NEW MATERIALS.

Western Star, 12 July 1938, Page 2

NEW MATERIALS.

FOR AEROPLANE BUILDING Experiments are being made with plastics—composite materials —in the construction of aircraft, writes Major. G. C. Turner, in , the. 'Daily Telagraph. and {Horning Post.' Ther e is at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Famborough, a complete monoplane, called the 'Snark,' of which the wings and body are. mainly made of a. certain tough composition. In Germany, also, experiments in tlhis direction are in progress. It is claimed that many of supply 'and cost will be solved by this method, and that the rate of production may be much expedited. The use of plastics in combination with light alloys or wood is, I understand, an almost certain development in the near future. Dr N. A. de Bruyne has for a long time been experimenting, and there is a company, Aero Research, Cambridge, which is doing important work on the scientific side. It was stated in Parliament that in certain new types of aircraft adopted for the R.A.F. wooden construction play s an important part. Many training types are made chiefly of wood, and the fourengined airliner Albatross type is designed in wood. Toward s the end of the Great War there was a serious shortage of suitable woods, and this was one of the reasons for the adoption of ■ metal construction at a later date. But theie is no reason to fear that suitable wood in sufficient quantity would not now be forthcom-* 'Eg- . . Wood unde r high compression can »o used, and wooden laminations of great strength and weather-proofness have' been produced^ New materials are seen in many- aircraft accessories, one of the niost remarkable being a substitute for glass, called perspex. This is already used for the domes of gun. turrets, and for the glass of instruments. It is superior to ordinary glass in clearness, ig nonaplinterable, and under heat is easiiy bent and moulded.