# List of Wooden WW2 aircraft



## Piper106 (Sep 29, 2013)

Does anyone have a list of WW2 era combat aircraft of substantually all wood construction for the airframe ?? 

I am thinking of aircraft where wood provides the structural strength, not machines that used a steel tube frame covered with plywood. 

The DeHaviland Mosquito and the later Hornet are the most obvious examples (and they overload search engine results).

I know about the Soviet LaGG-1 and LaGG-3 fighters, the Japanese Ki-106 'Wooden Hayate', and the Bell XP-77.

Just wondering about what others I have overlooked.


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## pattle (Sep 29, 2013)

The Cant Z1007 was wood.


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## yulzari (Sep 29, 2013)

Armstrong Whitworth Albermarle wooden bomber. Hotspur, Hengist, Horsa and Hamilcar gliders. Airspeed Oxford. The De Haviland Vampire jet had a wooden fuselage.


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## DonL (Sep 29, 2013)

Focke-Wulf Ta 154

Focke-Wulf Ta 154 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## futuredogfight (Sep 29, 2013)

La-5


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## GrauGeist (Sep 29, 2013)

He162 and Ho229 (though the Ho229 didn't reach operability, it was reaching production stage)


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## Capt. Vick (Sep 30, 2013)

The Me 163 had wooden wings...


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## nuuumannn (Sep 30, 2013)

> The De Haviland Vampire jet had a wooden fuselage.



Only the pod forward of the firewall was wood; the rest was metal on the Vampire, including the wings and load bearing structure. The Ho 229 had a welded steel tube cage in which the cockpit and engines were mounted and undercarriage attached to, although its wings were wooden.The Japanese built a wooden DC-3.


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## Aozora (Sep 30, 2013)

futuredogfight said:


> La-5



Yak 1, 7, some 9s.


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## A4K (Sep 30, 2013)

Bachem Ba 349 Natter (mostly wooden construction)
Blohm und Voss Bv40 (as Ba 349)
DFS 194
DFS Kranich
DHA G-2
SG-38, etc...


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## Elmas (Sep 30, 2013)

Practically, all the family of CANT, say 1007, 506 etc. were wooden made, SM79 had wooden wings.


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## Aozora (Sep 30, 2013)

Miles M.20

Nakajima Ki-115


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## norab (Sep 30, 2013)

WACO CG-4A


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## nuuumannn (Sep 30, 2013)

Norab; the Waco CG-4A's fusealge was welded steel tube, although there were wooden panels. The exterior was covered in fabric. Miles Magister and Miles Master trainers. Miles Martinet target tug. Percival Proctor. The Fieseler Storch originally had wooden wing spars, but Morane Saulnier built theirs with metal ones.


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## R Pope (Sep 30, 2013)

The Curtis C-76 Caravan was an all-wood failure.The tail fell off the first one on its second flight. One of the engineers was watching the second one being completed, and said to the job boss, "Don't forget the bolts to hold the stabilizers on!" and got the reply, "What bolts? We didn't put bolts in the first one!" So just the glue on the plywood covering was all that held the tail on.......Wood construction was a fading art in the '40's.


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## GrauGeist (Sep 30, 2013)

While it arrived a bit late, there was the Huges H-4 which contained a significant amount of wood


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## yulzari (Sep 30, 2013)

Finnish Myrsky and Pyorremyrsky.


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## fastmongrel (Sep 30, 2013)

Supermarine Walrus Mark II surely one of the few aircraft that started out all metal then went to wooden construction.

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## Rufus123 (Sep 30, 2013)

I had no idea there were so many.


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## imalko (Oct 1, 2013)

Yugoslav indigenous fighter Rogožarski IK-3 had a fuselage made of steel tube frame covered with plywood and canvas, while wings were completely of wooden structure covered with plywood. The aircraft had liquid cooled engine, retractable landing gear and armament of two machine guns in the forward fuselage and one cannon firing through propeller shaft.

