Wings & Things Page 2
This is the AN-M64 500 lb. General Purpose bomb. Nearly half it's weight was filled with either TNT, Composition B, or Amatol explosives. It was 57 inches long and 14 inches in diameter. Some had bodies forged from a single piece of steel, others were welded together. The four fins were then riveted onto the body. They were used for bombing airfields, railways, buildings and small ships. This type was dropped by virtually all bombers in WWII including the B-17, B24, and B25.
The Boeing company designed these remote-controlled gun turrets for the B-29 Superfortress. Using computerized sights the gunners could take control of two or more of the four remote turrets and concentrate the fire on a single target!
One unique feature of the B-29 was the tailskid. At 99 feet long, 25 feet longer than the B-17, the B-29 was a long tricycle gear aircraft. This tailskid protected the integrity of the tail if the pilot over rotated and hit the tail on takeoff. A little known fact is that several jetliners, such as the Boeing 777 and Concorde also employ a tailwheel to provide the same function.
Every aircraft has to have an engine mount designed for the specific engine and aircraft. This one is for a T-28 Trojan. Attention has to be paid to getting the center of gravity right, placement of the centerline of thrust, structural rigidity of the aircraft and engine under G-loads, as well as the ability to absorb the torque created by the the power from the engine.
These pictures show a P-51's vertical and horizontal stabilizers in a jig as they are prepared to be skinned. The beams that run from the front or leading edge of the tail to the rear or trailing edge are called ribs. The main support structure that runs either from the wing tip to tip or the height of the tail are called spars. These have circular holes cut in them to cut down on weight and add strength to the components. The skin is made of sheet metal which is cut to length and shaped by machinery. The pegs that can be seen hold the metal in place prior to being flush riveted together. Many of the warbirds today have at least part of the structure that was made in the present day. This is done by using either wreckage from an aircraft or parts that are too corroded to be safe to fly to make a pattern from. Even though the majority of the aircraft may be newly manufactured it is still considered original because during WWII aircraft that were battle damaged often times changed out a wing, sheet metal from bullet holes, and even engines. These were patterned after the P-51 "Samurai" that was owned by Mickey Rupp and raced as Race No. 5. It was painted as "Old Crow." This aircraft was damaged in a landing accident in 1996. The pattern has been used to build at least two separate tail assemblies so far and will go on to fly in other mustangs.
Most aircraft have a flat painted area in front of the cockpit. The picture to the left shows the glossy paint on the fuselage of the Corsair and the flat paint in front of the wind screen. This was to reduce glare from the sun which might blind the pilot during important moments in battle or on landing. Additionally many bombers also painted the top side of the engine nacelle facing the pilots in a flat color such as the B-25 in the picture on the right.
Drop tanks such as this 170 gallon tank extended the range of aircraft. This was invaluable when fighters were required to escort bombers to their targets. The bombers had enough fuel to fly the distances but fighters had a much smaller fuel load. The tank pictured is for an F4U Corsair. This increased the range from about 1,000 miles to almost 1,600 miles. It was carried under the fuselage along the center of the aircraft. The pilot had the ability to jettison the tanks upon encountering the enemy which allowed the aircraft to turn better. The fairing that was attached to the fuselage and allowed for the tank to be attached to the aircraft can be seen in the background.
Oil coolers such as this one were used on a wide variety of aircraft including the North American T-28 Trojan, Douglas DC-3, Chance Vought F4U Corsair, and Boeing B-17 Fortress just to name a few. They worked similar to a radiator in that the air would pass through this drum cooler and the air would cool off the oil that circulated through it. This pictures shows an oil cooler in the leading edge of an F4U Corsair. The vanes that can be seen to the left of the oil cooler supplied air to the supercharger. At high speeds these vanes would whistle which lead to the Japanese nickname of the Corsair translated "Whistling Death."
The early Chance Vought F4U Corsairs left a lot to be desired in the slow speed flying regime. When the aircraft reached stall speed it had a troubling tendency to drop the right wing without any warning leading up to the stall. This would be very hazardous as the Corsair was designed to land on board an aircraft carrier. The solution was to add a stall strip to the leading edge of the right wing. The reason a wing would drop was because the wing was stalling at the tips first. It's most desirable for a wing to stall at the root so that even though the nose will drop, it will at least allow the wing tips along with ailerons to be flying and therefore controllable. The stall strip allows the wing to stall at a higher speed but will do so at the root first and thus is controllable.
The F4U was equipped with two .50 caliber machine guns in each wing. The shells were belt fed into the cannons. The spent shell casings would fall out holes that were cut in the bottom of the wing and the slipstream would carry them away from the aircraft.
The M16 Armored Personnel Carrier or Half-Track was powered by a White 160AX, 6 cylinder, in-line gasoline engine. It was rated at 147hp and 325 ft. lbs. of torque. The engine's displacement was 386 cubic inch and was liquid-cooled. This gave the vehicle a top speed of 45mph which wasn't too bad considering the vehicle weighed almost 9 tons! The engine was guarded by a 1/4 inch thick iron hood. The radiator was shuttered and could be closed in case of attack.
The large object hanging down with round holes in it is the airbrake on the T-28 Trojan. The airbrake is sometimes referred to as a speedbrake because it is designed to slow the aircraft down. The flaps that deploy on the tops of an aircrafts wings are sometimes wrongly identified as an airbrake. In reality these are spoilers which are designed to spoil the airflow over the wings thereby reducing lift. The T-28 can extend the flaps to 50 degrees while on the ground to allow for easier access to the cockpit. The two black rectangles are cut outs in the flaps that are spring loaded. When the pilots put their foot against it the doors open and become footholds to aid the pilots in climbing up to the cockpit.
This large 10 foot propeller was from the United States Navy ZR-1 "Shenandoah." The ZR-1 was the Navy's first rigid airship. It was launched on August 20, 1923. The ship was 680 feet long, 78 feet in diameter, and was powered by five 300hp Packard six cylinder engines which gave it a top speed of 60mph. It was originally slated to be filled with hydrogen but after several accidents it was decided to use helium. During mast trials the aircraft was manned with a skeleton crew at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey. A gale ensued and rolled the Shenandoah onto it's side, destroying the front two air bags and one of the rear tail fins. The ship was about to have it's first shakedown cruise. Immediately all forward ballast was dropped and the men were ordered aft. The damaged ship struggled to maintain control and when it did it was over Newark, 50 miles from Lakehurst. It then flew nose down and limped back to Lakehurst where it would land safely. In 1925 it would be destroyed in another violent storm, this time over Ohio. One interesting fact about the engines one the zeppelin was that they contained water recovery units which collected condensation from the exhaust which was used as ballast as the fuel was burned.
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© Brian Whittingham 2004
