Urbana B-17 "Champagne Lady" Update 25 June 2010

[Django]

They have certainly come a long way!

[Shay]

Actually if I'm not mistaken, This is conglomeration of atleast 3 maybe 4 airframes. IIRC the Serial No.s are listed on previous threads. And the Ball turret depicted is the one from the Bar in Greenly CO.

Plans are to head up again this coming weekend. So I'll keep ya posted.

Would be great to have a WIX gatheing at Grimes Field one weekend and turn some wrenches and buck some rivets on the Champagne Lady. hint hint

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[mustangdriver]

I am in for that. I am only two hours away

[warbird1]

The corrugated material is inside the wing, under the skin.

You can see it here in one of Bill's pictures of Chuckie. This hole is where the inboard fuel bladder goes.

Thanks for that Zane! I learned something new! I wasn't aware. Does anyone know what the purpose of that corrugated skin is? Why not just put the regular non-corrugated skin there instead?

[Warbirdjohn]

I believe it adds strength. Two pieces of aluminum same thickness. One is flat, one is corrugated. The flat piece will bend, the other will not. Look at the Ford Trimotor.

Great to see this bird coming along. I love the noseart idea. And where are all the rest of the aircraft located? Different hanger I am guessing?

john

[warbird1]

I believe it adds strength. Two pieces of aluminum same thickness. One is flat, one is corrugated. The flat piece will bend, the other will not. Look at the Ford Trimotor.

Great to see this bird coming along. I love the noseart idea. And where are all the rest of the aircraft located? Different hanger I am guessing?

john

So, it's purely for structural integrity then? Why doesn't the B-29 have it?

Any one know of any other aircraft from W.W.Il that utilizes that concept of corrugated metal?

[DryMartini]

i wondered the same thing as warbird 1, but i can't figure where that crinkled corregated metal fits in with the construction of a 17. is it some form of a working jig??

The B-17 uses truss ribs with a sheet of corrugated metal used as stiffeners,
instead of individual stringers. The outer skin is then riveted to the corrugation.
The sheet thickness varies over the span of the wing. The corrugated skin for
the stress panels under the fuel tanks are made from thicker material.

Finding corrugated 2024-T3 - that's a feat!

[51fixer]

Corrugated skin is a 1930s method.
P-38 has a similar construction in center wing and outer wing.
Center wing actually has a inner skin, corrugation and then outer skin between the main spar and the rear spar.
Rich

[warbird1]

Corrugated skin is a 1930s method.
P-38 has a similar construction in center wing and outer wing.
Center wing actually has a inner skin, corrugation and then outer skin between the main spar and the rear spar.
Rich

I didn't know that. Thanks for that info, Rich. Anyone have pix of the P-38 setup?

[bdk]

Lockheed Electra (think Amelia Earhart) has corrugated inner wing structure just like the P-38.

[warbird1]

Lockheed Electra (think Amelia Earhart) has corrugated inner wing structure just like the P-38.

Thanks BDK, I didn't know that either! So, it sounds like the corrugated strengtheners were pretty popular on the early Lockheed models. Did any of that transition into the jet age, i.e. P-80's, etc.?

[rreis]

Interesting post. I've just finished reading the first part of a series of articles published about the Handley Page Victor[1], one of the British V bombers (the others being the Vulcan and the Valiant) in Le Fana de L'Aviation[2]. Amazing aircraft, never thought its first flight was in 1952.

Now, in the text is stated (loose translation):

"Because the aircraft should operate mostly at high altitude, the thickness of most of exterior covering panels of the wing was determined by the interior pressure of the fuel. Because this last [the fuel] was distributed, these panels were build using a sandwich technique: corrugated skin between sheets of plane metal skins, riveted to the interior of the wing and point welded to the exterior. This process produced a remarkable smooth covering, but originated a few problems because all the weld points needed to be inspected for quality purposes. A program was developed, using an automatic, remotely controlled X-Ray machine. This was the first time that the working skin of an aeroplane was point welded"

I'm still amazed, 1952 and it still looks sci-fi.

[1] For the Victor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Victor
[2] n 481, December 2009. This mag just made 40 years, let's hope it keeps going strong

[JDK]

Great report. I too, wasn't aware of the corrigated inner skin on the B-17 wing, but had come across it elsewhere.

One other is the Boulton Paul Defiant, used in the fuselage as a strengthening liner.



Uh, oh, GREMLINS!

[bdk]

So, it sounds like the corrugated strengtheners were pretty popular on the early Lockheed models. Did any of that transition into the jet age, i.e. P-80's, etc.?

T-33 didn't so I suspect the P-80 didn't either.

[Clifford Bossie]

The placard on the fwd fuselage shows the serial as 44-85813. I know that several airframes have donated parts for this restoration, but for some reason 813 sounded very familiar. Digging through some ancient Instamatic shots (remember C126 film?) I found a shot of 813 at Alamogordo, NM in about 1977. At that time she was owned and operated by Black Hills Aviation. In 1980 (?) she crashed on takeoff and supposedly the remains were bulldozed into a pit and buried.

They are poor shots, but here goes: