Edgar Brooks
Senior Airman
Or, lets say that the 30mm shell missed, leaving the Spitfire pilot free to turn his aircraft, using his non-reversing ailerons, and shoot his attacker down.Immagine a situation in which a Spitifre suffers an impact on the wing leading edge by a 30mm canon shell destroying everything up to but not including the spar.
We can say that the Spitfire wing has lost most of its torsional strength and the pilot would need to be very carefull to avoid high G manouvers.
If the same shell hit the leading edge of a two spar design the overall strenght and torsional rigididy would hardly be effected at all as the leading edge skinning is an insignificant component in terms of structure. I could be covered in cardboard reinforced plastic as it acts as a wind shield only.