DH Mosquito construction method?

The WIX Thread you mention is: http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=37265 Interestingly one ‘JBoyle’ has already posted in that… 😉

Thanks for the other input!

Yes, that’s where I learned of the rumor about new fuselage building.
I wanted to know if anyone here knew more. This forum has very good international contacts, so I thought it was worth asking if anyone knew more.

But I’ve just learned of a possible new lead/rumor/project. It may be one, all three, or nothing.
It’s weird how everything came together…re-reading the book, the WIX posting and my new potential lead.

Some interesting info at the Pathfinder Museum site.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafbramptonwytonhenlow/rafcms/mediafiles/9818FCBF_1143_EC82_2ED93F5D8312A0C6.pdf

IIRC the Mozzie was the first of the line of aircraft that inspired the “Redux” method of construction with the Sea Hornet using that technology first.

Truc

There are solutions – Perhaps you’d like to use the ‘edit’ button in your own post to correct that? (Have a look at the bottom right of your first message.)

The WIX Thread you mention is: http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=37265 Interestingly one ‘JBoyle’ has already posted in that… 😉

Thanks for the other input!

So sorry but I gave the wrong Damien in my last post.
Actually, it’s Damien Lay who’s the film producer and not well respected.
Damien Waters is a really nice person who at one time was attempting to build a static Altair replica.
A new baby and lack of time put that project on long-term hold.
Damien Waters is in NO WAY anything other than a great guy.
Sorry to have got my Damiens’ mixed up.

The DL-1 Vega currently under restoration is NC12288, c/n 161.
You can find some photos over at Warbird Information Xchange.
They are using copies of old Lockheed drawings provided by John.
There was a guy up in the pacific northwest who wanted to build wooden Lockheeds (starting with an Orion I believe) but the project died because of lack of funds and backing.
I have heard that he did make a concrete fuselage mold but it didn’t work out to his satisfaction.
And there was another group in Australia who wanted to build a flying Altair replica (VH-USB, Kingsford Smith’s plane) but that too is currently dead because of funding (lack thereof).
Australian film producer Damien Waters claims he will build a flying replica of VH-USB but he’s known as a con man and I don’t give that project much credence.
The only real flying Lockheed replica project is Tom Haueter’s DL-2A project in Virginia.
The DL-2A is a metal fuselage Altair and Tom is well underway on the fuselage but as this is a part-time project it will be a LONG time until it’s finished.

Some of the single engine Lockheeds had metal fuselages, including Kidston’s G-ABGK.
Tim

One of the metal Vegas is being rebuilt/restored to flight in Arizona.
Does your friend John know of any rumors I’ve vead concerning someone making new wood fuselages?

Some of the single engine Lockheeds had metal fuselages, including Kidston’s G-ABGK.
Jerry Vultee wrote an article on the Vega wooden fuselage construction method which appeared in the Fall 1928 issue of the SAE Journal.
Some photos of the Lockheed wooden construction method can be found on my good friend John Oder’s website:
http://aeromuseumservices.com
John has over 15,000 Lockheed drawings of the single engine Lockheed ‘Star’ series of planes.

Tim

I am really surprised to learn these Lockheed a/c were built of wood: took it for granted they were metal a/c.

A logical assumption given that their clean lines were usually associated with the metal aircraft of the time (Junkers and Ford Tri-Motors excepted!). Two Lockheed alumni, Jack Northrop and Gerry Vultee, went on to pioneer metal construction at their own companies. In looks, the Northrop Alpha and Vultee V-1A could have passed for Lockheeds.

In retrospect, the Lockheed method was a brief transition that combined a traditional material, wood, with a new type of construction, semi-monocoupe. Brief, but glorius.

You live and learn !!!

Happens to me every time I log on to this website!

DH 88, 1933, DH 90, 1935. The Lockheed ( Loughead) patent was 1922.

John

I believe the aircraft that first used DHs ply technology was the DH90 Dragonfly. And this was only sufficiently advanced to allow singly curved surfaces at the time, hence the straight fuselage aft the wings. I haven’t done much research on this, only enough to build my latest (1:6) model of it, but this could have been at about the same time the Vega method was being developed?

If you can get to High Wycombe, I can introduce you to a man who built Mosquitoes during the war; High Wycombe was the main centre, for construction, due to its proliferation of (largely under-used) chair factories. There’s a very good book, published by the local council for £10 (at the last count,) on High Wycombe’s aircraft heritage, which is well worth the investment. The Mosquito Museum has the remains of one of the Hornet concrete moulds, in their care.
Edgar

I am really surprised to learn these Lockheed a/c were built of wood: took it for granted they were metal a/c. You live and learn !!!

Planemike

I just finished re-reading the classic Revolution in the Sky,

Thanks for the tip! I’ve been a fan of the Lockheed Plywood Bullets ever since I saw the Winnie Mae at the original National Air & Space Museum in 1970, in those days split between the Arts & Industries Building on the Mall and an adjacent temporary tin building.

A description and photographs of the Lockheed process can also be found in the August 1970 issue of American Aircraft Modeler:

http://www.airplanesandrockets.com/magazines/images/aam-aug-1970-cover.jpg

This issue often appears on EBay. If the feature model was scale, AAM often ran an accompanying article on the actual plane. AAM even ran such articles without an accompanying model piece.

Thanks for linking us to that site.
They are doing a superb job, and the photos are very informative. I never knew how complex the Mossie was, used to sit there thinking of one of my uncles who was a carpenter, and had worked on repairs to them at Little Rissington.
Knowing his toolkit of saws, hammers,screwdrivers, etc, I thought they were nailed and glued like any old cupboard.

There are ample small brads and brass screws throughout the structure so it’s not completely un-cupboardlike, although the strength comes from the monocoque construction, as noted by others.

Thanks for linking us to that site.
They are doing a superb job, and the photos are very informative. I never knew how complex the Mossie was, used to sit there thinking of one of my uncles who was a carpenter, and had worked on repairs to them at Little Rissington.
Knowing his toolkit of saws, hammers,screwdrivers, etc, I thought they were nailed and glued like any old cupboard.

Nice piccies here..
http://www.mosquitorestoration.com/gallery02.shtml

Thanks, nice photos.

I’d love to see the place…touring the shop would be worth the long trip.

Nice piccies here..
http://www.mosquitorestoration.com/gallery02.shtml

The difference with the DH method was they laid the ply strips over a mould then the sandwich layer was of balsawood followed by a further layer of ply strips the carapace shell was then held with heated bands until set.

Remember also the Germans companies such a Roland and Siemans Schuckert had been using similar wood strip layered construction during the great war and it probably came from boat building.

John

Just realised I have that book on my library shelves.