List of Wooden WW2 aircraft

[cvairwerks]

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.

 

[Dimlee]

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...

 

[MIflyer]

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

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

 

[Capt. Vick]

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.

You HAVE an actual AT-21?

 

[Snautzer01]

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]

 

[cvairwerks]

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.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That's Fricken Awesome!

 

[Capt. Vick]

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

 

[GrauGeist]

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

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

 

[buffnut453]

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.

 

[cvairwerks]

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...

 

[RagTag]

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.

 

[Dimlee]

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

It doesn't. It was not all metal.

 

[NTGray]

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?

 

[buffnut453]

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).

 

[xylstra]

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.

BACHEM Natter + numerous experimental types.....

 

[A4K]

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

 

[GrauGeist]

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

 

[at6]

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

 

[windhund116]

Unless already mentioned, the Nakajima Ki-115.