On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 20:49:04 -0700, Kevin O'Brien wrote:

Wood's good stuff. It's tough to beat wood for strength. Plenty of
planes have gone over 500 MPH
on wooden wings. (Me163, DH Vampire).

Actually, the wings on the DH Vampire were metal. "The DH-100 was of an
all metal construction apart from the cockpit section which was made from
ply and balsa wood as in the de Havilland Mosquito".

See: http://tanks45.tripod.com/Jets45/His...00/Vampire.htm

This doesn't detract from the rest of your treatise though. There is
nothing wrong with wood as a construction material, as long as the
aircraft can be hangared.

--
Kevin Horton
Ottawa