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## l'Omnivore Sobriquet (Oct 2, 2013)

The Arsenal VG serie of (forthcoming..) fighters were, as far as I know, "of wood". 
The whole concept had started as a pilot 'basic' construction design, and state owned factory for serial output, upon which other private contenders for miltary contracts where to be evaluatued, especially cost wise...
A very socialist undertaking which, could you believe this, actually worked. (have your favorite smiley here.) The 'industrial etalon' was therefore planned with the same engine as the standard Morane-Saulnier MS-406, an aircraft rightfully judged as being too expensive, and outdated in its means of production. And the Arsenal prooved markedly superior in every field... Then would come one with the Dewoitine D520 engine package etc. Industrial construction was indeed planned modern, yet costs were certainly drawn hard... hence the wood.
[note : "arsenal" is the classic word, standard for "weapons shop". On both senses, 'shop' as a storage aera, or shop as 'workshop', a building place.]

There's also not mentionned yet the Junkers Ju-352 Hercules, which is a wooden and 'cheap' redesign of the 252. Both Ju aircrafts were successful in their respective fields. With a modest career though.


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## Wurger (Oct 2, 2013)

Aozora said:


> Yak 1, 7, some 9s.



Yak 1/1b/1M , 7A/B/V had wooden wings and tails only. The Yak 9 and 3 were of metal.

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## nuuumannn (Oct 2, 2013)

The humble Tiger Moth; almost everything built by de Havilland! There was the exception of the Flamingo, but all its light aircraft, the twin engined airliners, even the four engined Albatross was predominantly wood construction. All this experience and capability was rationale applied to create the Mosquito.


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## Maxrobot1 (Oct 2, 2013)

Wasn't the Finnish version of the Brewster Buffalo made of wood?


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## Piper106 (Oct 4, 2013)

"I am thinking of aircraft where wood provides the structural strength, not machines that used a steel tube frame covered with plywood." 

As far as I know; 
Armstrong Whitworth Albermarle was steel tube for the fuselage frame work covered in plywood. Same for the Russian Yak-1 and Yak-7 fighters. 

Fieseler Storch was metal framed fuselage covered in fabric

as such they all fail to meet the above definition.


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## nuuumannn (Oct 4, 2013)

> Fieseler Storch was metal framed fuselage covered in fabric



Yep, well aware of that; I used to work for a company with a MS-505a. The point I wanted to mention was that German built Storchs had wooden wing spars and in the later Moranes they changed them to metal ones.


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## glennasher (Oct 5, 2013)

How about Cessna's Bamboo Bomber? I don't recall the nomenclature, but it was mainly used as a transport/training aircraft for twin-engine pilots.


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## A4K (Oct 5, 2013)

Forgot to add: Polikarpov I-16! wings were mixed metal/ canvas, but the fuselage was of all wooden monocoque construction. Outer wing panels and tail of the Ilyushin Il-2 were wooden aswell.

In addition to Grant's info re the Fi-156, construction in metal may have been in part (or entirely?) due to the structural failuresof the wooden wings, apparently due to weakness of the glues used. Turned out the French workers were urinating in it...

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## nuuumannn (Oct 5, 2013)

> Turned out the French workers were urinating in it...



That'll about do it! Welcome back Evan.


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## GrauGeist (Oct 5, 2013)

glennasher said:


> How about Cessna's Bamboo Bomber? I don't recall the nomenclature, but it was mainly used as a transport/training aircraft for twin-engine pilots.


AT-17 Bobcat

Glad to see ya' made it back, Evan!


