Waxing military aircraft

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Micdrow

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Aug 21, 2006
Wisconsin
Kinda interesting little document on the effects of waxing aircraft on the bottom half of the document

Enjoy
 

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very cool. consider the dynamics... was the officer in charge trying to make an impression? Or do the facts speak for themselves?
It all sounds reasonable to me...
 
I don't know the exact numbers but i do know that in RAF PR squadrons it was quite common to make a number of small changes that added up to a decent increase in performance.
Other things were filling in the small gaps of the surface of the plane so that the airframe was as smooth as possible. Anything that reduced drag.
 
From my experience in this field, to seal every gaps/seams e.g. with fabric tapes and dope paints is if not significantly better but as effective as puttying/polishing on the surface of aircraft.

So far I am interested in what the extent the RAF/Handley Page carried out the sealings for improving their early Halifaxes.
 
Bob Johnson in his book about flying P-47s in Europe remarks ( I believe several times) about waxing or simonizing fighters to get an extra few MPH out of them. I have always thought that waxing a shade 41 U.S. Army painted plane would darken it considerably.
When I first saw the Smithsonian's restored f-80 on display my fist thought was that they repainted it in a shade that looked like simonized olive drab!
 
Like this. A Spitfire Mk IX and a Russian pilot...I am sorry that I forgot the source of the pic.
 

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