Thursday, November 04, 2010

Wooden Wonder


Charles McCain has written a fine review of a marvelous airplane:

The de Havilland Mosquito, one of the most successful aircraft of World War Two, had an airframe composed entirely of wood. Wood!? In World War Two? As odd as it seems the answer is ‘yes’. The fuselage of the Mosquito was made of balsa wood pressed between two layers of cedar plywood. The rest of the airframe was made of spruce, with plywood covering. The wing was built in one piece, and attached to the lower side of the fuselage structure. The aircraft wasn’t very big: 41 feet long with a wingspan of 54 feet.

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