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## Dino in Reno (Oct 17, 2013)

The Italian SAI Series:
107 Trainer
207 Light Fighter
403 Light fighter


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## tengu1979 (Oct 22, 2013)

Wimpy had loads of wood in construction (although it is metal framed)


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## Aozora (Oct 22, 2013)

tengu1979 said:


> Wimpy had loads of wood in construction (although it is metal framed)



The Wimpy was all metal using geodetic construction - wooden battens were used to secure the fabric covering and didn't support the structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodetic_airframe


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## RagTag (Nov 2, 2020)

Tucker XP-57 lightweight fighter. Wood wing structure. Under contract but never built.


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## Dimlee (Nov 8, 2020)

USSR.
(except those mentioned already)
La-7, La-5FN, Su-2: wooden fuselage frame, metal engine mount, metal wing frame.
R-10, R-5, Shche-2, Yak-6, Yak-8, MBR-2, Po-2(U-2): all wood, except some elements.


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## Admiral Beez (Nov 8, 2020)

We should define what is wood. Is sawdust compressed with glue into sheets still wood?


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## swampyankee (Nov 8, 2020)

Admiral Beez said:


> We should define what is wood. Is sawdust compressed with glue into sheets still wood?



Yes.

Would one count Vought's "Metalite" as wood? It was a wood-aluminum composite sandwich, so it was mostly wood.

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## RagTag (Nov 9, 2020)

Fokker T.V bomber, mostly wood. No self sealing fuel tanks. 

Fokker D.XXI fighter with wooden wing construction, and the Koolhoven F.K.58 fighter, also with wooden wing construction.

Were the pilots issued wooden shoes?

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## Timppa (Nov 9, 2020)

Wurger said:


> The Yak 9 and 3 were of metal.



Yak-9/3: 
Wing : Metal wing spars and some wing ribs. Plywood wing skin and outer wing ribs.
Fuselage: Steel tube strut lattice with plywood skin and fabric cover.
There were no all-metal Soviet fighters in WW2.


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## MIflyer (Nov 9, 2020)

The Beech AT-10 used wood as the primary structure. They built about 2300 of them.

The Fairchild AT-21 was made out of wood.. They made about 70 of them.

At least some of the P-51's had wooden floor.

The F4U's ailerons were made out of wood.

The Fairchild PT-19, PT-23 and PT-26 used a lot of wood.

The Fairchild 24 used a lot of wood, including the wing spar.

The Piper L-4 used wooden wings

I've seen an unrestored UC-78 with the fabric off. Very original, with even the SCR-283 radios.. It used asteel tube fuselage with some wooden formers and wooden wings.

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## cvairwerks (Nov 9, 2020)

MIflyer said:


> The Fairchild AT-21 was made out of wood.. They made about 70 of them.



Small error here...There were actually 173 AT-21's produced along with 1 XAT-13, 1 XAT-14 and 1 XAT-21.
Skins were DuraMold, which was a phenolic resin impregnated wood sandwich. The original production parts were wet layups cured via pressure and temperature via an autoclave. Subsequent developments in adhesives, moved the process to a dry layup and RF curing, speeding production up by hundreds of hours. With the advent of the dry sheet adhesives, a spar crew could layup and cure a upper section or lower section of the center spar in under 20 minutes and have it ready for further assembly.

The forward fuselage was a steel tubing truss that ran from the nose gear to the rear spar and carried a significant amount of the structural loads. There was also a small steel tubing truss that carried the tail loads to the rear monocoque. Steel trusswork and large aluminum forgings were used to transfer gear and power plant loads to the center section spars. Ailerons, elevators and rudders were conventional aluminum rib and spar construction with fabric covering. Flaps were standard wood construction with DuraMold covers. Trim tabs were steel tubes with DuraMold covers. Size-wise, the airplane falls between a C-45 and C-47 for size and weight.

For those that are curious, here is a link to a Fairchild promotional film about the AT-21.... Also note, the first 1:40 or so shows some very early C-82 Packet taxi and flight tests.



BTW...My AT-21 project is 42-48053 and was the 2nd one built by Bellanca Aircraft.

