Author Topic: Best Planes of WWII  (Read 14761 times)

Offline FLOOB

  • Gold Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3058
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #90 on: November 13, 2015, 09:39:20 AM »
the FW190A8R2, Sturmbock, very resistant to .50 fire from front arc.
Not.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans” - John Steinbeck

Offline MiloMorai

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 6864
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #91 on: November 13, 2015, 10:19:59 AM »
A lot of manufacturers had female workers so I dont see why its relevant. Mosquito wasnt the only wooden plane around during WW2 either.
It was a very good plane but the design still had some serious drawbacks that were shown when it was used in the far East for ex.

That FE problem was fixed.

Offline bozon

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 6037
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #92 on: November 13, 2015, 11:57:56 AM »
A lot of manufacturers had female workers so I dont see why its relevant. Mosquito wasnt the only wooden plane around during WW2.
No it wasn't. However, the construction of the mossie and DH technology were pretty unique. Planes at that time incorporated wooden parts into a metal construction. Very few, if any major designs had that many wooden parts, including things like the main wing spar and a thick wooden skin - usually they had wood frames covered by fabric, like the Hurricane for example and control surfaces of other planes.

That kind of construction was considered obsolete already by 1939, which is one reason the air ministry thought DH was crazy.
Mosquito VI - twice the spitfire, four times the ENY.

Click!>> "So, you want to fly the wooden wonder" - <<click!
the almost incomplete and not entirely inaccurate guide to the AH Mosquito.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGOWswdzGQs

Offline Zimme83

  • Gold Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3077
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #93 on: November 13, 2015, 01:02:58 PM »
The design still had some serious issues when it come to weather resistance. SwAF for ex lost a lot of their Mossies and concluded that they simply were not able to withstand the climate.

The all wood construction was the main reason that the Mosquito was allowed into production at all. And despite the fact that the plane performed very well, all wood constructions was a dead end for high performance planes.
''The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge'' - Stephen Hawking

Offline Karnak

  • Radioactive Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 23048
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #94 on: November 13, 2015, 04:40:44 PM »
The all wood construction was the main reason that the Mosquito was allowed into production at all. And despite the fact that the plane performed very well, all wood constructions was a dead end for high performance planes.
More realistically the Mosquito was a harbinger of the future in which aircraft would be built of composites.  That the composites of the time were wood (birch and balsa mostly) rather than things like fiberglass, ceramics and carbon fiber is just down to technology of the day.

As to the manufacturing method, it allowed many very small firms to participate in the war effort where without the Mosquito they would not have been able to contribute at all.  How efficient the design was for production, barring catastrophically inefficient construction which it did not have, is relatively irrelevant because of that as any efficiency was better than the 0 efficiency those workers would otherwise have been contributing.
Petals floating by,
      Drift through my woman's hand,
             As she remembers me-

Offline MiloMorai

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 6864
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #95 on: November 13, 2015, 06:51:01 PM »
The solution turned out to be two-part urea-formaldehyde glue, which de Havilland began using in the spring of 1943.

There was also drain holes drilled in places where water would collect.

Scotland is not known for nice weather and Mossies operated from bases there.

Offline Karnak

  • Radioactive Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 23048
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #96 on: November 13, 2015, 07:41:53 PM »
It wasn't the damp in the tropics, it was tropical microbiology eating the glue.
Petals floating by,
      Drift through my woman's hand,
             As she remembers me-

Offline WaffenVW

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 360
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #97 on: November 17, 2015, 02:20:15 PM »
LilMak


Offline LilMak

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1344
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #98 on: November 17, 2015, 04:30:39 PM »
Waffen

I already built my warbird VW




...and sold it.
"When caught by the enemy in large force the best policy is to fight like hell until you can decide what to do next."
~Hub Zemke
P-47 pilot 56th Fighter Group.

Offline WaffenVW

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 360
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #99 on: November 17, 2015, 04:31:22 PM »
Awesome!  :aok

Offline LilMak

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1344
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #100 on: November 17, 2015, 04:35:24 PM »
And the Gigant was a turd. A perfect example of bigger is not always better.
"When caught by the enemy in large force the best policy is to fight like hell until you can decide what to do next."
~Hub Zemke
P-47 pilot 56th Fighter Group.

Offline LilMak

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1344
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #101 on: November 17, 2015, 04:37:11 PM »
And the airspeed indicator in my bug worked.
"When caught by the enemy in large force the best policy is to fight like hell until you can decide what to do next."
~Hub Zemke
P-47 pilot 56th Fighter Group.

Offline WaffenVW

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 360
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #102 on: November 17, 2015, 05:05:35 PM »
And the Gigant was a turd. A perfect example of bigger is not always better.

If that's your opinion you're perfectly entitled to it, but I'm sure you'll forgive me if I say I don't hold much faith in it.

Offline LilMak

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1344
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #103 on: November 17, 2015, 10:12:51 PM »
If that's your opinion you're perfectly entitled to it, but I'm sure you'll forgive me if I say I don't hold much faith in it.
Well you can ignore my opinion all you want but that doesn't change the facts. The Gigant was tough and could haul a load but underpowered, difficult to fly, slow, had crap for range, could only haul a full load one way (unless they had ratos where it landed), and not built in large enough numbers to make much of a difference.
"When caught by the enemy in large force the best policy is to fight like hell until you can decide what to do next."
~Hub Zemke
P-47 pilot 56th Fighter Group.

Offline WaffenVW

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 360
Re: Best Planes of WWII
« Reply #104 on: November 18, 2015, 05:58:15 AM »
Everything you just said is wrong or irrelevant, so yes I choose to ignore your opinion.  :)