Which fighters were "thick skinned?"

[DAVIDICUS]

A colleague at work told me that the P-51 had a thick aluminum skin and that
this thick skin allowed the engineers to use less structural reinforcing members in the frame. He said that the P-51's skin, for instance, was thicker than the P-47's and that as a result, the P-47 required more structural bracing.

On a somewhat related note, I understand that the P-51, aka, the "Spam Can" was rather flimsy and read that one pilot that flew both the P-47 and P-51 said that the P-47 was built like a machined tool while the P-51 had a cheaper, stamped construction.

The P-51, like almost all American fighters, had comparatively thick duraluminum sheeting. However, it also had comparatively more structure than its foriegn counterparts.

Your comparison is incorrect. The P-47 had thick sheeting even for an American plane - it was commonly refered to as "double thick". Flight crews could walk freely upon the P-47 wing anywhere but out at the very tip of the wing (and I mean the last inch or so) or on the control surfaces with their boots w/o concern about denting it. By contrast, the Spitfire, the FW190, and the Bf109 - all had marked locations where a person could step, everywhere else was off-limits.

Here are some cutaways to compare structure:

P-51D


P-47C


P-40 (early)


F4U-1d


Spitfire Mk.1


Bf109G


FW190A-8


A6M "Zero"


=S=

Lunatic

[the lancaster kicks ass]

great drawings there RG........

[cheddar cheese]

Yeah some beautiful pics there. Im saving the 190 for myself hehe

[DAVIDICUS]

RG_Lunatic:

If I undertand you correctly, the P-47 had a thicker skin than the P-51 right?

Does anyone know how thick the aluminum skin on any fighter arcraft was?

[Erich]

David have you seen a P-51 and a Jug sitting next to one another ? the Jug almost dwarfs the Mustang by size. that engine alone to operate the powerful Thunderbolt is a monster in itself compare to the slender Merlin.....

[evangilder]

That's very true. Erich. The Jug pretty much dwarfed all the other single engine fighters!

[DAVIDICUS]

I have never seen the two aircraft side by side but am aware of the dimensions / weights and agree that the Thunderbolt was a big boy.

I assume you are of the opinion that the Thunderbolt had a thicker skin as well.

I have seen and physically explored a TBF Avenger, another quite large plane, and was quite struck at how really thin its aluminum skin was.

At any rate, does anyone have any information on the thickness of the aluminum skin on any WWII aircraft?

[the lancaster kicks ass]

there's a joke about lancasters, you never use your hand to lean against the aircraft, you'll put your hand straight through

[DAVIDICUS]

I heard that a crew member of a B-17 once say in similar fashion that you could practically poke your finger through the side of the plane.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

was he saying that about the lanc or B-17??

[DAVIDICUS]

B-17

Originally Posted by DAVIDICUS

RG_Lunatic:

If I undertand you correctly, the P-47 had a thicker skin than the P-51 right?

I think it did, but I really cannot say so "for sure". What I've read is that the P-47 had the thickest sheetmetal of any WWII fighter. So the P-51 sheetmetal might be equal?

Originally Posted by DAVIDICUS

Does anyone know how thick the aluminum skin on any fighter arcraft was?

I believe the P-47 used mostly 16 gauge (0.051") duraluminum where most planes used about 20 gauge (0.032") to 24 gauge (0.020") sheeting. Most planes used thicker sheeting in some places (leading edges of the wings for instance) than other places (side of the fusalage for instance). Note: the gauges I'm giving are based upon my observance of aircraft at airshows and museums and my limited experiance with sheetmetal (one job I had made its own cases for electronics and had sheetmetal cutting and bending equipment, and auto repair experiance). So these figures are only my estimates and should not be quoted as "fact".

Design Analysis of the P-47 Thunderbolt gives a lot of detail about the P-47 construction, but unfortunately does not give the skin thickness. Also of note on that site is Design Analysis of the Zeke 32 (A6M3).

Here's a very nice cutaway of the P-47D from the site listed above.


Drawing by Reynold Brown.

=S=

Lunatic

[the lancaster kicks ass]

annother great pic there.........

[DAVIDICUS]

Wow. Thanks for the web link. One thing's for sure, structurally, it was built to be pretty tough.