List of Wooden WW2 aircraft

[l'Omnivore Sobriquet]

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with the same engine as the standard Morane-Saulnier MS-406, an aircraft rightfully judged as being too expensive, and outdated in its means of production.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.

 

[Wurger]

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.

 

[nuuumannn]

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.

 

[Maxrobot1]

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

 

[Piper106]

"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.

 

[nuuumannn]

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.

 

[glennasher]

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.

 

[A4K]

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...

 

[nuuumannn]

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

That'll about do it! Welcome back Evan.

 

[GrauGeist]

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!

 

[Dino in Reno]

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

 

[tengu1979]

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

 

[Aozora]

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

 

[RagTag]

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

 

[Dimlee]

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.

 

[Admiral Beez]

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

 

[swampyankee]

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.

 

[RagTag]

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?

 

[Timppa]

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.

 

[MIflyer]

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.