Peter Duniho wrote:

Perhaps you are not a pilot and hence are not aware that if the plane
is flown at "maneuvering speed," the wing will stall before the stress
is sufficient to cause it to break.

For what it's worth "maneuvering speed" ensures only a certain degree of
safety. A strong enough gust can still overstress the airframe, with or
without a stall.

Actually, the maneuvring speed is the max speed at which full deflection
of the controls is still allowed and it is completely unrelated to
gusts. What you both mean is the max speed for tubulent air. Both speeds
are often indicated the same, but I suspect this is just to keep things
simple for the average low time spam can pilot.

The answer to why an airplane can be torn apart by a gust even when
flying below the allowed speed for turbulent air is simple: When the
gusts are strong enough, they will just "gust" you above that speed.

Stefan