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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0053.PDF
JANUARY 28, 1926 THE AIRCRAFT ENGINEER SUPPLEMENT TO FLIGHT very wide limits. To the engineer, wood was an unusual material to use in places where it is highly stressed, and methods of calculation based on ordinary engineering practice hadlto be devised. The technique of design grew up very rapidly indeed, until at the present time there seems to be little chance of making a lighter structure for a given strength. The great convenience in the use of wood is that its low density enables comparatively thick sections to be used. therefore, natural that the engineer turns to manufactured materials in which the process of manufacture can be regu- lated throughout all its stages. Good manufacture will ensure a uniformity which is completely out of the question in wood. Further than this, the physical properties of metals are continually being improved, and the limit of strength is probably a long way from being reached. Again, if reasonable precautions are taken, a structure can be made in metal that ALL-METAL'AEROPLANE WING : With spars of corrugated steel strip, riveted together, and ribs of tubular construction, this wing was constructed by the Armstrong-Whitworth Company in 1920. is unaffected by change of climate, and which will retain its strength and shape indefinitely. The material that is used for the construction of metal From time to time suggestions have been made for the use of hollow wooden members built up cf thin sections glued together. Unfortunately, the only practical method of joining woodtogether is by glueing, and it has been found in practice aeroplanes is either steel in its various forms or one of the that the life of a wooden wing is the life of the glue. This light alloys, the basis of which is generally aluminium but makes the use of glued members for the main structure which may in the future be magnesium. As the majority of undesirable, as for reasons of safety a wing has to b3 scrapped aeroplanes are made for the purpose of war it is of the utmost as soon as the strength of the glued joint is in question. importance that the material chosen shall be one which can Wood being a natural product, it is not po3sible to influence be obtained in the country in which the aeroplane is bmlt. the strength and reliability to any marked extent, and it is, In this country steel is far more suitable than an alummmm
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