A German airplane built with metal wings
Item
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Title (Dublin Core)
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A German airplane built with metal wings
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Article Title and/or Image Caption (Dublin Core)
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Title: An Airplane with Metal Wings
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Subtitle: This captured German machine took a lesson from the Zeppelin
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extracted text (Extract Text)
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Built to attack infantry at close
range, this German armored air-
plane captured by the English is in-
teresting to peace-time students be-
cause of the apparent effort that has
been made to
render the ma-
chine non-com-
bustible. If pro-
vision has also |
been made to
scuttle the gaso-
line-tank at need,
even a burning |
tank would not be |
a serious menace
to such a machine.
In attacking |
trenches the air-
men learned early
that their ma-
chines were likely
to “collect” veri-
table swarms of |
machine-gun
bullets. The
bullets would
rattle off harm-
lessly from the |
armor, and the |
tiny holes made in |
the wings could be |
disregarded; but
the matter became serious with the
invention of the flaming phosphorus
bullet.
Presumably the experience in build-
ing Zeppelins taught the Germans
how to meet this peril. The Zeppelin
cars were covered with corrugated
aluminum, and it was only a step to
cover airplane wings in the same
fashion.
But this plan
developed great
changes. The
stiffness even of |
corrugated thin
sheeting seems |
negligible in
itself, but it be-
comes a very |
important factor |
if it is braced up |
by a suitable
framework. Since
the framing is
made of alumi-
num, exactly as
ina Zeppelin, and
the wings can be
made so thick that
they become en-
tirely self-sup-
porting without
undue increase of
weight, the waste-
ful nuisance of
wires and struts
has finally been |
dispensed with,
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Language (Dublin Core)
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eng
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Date Issued (Dublin Core)
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1919-06
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pages (Bibliographic Ontology)
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79
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Rights (Dublin Core)
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Public domain (Google digitized)
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Archived by (Dublin Core)
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Davide Donà
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Marco Bortolami (editor)
Popular Science Monthly, v. 94, n. 6, 1919
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