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## Dimlee (Nov 9, 2020)

Timppa said:


> Yak-9/3:
> Wing : Metal wing spars and some wing ribs. Plywood wing skin and outer wing ribs.
> Fuselage: Steel tube strut lattice with plywood skin and fabric cover.
> There were no all-metal Soviet fighters in WW2.



There was one (two) all-metal fighter: Pe-3(3bis).
Yes, I know, I know...

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## MIflyer (Nov 9, 2020)

Yes, here is video on the construction of the AT-21

https://archive.org/serve/87594TheAT21/87594 The AT 21.ogv


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## Capt. Vick (Nov 9, 2020)

cvairwerks said:


> Small error here...There were actually 173 AT-21's produced along with 1 XAT-13, 1 XAT-14 and 1 XAT-21.
> Skins were DuraMold, which was a phenolic resin impregnated wood sandwich. The original production parts were wet layups cured via pressure and temperature via an autoclave. Subsequent developments in adhesives, moved the process to a dry layup and RF curing, speeding production up by hundreds of hours. With the advent of the dry sheet adhesives, a spar crew could layup and cure a upper section or lower section of the center spar in under 20 minutes and have it ready for further assembly.
> 
> The forward fuselage was a steel tubing truss that ran from the nose gear to the rear spar and carried a significant amount of the structural loads. There was also a small steel tubing truss that carried the tail loads to the rear monocoque. Steel trusswork and large aluminum forgings were used to transfer gear and power plant loads to the center section spars. Ailerons, elevators and rudders were conventional aluminum rib and spar construction with fabric covering. Flaps were standard wood construction with DuraMold covers. Trim tabs were steel tubes with DuraMold covers. Size-wise, the airplane falls between a C-45 and C-47 for size and weight.
> ...




You HAVE an actual AT-21? 😳


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## Snautzer01 (Nov 10, 2020)

Capt. Vick said:


> You HAVE an actual AT-21? 😳


Wiki:
A small number of AT-21s survived as civilian examples, with one (s/n* 42-48053* owned by Craig Cantwell) still in existence in North Texas awaiting restoration.[7]


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## cvairwerks (Nov 10, 2020)

Capt. Vick said:


> You HAVE an actual AT-21? 😳



Yep. the remains of 42-48053 are mine. Long story on how I ended up with them. The interesting thing about her, is that she spent almost all of her operational life in Houston, at Ellington Field, as a base hack. 

Current plan is after the first of the year, to start getting parts out of storage and begin the restoration process.

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## vikingBerserker (Nov 10, 2020)

That's Fricken Awesome!

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## Capt. Vick (Nov 10, 2020)

Can you post some pictures?...please!!!!

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## GrauGeist (Nov 10, 2020)

Dimlee said:


> There was one (two) all-metal fighter: Pe-3(3bis).
> Yes, I know, I know...


I suppose the I-16 doesn"t count...


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## buffnut453 (Nov 10, 2020)

Maxrobot1 said:


> Wasn't the Finnish version of the Brewster Buffalo made of wood?



FInland developed a home-grown variant of the Brewster named the Humu that had a standard metal fuselage and wooden wings. Finland ordered about 90 of the Humus but only one was delivered (and survives to this day). Testing showed the Humu to be about 250kg above the expected weight and the performance drop was sufficient to end the entire project.

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## cvairwerks (Nov 10, 2020)

Capt. Vick said:


> Can you post some pictures?...please!!!!




Will have to see if I can find my camera this week. It's got the card that has the photos on it. I know I've got a thumb drive with them too, but there are dozens of the drives floating around the house that I would have to check. If I have to, I'll see about making some quick snaps over in the storage area this weekend. To whet your appetite...here are the rudders when I had them at the house looking for some part numbers a few months back...

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## RagTag (Nov 10, 2020)

Yokosuka MXY-7 _Ohka_ kamikaze attacker with wood wings. Amazing the other variants being developed. and the listed 755 listed produced for the operational Model 11.


