Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
No but it is affected by salt and humidity - in some cases you'd want rust instead of the kinds of defects you could get in wood!Wood doesn't rust. Maybe that could be a reason.
Perhaps the success of the Mosquito influenced engineers.
It influenced no one as the mossie was the last wooden plane to fly in a war.
Canvas and wood flight controls were being used since the beginning of flight.
.
Yes but the tremendous success of the mosquito may may have caused designers a give second look at canvas and wood on a high performance fighter. I'm sure using fabric and wood on a first rate "modern" fighter wasn't popular with some engineers.
The mosquito wasnt a fighter.
.
I think the Vampire would have had some combat post WW2 and it;s got woodIt influenced no one as the mossie was the last wooden plane to fly in a war.
Canvas and wood flight controls were being used since the beginning of flight.
One possible reason for the use of fabric control surface was the good strength to weight rations coupled with the need to reduce inertial forces under high deflections.
Canvas IS NOT a fabric material - grade A cotton or Irish linen....It influenced no one as the mossie was the last wooden plane to fly in a war.
Canvas and wood flight controls were being used since the beginning of flight.
One possible reason for the use of fabric control surface was the good strength to weight rations coupled with the need to reduce inertial forces under high deflections.
Yes but the tremendous success of the mosquito may may have caused designers a give second look at canvas and wood on a high performance fighter. I'm sure using fabric and wood on a first rate "modern" fighter wasn't popular with some engineers.
I can think of this
Ballooning of the fabric stuff occurs when the plane is in very high speed, so there was no direct reason (nothing to gain) to change.
Cost would also being a factor i guess as wood etc was the known
I believe they started out as fabric control surfaces and were later changed to metal, but I believe the trim tabs remained wood.I asked the same question to multiple aviation people and got almost the same answer that to reduce the weight aft of hing lines was the primary reason. I understand this.
The situation changed when high speed planes with more than 400mph of top speed, like the Corsair, started to appear. The control force became increasingly heavier and heavier on these types. Most of the later WW2 American fighters suffered this problem.
.....So what were the airelons on the early prototype F4U(s)? Were these remain unchanged through its developing stage? This is the question I thought of right now.
Early canvas was made of linen
Modern canvas is usually made of cotton
In my opinion the wood and fabrics were easy to dispose of. If the carrier needed more speed, just put them into extra boilers.....
actuality, holes are very easy to patch up if they were under a certain size and didn't require stitching.
EXACTLY!In my class we were told that besides keeping the weight down, it was easy to repair.
Take a metal control surface for example, if there was a bullet hole in it, the metal would have to be dressed and then a patch plate would have to go on top of it. Depeding on the size of the damage, this patch needs to be a certain size and needs to contain a certain number of rivets in order to restore it's original strength. Whereas a fabric control surface with a bullet hole (depending on size) needs only a circular patch to be glued on.
AC 43.13-1B Chapter 2 section 4 for fabric repairs, Chapter 4 section 4 for metal repairs. I deal with fabric and sheet metal repairs on an almost daily basis.I need to ask this question again in my class; to be sure. I also know that the methods of repair for both metal and fabric is described in the handbook AC 43.13-1B offered by the DOT.