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Far stretched comment, LOL! Where will it jam? Fabric surfaces have similar if not the same moving parts as a metal surface.an oldtimer told me that the metal control surface could jam from bullet damage where the bullet would pass threw the fabric and keep going
I am not sure a 20mm shell would explode when it hits fabric ...
Kris
i just recovered an elevator with some top of the line stuff. its is tight and thick as a drum head. i imagine i could poke a hole in it with a pencil where as i could never get through a piece of .020 ac grade aluminum. then again ww2 stuff might have been way heavier and stiffer. idk, i guess a lot would depend on how sensitive the detonators were on 20mm rounds. FlyboyJ...they test fabric with a poke test....what is the weight or measure they use to fail the fabric?
i just recovered an elevator with some top of the line stuff. its is tight and thick as a drum head. i imagine i could poke a hole in it with a pencil where as i could never get through a piece of .020 ac grade aluminum. then again ww2 stuff might have been way heavier and stiffer. idk, i guess a lot would depend on how sensitive the detonators were on 20mm rounds. FlyboyJ...they test fabric with a poke test....what is the weight or measure they use to fail the fabric?
Control surfaces of WW2 fighters could be fabric (cotton, linen and occassionally canvas), wood, aluminium alloy, or even other metals like steel. Doped, stiffened fabric had been the traditional material of choice for ailerons and rudders and it was used on the majority of WW2 fighters.
I don't feel like typing, just had my third beer tonight...
It looks like many planes of WW2 had fabric-covered control surfaces, even when the rest of the plane was all-metal. Why do this and not make the control surfaces metal also?
I know this is an old thread, but were there any planes in WWII that did not have at least one fabric-covered control surface? I can't think of any...