Fixing bullet holes

[FLYBOYJ]

it also said that the radio transmitter was completely destroyed. and judging
by where that sits relative to the hole, the shot came from 90 degrees to it
and slightly above. those transmitters were built like tanks!

Right above his hand looked live a provision for an antenna. The radio units were big and bulky and were a cathode ray tube nightmare, they were located in the general area a bit lower to the waterline. There were actually pretty robust but still given a right jolt can be made into a mass of junk in a nanosecond.

 

[Bernhart]

heard references to using beer cans to patch bullet holes

 

[FLYBOYJ]

heard references to using beer cans to patch bullet holes

true

 

[P-40K-5]

I always thought they didn't use metal for things like beer during WWII.
becouse of wartime measures or something like that..

 

[Snautzer01]

Only to add to the discussion

Sgt. Albert Osborne Of The 382Nd Air Service Group'S Sheet Metal Shop Patches The Flak Holes On The Nose Of A Curtiss C-46 Of The 4Th Combat Cargo Group At Chittagong, India. 11 March 1945.

.

 

[Snautzer01]

and on the honourable item of beer

Pilots of the 27th Ftr Sq "Black Falcons," 1st FG relax with an adopted mutt and Schaefer beer during their deployment to Corsica, 10-21 August 1944, to provide air support for the invasion of southern France.

.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I always thought they didn't use metal for things like beer during WWII.
becouse of wartime measures or something like that..

There were supplies delivered in tin or aluminum cans. For the most part you wanted to stay with aluminum alloy when making repairs.

 

[mikewint]

two different metals in direct contact are a potential battery. depending on the identity of the two metals one becomes the anode and the other the cathode. the anode will corrode.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

two different metals in direct contact are a potential battery. depending on the identity of the two metals one becomes the anode and the other the cathode. the anode will corrode.

Correct - and that's why improvision like seen with beer can repairs from WW2 have been done away with.

 

[mikewint]

according to my research Al beer cans came out in 1958 and the first beer in can in 1935 though they were tin cans coated on the inside (like the Al can) so as not to react with the beer. So any WWII beer can repair would have been tin over Al. the more reactive Al would become the anode and corrode once the aircraft got wet. but if that's all you have...