battle damage

I'm not really sure that there realistically could be any other type of battle damage done to one of these fragile a/c and still have it make a survivable landing........
Maybe some of the battle damage (machine gun bullet holes) could have damaged the engine or maybe the landing gear could collapse on landing, but engine damage often resulted in a fire, and the linen and dope tended to go up like a match soaked in lighter fluid.
I've seen many pictures of forced landings, but the majority of them show some pretty serious structural failure, from fuselage fracture to wing spar failure.
Best thing would be to have a look around some books on WWI fighters or Air Battles, they often have great photos (often grainy, but full of possibilities) and you can get ideas from them.
Cheers,
LeeTree

well I already made it look like it got flopped down on the runway by making the landing gear and top wing look like they buckled a bit. bullet holes in various parts of the plane, a couple in the engine with oil streaking from them. but I have done some reading on WWI planes and they aren't as fragile and flammable as most people think, at least from what I've read. I think that the canvas would go up in flames but... who knows?

The p47 was an incredibly tough plane. Robert Johnson was limping one home after taking a few cannon rounds in the middle of a big furball, near the channel a fw190 got onto his 6 and hammered him for a good long while with it's mg rounds. Periodically the german pilot would pull alongside Johnson's plane and inspect the damage, then pull back onto his 6 and go back to work. The German pilot finally pulled off, saluted Johnson, and went home, either from lack of ammo or interest. The final tally was several 20mm cannon rounds and over 400 rifle rounds into the jug. Johnson never even had to ditch, after all that, he landed on his own home airfield. A mustang or a spit would have gone down for sure.


http://www.web-birds.com/8th/56/61st/johnson-all-hell-flown-by-lt-eaves.jpg

This is a pic of the tail section of Johnson's plane, All Hell.

madda

um........madda...........what does that have to do with ww1 battle damage?..........a p-47 is definetley not a camel by any standards.........

Hmm, not a thing really. I missed the bit about ww1, I'm a little ww2 centric I guess. I'd imagine that doped fabric would take bullets pretty well though. I remember reading that the fabric parts of Hurricanes stood up nicely to rifle rounds.


The jug was a really tough plane though :)

madda

In WW I, the aircraft makers were not too experienced in building aircraft that could take a lot of stress. One rifle round could bring down an aircraft if it hit it in a wing spar or fuel tank. On the other hand they would pass right through the fabric and do no damage at all. Fire and structural failure, as in all air combat, was what brought down most of the aircraft. The pilot being killed or hurt counted for only a small percentage.

Other than rifle sized mg rounds damage could be caused by "Archie".
If the round did not explode or hit anything serious there would be a rather large hole in the fabric.
Tissue makes a good representation of pealed back fabric when painted. I soak it in thinned white glue then shape it. when dry I attach it to the a/c and paint as required.
Dai

have to try that