its all-metal counterpart. There was also a plan to manufacture all-wood SBD Dauntless dive bombers. In period American opinion properly built wooden aircraft has a longer cruising range, is faster and can carry a heavier payload.

When it comes to Mosquito -- the best materials on its manufacturing were published during WWII. I recommend to read an interesting and well-illustrated article "It's The Skin" by Professor Nicholas J. Hoff -- the Air Progress monthly, Vol. 3 No. 3, September 1943.

[mhuxt]

That's great info - many thanks, will try to find that article.

[Empiricist]

Originally Posted by mhuxt

That's great info - many thanks, will try to find that article.

The WWII era American professional aviation press is full of extremely interesting articles on wooden technologies applied in the airframe structures written by the engineers, researchers, CEOs of various companies etc.

Writing his article on Mosquito Professor Nicholas J. Hoff foresaw very well such discussions as can be seen over here. He wrote among others:

"That wood construction can compete with and even surpass metal construction may seem strange to the nonspecialist in aircraft engineering."

[mhuxt]

Originally Posted by Empiricist

The WWII era American professional aviation press is full of extremely interesting articles on wooden technologies applied in the airframe structures written by the engineers, researchers, CEOs of various companies etc.

Writing his article on Mosquito Professor Nicholas J. Hoff foresaw very well such discussions as can be seen over here. He wrote among others:

"That wood construction can compete with and even surpass metal construction may seem strange to the nonspecialist in aircraft engineering."

Can you recommend any other reference articles / books? I'd be especially interested in the P-39 comparison, and in any info you might know of re: Soviet use of wood materials in aircraft construction.

Thanks again.