Was the Mosquito the worlds first stealth aircraft?

[Seawitch]

MHuxt...thanks for those links, great reading!
Soren says the Mosquito had a metal skin....I always understood it to have been of the plywood that flyboyJ says may have absorbed radar.
And that much of the strength that sent it modern again was down to the glues used to bond it.
Soren, are you sure?

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I admit I would be interested to know how the Ho-229 was so stealthy. I am not saying it wasn't but would appreciate some guidance/tips oh how it was achieved.
I can see the shape would help as would the lack of a prop so I can see that it would be less, but invisible, thats asking a lot.

It was a flying wing - just the configuration lends it self to have a low radar signature when radar is painting it from a frontal position. This was noticed on the B-49 as well. I also think the 229 was supposed to use a lot of wood in its primary structure, another stealth plus.

 

[Soren]

Seawitch,

Yes I was mistaken about the Mosquito, I can see now that the skin was a type of wood as-well. That's what happens when you rely purely on memory..

I'm thinking now though of how much I wouldn't have liked to have flown in a DH Mossie, I mean a single 20mm HEI projectile hits you and you're a burning torch!

 

[FLYBOYJ]

If there was any metal skin on the Mossie it would of been around the nacelles and maybe the wing leading edges.

 

[Soren]

All I can think of now is that it was going *pufff!* if it got hit by any 20mm incendiary round.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

All I can think of now is that it was going *pufff!* if it got hit by any 20mm incendiary round.

I recently seen a clip of one dropping a rolling bomb - it skipped up ant took off it tail - *pufff!* A lot of splinters!

 

[Seawitch]

All I can think of now is that it was going *pufff!* if it got hit by any 20mm incendiary round.

...I think sounds like a Mustang then?
Carrying tons of fuel for Berlin and back missions made it a flying Sherman?

 

[pbfoot]

Birds show up on radars so do trees and both are non conductive so what gives the wood in the mossie special properties . It all depends on the aspect of the aircraft to the radar . Yes the Mossie will naturally have a smaller signature then the slab sided bombers. It will also depend on which band radar one is using and most of all power of the radar

 

[FLYBOYJ]

...I think sounds like a Mustang then?
Carrying tons of fuel for Berlin and back missions made it a flying Sherman?

Not necessarily - Protected fuel tanks, etc. - ever see what a bullet does to plywood?

 

[Seawitch]

....I wonder if Geese ever got intercepted as the high flying Mosquitoes

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Birds show up on radars so do trees and both are non conductive so what gives the wood in the mossie special properties . It all depends on the aspect of the aircraft to the radar . Yes the Mossie will naturally have a smaller signature then the slab sided bombers. It will also depend on which band radar one is using and most of all power of the radar

All true but plywood (along with balsa and other woods) absorb radar at certain bands. The problem (unknown during WW2) was if there were any imperfections on the surface (seams, cracks, screw heads) they would not absorb the radar.

 

[Seawitch]

...Hi Flyboy
Reading your signature...Just to have you stand back I've changed my avatar to a Tern towing a.....RED DUSTER!

 

[FLYBOYJ]

...Hi Flyboy
Reading your signature...Just to have you stand back I've changed my avatar to a Tern towing a.....RED DUSTER!

 

[davparlr]

The first truly stealth a/c is the Ho/Go-229 which would've been undetectable by any radar equipment of the time.

The Ho/Go-229 was not a stealth aircraft. Jet engines are high radar reflective devices with nice rotating radar reflectors. The beams don't even have to hit the compressor or turbine directly to get a good return. They just bounce around the inlet/exhaust until they come out. The Ho/Go-229 may have had reasonable low reflection from the sides but when coming or going, I'd say within plus or minus 45 degrees of the heading, those engines would have lit up a radar set. And, of course, coming or going is what is important. All modern stealth aircraft expend loads of money reducing the radar reflection of the engines. The F-117 has a grid over buried engines and the B-2 has buried engines with sophisticated desined inlets and exhausts. The F-22 and F-35 aslo has very sophiscated inlets and exhausts. There is also the cockpit which would have provided a lot of right angle reflections for a radar to feast on.

Also, the B-2 body design is designed and manufactured to very tight tolerances of curvature and gaps, tolerances that were not available until computer technologies were available to calculate the curvature requirements.

The Ho/Go-229, like the XB-35, was a unknowing step in the right directions, but was billions of dollars and years from becoming a true stealth aircraft.

 

[antoni]

The Mosquito's engine cowlings, spinners, radiator skins, underwing panels, tailcone, ailerons, elevators and various access panels were aluminium. The rest was skinned with birch plywood. (The fuselage was made in two halves using a concrete mould to form them.) All wood surfaces were covered with Medapalin, and aviation fabric, applied with red-brown dope. Then it was sprayed with aluminium paint. Finally camouflage was applied over the top of this.

 

[pbfoot]

....I wonder if Geese ever got intercepted as the high flying Mosquitoes

geese are aften tracked in the Jetstream if you look at some flight supplements you'll notice they include the migratory patterns of the Canada Goose

 

[Soren]

Davparlr,

You must not know allot about the radar equipment of the time. The radars of WW2 weren't going to detect the Go-229, and if they did it would look nothing like an aircraft, just a way too small blob.

Also jet engines don't give larger radar signatures than a propeller engine.

In short if you think that the radar of the time was going to detect the Go-229 you seriously lack knowledge on their effectiveness in general.

 

[pbfoot]

Davparlr,

You must not know allot about the radar equipment of the time. The radars of WW2 weren't going to detect the Go-229, and if they did it would look nothing like an aircraft, just a way too small blob.

Also jet engines don't give larger radar signatures than a propeller engine.

In short if you think that the radar of the time was going to detect the Go-229 you seriously lack knowledge on their effectiveness in general.

Read Davparir's post he is right on .He knows what he is saying

 

[Soren]

Nope, Davparlr is thinking of modern radar, not WW2 radar, and there's a BIG difference!

 

[pbfoot]

Nope, Davparlr is thinking of modern radar, not WW2 radar, and there's a BIG difference!

Whats the difference please enlighten me .