![the last wood fighter plane the last wood fighter plane](https://live.staticflickr.com/7353/9377522819_8584c1e4ec_b.jpg)
THE LAST WOOD FIGHTER PLANE SKIN
So for wings with a high aspect ratio, part of aluminium's weight advantage is traded in: compressed skin is dimensioned on skin thickness, not on yield strength.Īircraft aluminium alloys yield strength reduces as a function of temperature, as indicated in the graph below ( source). But half of the wing is compression loaded, and a thicker skin made of a lighter material buckles less easily. Aircraft aluminium alloy is 10.2 times as strong and 6.7 times as heavy as spruce, so its specific strength is 10.2/6.7 = 1.52 that of spruce. Compare this with untempered 7075 aluminium alloy: a tensile strength of 280 MPa and a density of 2,810 kg/m$^3$. Wood has a specific strength that is slightly lower than that of aluminium: spruce has a compression strength of 27.5 N/mm$^2$ = 27.5 MPa, and a density of 418 kg/m$^3$. If we consider the properties of aeroplane construction materials: We could follow the same construction method as for composites: shave off thin layers of wood and embed them in resin, line up the majority of the grain in the direction of greatest stress, and use some alternate grain directions like in plywood to create sufficient strength and stiffness in all directions.
![the last wood fighter plane the last wood fighter plane](https://www.fighterpilotpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/F-86-Sabre-V2-scaled.jpg)
Wood also has asymmetrical strength properties: it is much stronger in line with the grain than perpendicular to it, one of the main advantages cited for composites. Wood is a light construction material, and one of the largest aircraft ever built, the Spruce Goose, was made entirely of wood. This document of 1941 provides an overview of knowledge of aeronautical wood construction. These planes don't look like F16s, but were subject to fully aerobatic g-forces.
![the last wood fighter plane the last wood fighter plane](https://www.georgialandscapesupply.com/filerepository/Products/4c38dfbe-e3c8-4f39-9630-a6ef86b12521.jpg)
There are some olden days examples of fighter planes using wood construction, here is another one from 1938: the Fokker G.1. Yes it would be possible to build a fighter plane from wood, not one that can fly at Mach 3 however. Wood could best be used if it is heavily filled with epoxy resin and not really pure wood anymore.
![the last wood fighter plane the last wood fighter plane](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/368/108686/55751018_1_x.jpg)
If you want your jet to reach supersonic speed, I would definitely prefer to build large parts of it, like the wing's leading edge or the region around the afterburner, from metal.
THE LAST WOOD FIGHTER PLANE FULL
I expect, however, that the designers would have selected a full metal construction had those limitations not existed. Wood was chosen both to make the plane less visible to radar and as a non-strategic material. The skin would use a special type of plywood, called "Formholz", the layers of which were glued together in a mold so they came together with the right shape and curvature. The Horten IX ( or Gotha 229) had wooden wings and a steel tubing frame in the mid wing with wooden skin. In fact, there was already a wooden jet fighter. But the fuselage skin and wing surfaces could easily be wooden. Like the engine, the landing gear itself would need to be made from steel. However, a pure wooden structure would be very hard if not impossible: Structural parts with high point loads (like the landing gear attachment or the engine mounts) could not be made of wood, but will need metal reinforcement. Oh, and there are plans (and a few flying samples) of an all-wooden Me-109. That the wooden rudder used in later variants was heavier than the aluminium rudder it replaced was mainly due to the enlarged size which improved directional stability at high speed. Their main disadvantage, however, was that the wooden wings needed more working hours to complete. In 1944 the wings of the Messerschmitt 109 were re-designed for wooden construction and the result turned out to be equivalent to the aluminium original, but a little heavier. If you can live with that, a subsonic wooden jet is easy to design. For a military aircraft, wood would have the biggest disadvantage because it is sensitive to water and will rot if it is not kept dry. This is certainly true for GA aircraft if you compare wood, aluminium and composites. With its maximum ceiling of 14.8 km, the 12,8 could easily shoot down a Mosquito.Įd Swearingen once remarked that, regardless of what material you use, a design would turn about equal in weight. The larger caliber 10,5 and 12,8 guns would reach higher but were not as widespread. The Mosquito was not too fast to be hit by AA fire from 8,8 Flak (no aircraft is), but flew too high when operating near its maximum operational ceiling.