henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (10/29/90)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: dps@otter.hpl.hp.com (Duncan Smith) >NO! NO! NO! The Bf108 had a very angular wing, like the >Bf109. The elliptical wing of the Spitfire, which was >incidentally much more difficult to manufacture, has >often been taken to represent British engineering's >quest for the elegant solution and British industry's >traditions of craftsmanship were fully exercised in >making it. The Spitfire took fully three times the >man hours to produce compared with a 109. Actually, it wasn't just the shape. The Spitfire's wing structure was also an... interesting... piece of engineering. The main spars were made of multiple nested square tubes, which made them very strong and light but must have been an incredible horror to mass-produce. -- The type syntax for C is essentially | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology unparsable. --Rob Pike | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) (11/01/90)
From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) *>>NO! NO! NO! The Bf108 had a very angular wing, like the *>>Bf109. The elliptical wing of the Spitfire, which was *>>incidentally much more difficult to manufacture, has *>>often been taken to represent British engineering's *>>quest for the elegant solution and British industry's *>>traditions of craftsmanship were fully exercised in *>>making it. The Spitfire took fully three times the *>>man hours to produce compared with a 109. My apologies. It was the Heinkel He70 "Blitz" that had the elliptical wing. Rolls Royce owned one, and used it as a test bed for the then-new Merlin. R.J. Mitchell drove by one day and saw it. At least in Townsend's book, he was inspired by it when he began design on what would eventual- ly become the Spitfire. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala Internet: NTAIB@AQUA.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS !