P39 elevator & aileron construction?
Orval Fairbairn writes:
I recently visited the Niagara Aerospace Museum (thumbs up!) and got the
opportunity to see a P39 Airacobra close-up...and I noticed that the
elevator and ailerons (& possibly the rudder as well) were
fabric-covered, instead of aluminum like the rest of the plane. Is this
the way they were built?
Yup. The P-51 also had a fabric-covered rudder; early-model Corsairs had
a fair amount of fabric on the wings, too.
Interesting. I seem to recall reading in Douglas Bader's book how
they jumped the queue to get the more effective aluminum rudder/ailerons
on their aircraft by flying to the factory for the instalation.
A year+ later, the bill arrived and he suggested past squadron
leaders as the ones to ask; one was dead, another a POW, etc..
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
|