The Bell XP-77: new film about the US wooden wonder

[Garfly]

 

 

 

[old man emu]

Damn! You beat me posting this.

 

I like the little comment about timber supplies dwindling during the war years. When you consider the amount of timber used for crates to transport everything from SPAM to 1000 lb bombs, and the number of these crates produced, it's a winder that there was a sapling left within the whole of the USA by 1945.

[onetrack]

It kind of makes you wonder what the Defence chiefs were thinking, to accept and actually purchase an aircraft with so many limitations in the design - particularly related to engine, firepower, and range.

[old man emu]

7 minutes ago, onetrack said:

It kind of makes you wonder what the Defence chiefs were thinking

Needs must.

We had to cobble together the CAC-12/13 Boomerang. Fortunately we had the bits and pieces and production licences for engines and airframe components. We also had a cluey designer in Lawrence Wackett who could make the patchwork quilt.

 

[onetrack]

In comparison, though, the British (reputedly the worst-prepared nation for air war in 1939), carried out the design and construction of the Mosquito - out of wood - with results that far surpassed anything available at the time - particularly in relation to enemy aircraft - and the Mossie was suitable for so many roles, it would be quicker to quote the roles it couldn't do.

And this was all done by November 1940 - utilising readily available ply, and a huge resource of civilian wood-workers and carpenters, most of whom had never even worked on an aircraft frame or component.

Edited December 11, 2020 by onetrack

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

a huge resource of civilian wood-workers and carpenters

I wonder if that was because Britain was still making a lot of the bodywork frames of its motor vehicles from timber, while the USA was using the pressed steel method of construction. The British aircraft industry was still using a lot of wood in its aircraft.

The Flamingo was a twin-engined civil airliner designed by de Havilland,  and was the first all-metal stressed-skin aircraft built by de Havilland; only the control surfaces were fabric covered. First flew in December 1938. 

 

[kgwilson]

The Mosquito was probably the best multi role aircraft of WW2. It could outrun all of the German fighters and as a bomber could carry the same payload as a B17 Flying Fortress. Geoffrey de Havilland was a genius and the project for the "Wooden Wonder" was almost scrapped but for the tenacity of Wilfred Feeman who was responsible for choosing the aircraft for the RAF and signed off on all of the RAF specifications including the Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster, Halifax & Tempest as well as the P51 Mustang.

[rgmwa]

Hard to see how the XP77 even got to the prototype stage if having the cockpit so far back you could see the undercarriage was considered a good feature in a plane intended to be an interceptor. The whole thing is a collection of bad ideas whichever way you look at it. 

[Old Koreelah]

On 11/12/2020 at 9:23 PM, rgmwa said:

Hard to see how the XP77 even got to the prototype stage if having the cockpit so far back you could see the undercarriage was considered a good feature in a plane intended to be an interceptor...

A far simpler and quite reliable design was employed on the Zero:

a small vertical indicator pops out the top of the wing when the wheels are down and locked. 

[Jim McDowall]

20 hours ago, Old Koreelah said:

a small vertical indicator pops out the top of the wing when the wheels are down and locked. 

What a great idea - KISS in action