Vultee Use Of Alternate Materials

[MIflyer]

Use of "non-strategic materials" was a topic of interest in WWII. Here is an article from Aviation Week on how Vultee approached the problem.

 

[SaparotRob]

I love the advertisements.

 

[Sabrejet]

I assume you mean "alternative", unless they really did use one, then another...

 

[GrauGeist]

I assume you mean "alternative", unless they really did use one, then another...

In modern English, "alternate" and "alternative" can be considered synonyms.
Although not grammatically correct based on older syntax, English, which is an ever evolving language, would accept the OP's phrase based on the context.

 

[MIflyer]

Note that the Germans and Japanese were using wood and other non-strategic materials near the end of WW2 for aircraft because they did not have enough aluminum.

I understand that some T-6's had steel wing skins. A radio used in tanks, the BC-342, originally was built with an aluminum chassis and case but switched to steel early in the war. The equivalent aircraft radio receiver, the BC-348, used an aluminum chassis and case, but I found one that had a front cover panel made out of steel. So in some cases they really did use "one and then the other."

Elsewhere you will find an article I posted on Lockheed making drop tanks out of steel.

 

[Sabrejet]

Perverted By Language: I see that in North American English, "alternate" is the word for "alternative".

Meanwhile in the civilised world it means, "occur in turn repeatedly", for example, bouts of depression alternate with periods of elation.

Also, "to be interspersed; follow one another; be staggered; take turns; take it in turns; work/act in sequence; occur in turn; occur in rotation; rotate; oscillate; see-saw; yo-yo; chop and change; fluctuate". Or as an adjective, "every other; every second".

So the OP probably didn't mean, "On odd-numbered days I'll make my Spitfire out of aluminium and on even-numbers I'll use wood".

 

[MIflyer]

I love the advertisements.

Howbout this one?

 

[SaparotRob]

Of all the companies advertising on those pages, I think I recognize Canon Connectors as the only one still around.

 

[MIflyer]

Well, I am pretty sure that US Steel is still around and it turns out that Wallace and Tiernan is a leader in water chlorination systems, although not aircraft lights. Of course Vultee became part of Consolidated Vultee, with the name shortened to Convair, which became part of General Dynamics before being sold to Lockheed which merged with Martin Marietta.

One day at Space Division in LA I signed out to go down to Convair but wrote it on the board as Consolidated Vultee. One of the Majors saw that and asked "Geeze, what we got going on there?" One of the guys told him I was checking on B-24 production.

 

[SaparotRob]

Well, I am pretty sure that US Steel is still around and it turns out that Wallace and Tiernan is a leader in water chlorination systems, although not aircraft lights. Of course Vultee became part of Consolidated Vultee, with the name shortened to Convair, which became part of General Dynamics before being sold to Lockheed which merged with Martin Marietta.

One day at Space Division in LA I signed out to go down to Convair but wrote it on the board as Consolidated Vultee. One of the Majors saw that and asked "Geeze, what we got going on there?" One of the guys told him I was checking on B-24 production.

OOPS. I got a bit of tunnel vision reading those ads. I was looking at the lesser known companies whose products I might have ordered, stocked, issued from my pre-railroad days. Yes U.S. Steel is still around. I think a Japanese company is trying to acquire it.

 

[GrauGeist]

The Pittsburgh Steelers wear US Steel's logo, too.

 

[MIflyer]

The Pittsburgh Steelers wear US Steel's logo, too.

And I hear that Wallace and Tiernan are still pissed about that.

 

[SaparotRob]

How about Wallace and Grommet?

 

[MIflyer]

How about Wallace and Grommet?

They are not in the WW2 ads.

 

[Big Jake]

Some T-6s had the whole rear fuselage made of wood.

 

[MIflyer]

Ryan built the YPT-25, a wooden alternative to the PT-22. But I think there was only one built.

 

[Jimbob]

A few of the many original ads in my collection.

 

[fannum]

Note that the 'plastic' components were actually natural alcohol based resins impregnating laminated cloth panels, using either cotton or flax. Phenols, sometimes called phenolics, are a class of chemical compounds, both synthesized industrially and produced by plants and microorganisms ... not the hydrocarbon dependent resins now common in fiberglass, kevlar and carbon fiber layups.
Training aircraft were limited or denied use of strategic aluminum, thus many were built of wood and steel tubing. Ironically, magnesium was not as restricted, and was used in a lot of low priority skins and castings.
Phenolic layups were used for aircraft spinners, and there's an instance in India where a Mosquito squadron was handicapped when their supply of spinners was left outside, and cows found them tasty and chewed them into scrap.

 

[MIflyer]

I have bought some phenolic sheet for use in fabricating various electrical components.

 

[GrauGeist]

I have bought some phenolic sheet for use in fabricating various electrical components.

How about Fish Paper?