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## Dimlee (Nov 10, 2020)

GrauGeist said:


> I suppose the I-16 doesn"t count...



It doesn't. It was not all metal.


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## NTGray (Nov 12, 2020)

Piper106 said:


> Does anyone have a list of WW2 era combat aircraft of substantually all wood construction for the airframe ??


I have seen the Hurricane referred to as a wood and fabric airplane, but since nobody here has mentioned it I am guessing that some of the structure was metal. Is that the case?


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## buffnut453 (Nov 12, 2020)

Most of the Hurricane's structure was metal. The "doghouse" area behind the canopy was wooden, as was the framing that supported the rear fuselage fabric (although the primary structure of the fuselage was metal).


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## xylstra (Nov 12, 2020)

Piper106 said:


> Does anyone have a list of WW2 era combat aircraft of substantually all wood construction for the airframe ??
> 
> I am thinking of aircraft where wood provides the structural strength, not machines that used a steel tube frame covered with plywood.
> 
> ...


BACHEM Natter + numerous experimental types.....


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## A4K (Nov 13, 2020)

Siebel Si 202 Hummel (Bumblebee)
Zlin Z-XII, Z-212


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## GrauGeist (Nov 14, 2020)

Dimlee said:


> It doesn't. It was not all metal.


Oops!
My post went awry - the I-16 comment was supposed to be seperate while I was in agreement with you regarding the Pe-2/3


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## at6 (Nov 14, 2020)

There were some SNJ/Texan airframes produced with wooden aft fuselages.

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## windhund116 (Nov 15, 2020)

Unless already mentioned, the Nakajima Ki-115.


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## RagTag (Nov 19, 2020)

Avro Anson with wooden wings.


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## A4K (Nov 19, 2020)

Airspeed Horsa and Oxford/ Consul


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## Capt. Vick (Nov 19, 2020)

The Me 163 Komet had wooden wings


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## cvairwerks (Nov 26, 2020)

For you perusal after scarfing down a TBM for lunch/dinner... The forward fuselage steel framework and the left nacelle. I'm doing a little rearranging of the various storage areas, so these are over in a temporary one. Once I can get a few car maintenance projects out of the way, they will come to the house for getting handling dollies made. The forward steel and both nacelles should take up about the same space as full size pickup when the dollies are done. After the first of the year, we are going to be actively looking for new place to build a shop..... I need the room!

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## MiTasol (Jan 25, 2021)

RagTag said:


> Avro Anson with wooden wings.



Canadian Mk V Anson also had a molded wooden fuselage


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## MiTasol (Jan 25, 2021)

cvairwerks said:


> For you perusal after scarfing down a TBM for lunch/dinner... The forward fuselage steel framework and the left nacelle. I'm doing a little rearranging of the various storage areas, so these are over in a temporary one. Once I can get a few car maintenance projects out of the way, they will come to the house for getting handling dollies made. The forward steel and both nacelles should take up about the same space as full size pickup when the dollies are done. After the first of the year, we are going to be actively looking for new place to build a shop..... I need the room!



You have me confused - the only TBMs I know of are the Grumman/Eastern TBM Avenger and the French Socata light aircraft and your goodies look like neither.


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## Koopernic (Jan 28, 2021)

The Heinkel He 162 had wooden wings. The main spar was of a material called TYBU which was a laminate of wood and Bakelite like plastic.

The fuselage was alloy because it was thought that the need to have openings such as cockpit, guns, 3 undercarriage legs plus the jet engine would be too complicated for wood alone in the time available.

The aircraft had problems with the disintegration of some of its wooden flight surfaces which lead to the death of several Luftwaffe and at least one RAF pilot at air shows. (they did not have time to eject). This disintegration was in the tail and caused by the substitution of a PVA type glue as opposed to a heat cured TEGO film laminate. I believe the tail should also have been all metal.

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