Steel Wings?

Don’t have info on Spitfire IIa or b, sorry. I was hoping this would perhaps get that sort of info. And which Air Sea Rescue Unit? The only other backgrounddetail I have is that Flight Lt Alan Grace crashed in a Hawker Hart during a display at Penang airport on March 6, 1938.

This might be wandering off-topic but it’s still about the V1. I have a report that Alan Grace of an Air Sea Rescue unit was flying a Spitfire II and ambushed a V1 just after take-off. He was able to shoot it down before it reached full speed.. Now that’s clever!

Spit IIa or IIb?

This might be wandering off-topic but it’s still about the V1. I have a report that Alan Grace of an Air Sea Rescue unit was flying a Spitfire II and ambushed a V1 just after take-off. He was able to shoot it down before it reached full speed.. Now that’s clever!

While in the USA recently I had the opportunity (I forget exactly where) to knock on a V-1 wing (which was definitely covered in sheet metal) and also ask (at Udvar-Hazy), one of the attendants about the “Loon” wing covering (the “Loon” being an American-built copy of the V-1). Although not 100% certain, he thought the wing covering was metal.

I have references that 150 Tempest Wing was brought back from France to deal with V1 threat in late June 1944. Wing Commander Roland Beamont had his cannon harmonised to 300 yards and the rest soon follwed suit. Beamont destroyed 31 but was beaten by Sqn Ldr Joseph Berry of 501 Squadron with 59 ‘kills’.
Mosquito squadrons had 428 kills, Spitfire XIV 303 and Mustang 232. One technique to bring the V1 down was interrupt the airflow over one wing by bringing the interceptors wing within 6in of the lowere surface. “During the time of greatest threat, the Meteor was too unreliable for serious contention because of cannon jams”. The same article – so far unsourced – talks about all-metal wings..

The use of non alloy or wood for aircraft was used by Junkers in 1915 when thin sheet iron was applied to the airframe of the Junkers J1 , which was nicknamed the ‘Tin Donkey’. first flown on 12 Dec 1915. Six similar aircraft were built in 1916 armed with a 7.9 mm machinegun. All later aircraft were to use light alloy and the J4 had an armoured capsule for the powerplant and crew of two for protection from small-arms fire which made it very popular with its crews. 277 were made.
So the Germans had experience with ferrous metals from the earliest days of aircraft design and for a flying bomb with a powerful drive unit it made sense to utilise it at that stage of the war.

I quote from Jane’s 1945 – “The structure of the flying bomb was of the simplest. Except for the light metal nose cone enclosing the magnetic compass, it was entirely of welded steel sheet.”

there is a complete V2 rocket at grave camp near nijmegen in holland its been rebuilt to a good standard and its been done in a cut-away fashion like a haynes manual, quite fascinating as ive never seen one before till then.

Found this illustration in “Most Secret War”, which states “Sheet steel wing covering”.

This picture which I shot at Le Bourget a couple of weeks back seems to confirm what Papa Lima found

But just looking at it now, what about the horizontal tail surfaces? They could perhaps be solid?

Moggy

Typo

WWI was a typo for WWII…

Bri 😮

bri you should check your entries! The V1 was used in WW2 and the design of the Bristol 188 was less than 10 years later. If you raise a doubt about anything then expect your doubt to be confirmed or not as I mentioned. According to my information the 188 was designed for Spec.ER.134 issued in February 1953 for a research aircraft capable of flight at twice the speed of sound, for investigation of kinetic heating on airframes. Nothing to do with Lightnings or Buccaneers.

188

Yes, of course the 188 had stainless steel everything! I saw it under test at Boscombe Down, and even sat in the cockpit to study the instrument fit. That was OR946, a la Lightning and Buccaneer.

But my post was about WWI so ‘had’ was the operative word. The 188s designer was in nappies then!

Bri 🙂

bri doubts that anything else had steel wings. The Bristol Type 188 had a stainless steel airframe! First flown on the 14th April 1962 it was intended for tests involving high kinetic energy and due to fuel limitations did not achieve a satisfactory target. How typical of the times. But if a survivor is found at least it wont be rusty!

There is a complete 188 at RAFM Cosford !! 😉

The article also suggests that the V1’s were “faster than any aircraft at that time” ; so presumably none were ever intercepted by Spitfires, Typhoons , or Meteors etc

To intercept them in level flight, the Meteor may have been fast enough, better in a dive tho, more speed to play with.

Spitfires and Typhoons would certainly have to dive to get a satisfactory closure rate. It’s ok to have,say, a 20kt speed advantage but it would have taken ages to catch one up, better to have height and speed on your side. It would save the engine and fuel too – not having to run at max power for ages..

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bri doubts that anything else had steel wings. The Bristol Type 188 had a stainless steel airframe! First flown on the 14th April 1962 it was intended for tests involving high kinetic energy and due to fuel limitations did not achieve a satisfactory target. How typical of the times. But if a survivor is found at least it wont be rusty!

The final answer?

Found this illustration in “Most Secret War”, which states “Sheet steel wing covering”.

I suppose there was a mixture of wood and steel V1s, with development of the weapon ongoing. Still, my original query seems to have been satisfied. A steel wing it was (or part of a wing anyway) and I doubt if anything else had steel wings.

Bri

I still think my post #10 is the most likely explanation!

Sounds like you pays your money and you takes your choice! The answer appears to depend on which doodlebug you saw.

Adrian

The V-1 we have in our museum has steel (covered) wings.