Good flying fiction?

Not flying fiction, but the story of Flt Lt Geoffrey Wellum who flew during
the Battle of Britain: "First Light". I couldn't put it down until finished.
Highly recommended.

Gus
Coltishall, UK
"Al G" wrote in message
...

"Chris Wells" wrote in
message ...

I've been looking for some good flying stories. A friend recommended
"The Reluctant Messiah", which I've yet to find. Can someone recommend
more, preferably written by a pilot & for pilots?




--
Chris Wells

Not exactly fiction, "Fate is the Hunter", by Earnest K. Gann

Good read.

Al G

I also thought I'd mention a book called "Flights of Passage", about a Navy bomber pilot in the Pacific during WW2. (sorry, the author's name escapes me at the moment)

Also, "Silent Wings: Adventures in Motorless Flight" - great stuff about gliders, including a lot about their use in WW2...plus "Flight of Passage", about a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old who restored a Piper Cub and flew it across the US & back.

"Chris Wells" wrote in message
...

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?


Yes.

In article ,
Chris Wells wrote:

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.

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

Yes... and quite a few bombers as well... B-17 comes to mind...

Terry

"Chris Wells" wrote in
message ...

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?




--
Chris Wells

And the DC-3.

"Terry" wrote in message
ink.net...
Yes... and quite a few bombers as well... B-17 comes to mind...

Terry

"Chris Wells" wrote in
message ...

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?




--
Chris Wells





--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Juan Jimenez" wrote in
:

And the DC-3.

"Terry" wrote in message
ink.net...
Yes... and quite a few bombers as well... B-17 comes to mind...

Terry

"Chris Wells" wrote in
message ...

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?
Chris Wells


Yep, my aunt sewed fabric for the planes coming out of the Grumman
plant in NY during WWII.

I think they used fabric to eliminate control surface flutter, the
aft-of-hinge mass being less.

I wonder what they used for dope. Nitrate was common but very
flammable, maybe not great on a warplane. I don't think butyrite
was around yet.
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Ron Hardin wrote:
I think they used fabric to eliminate control surface flutter, the
aft-of-hinge mass being less.

Delay the onset of flutter, to be pedantic about it. Lacking a solid
unerstanding and good computer models, they just made the control
surfaces as light as possible and hoped for the best.

Michael