(alfred montestruc) wrote in message . com...
(Jack Linthicum) wrote in message . com...
(alfred montestruc) wrote in message . com...
"Charles Talleyrand" wrote in message ...
Lets suppose you get to give a single new airplane design and a single prototype
to a participant of World War One. You can offer the Austro-Hungarians the
design for a B-52 if you wish. However, that might prove a manufacturing
challenge to them (and one can only wonder about their supply of jet fuel).

Your goal is to change history. You can hope for a German victory or just that the
Allies win faster. It's up to you.

So, what design do you offer, remembering that this design must be manufactured, fueled,
and armed by the natives?

Probably a Japanese Zero. The Zero could land and take off on a
relitivly short grass runway as long as the ground is not soft. The
engine should be within their capacity to build, and that is the main
thing, a late 1930's evolved internal combustion aircraft engine with
lots of power.

The airframe had lots of wood and nothing very sophisticated in terms
of metal parts. The 20mm cannons would make it's firepower something
to be feared.

A Zero would be a terror of the sky in 1918, it can outrun and out
climb everything else. A small number with fuel and ammunition can
rout the other side's airforce and do nasty things in ground attack,
and recon especially given their speed and range.


-snip

problem: that aluminum wing spar

What problem? German Navy Zepplins of WWI used aluminum for frames.

http://www.richthofen.com/dark_autumn/

---quote
As the war progressed, the German Navy and Army each built their own
mutually exclusive airship fleets. The Navy zeppelins however, were
usually of aluminum Zeppelin Company manufacture, whereas the Army
often used the wooden Shutte-Lanz or "SL" ships rejected by the Navy
due to their excessive weight.
---end quote

True, little thin pieces of aluminum, not a full depth wing spar,
which required a special new aluminum developed by Sumitomo. In later
years the few Zeros still extant had this spart crystalize and fail.

"It was the first aircraft credited with using wing spars that
provide high strength, but were constructed of light weight aluminum.
" http://www.pacificwrecks.com/reviews/roaring_a6m5.html