[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Great story.

What's the reasoning behind fabric covered surfaces? Weight? Durability against battle damage?

In the "old days" the entire airplane was covered in fabric (usually Grade A cotten, now lightweight Dacron, like sail material), then a "Dope" was brushed or sprayed on and that both protected and covered the fabric. A "fabric job" was usually done every 3-5 years. Labor was cheap and plentyful then.

Then came large quanities of aluminum and they started making big bits out of it. Finally entire airplanes were made out of metal but they kept the fabric covered control surfaces due to the weight (they are usually at the far end, or outer reaches of the airplane) that was reduced and continued this until after the war then it was slowly replaced by all metal airplanes.

Now its pretty much an art form and while people like Tim Hancock and myself still do work in "dope and fabric," but its a dying art. My local FAA office has been hounding me for several years now to get my inspectors ticket renewed again as they have almost no one around here that knows how to work with dope and fabric, and very, very few of their people have any hands on time in this.