Monday, July 13, 2015

Building Airplanes

Over the Forth of July weekend we went to an aviation museum next to Fort Vancouver.  The coolest fact I learned was that a dirigible flew between Portland and Vancouver in 1905.  It was steered up or down by the pilot leaning backward or forward.  (In contrast, Santos Dumont used a weight and pulley system to change his craft's trim.)
 There was an airplane kit on display.  I remember one of our neighbors back in the 1970's was working on one of these.  I think his was fiberglass; I remember it being much whiter.
The most interesting part was the jig used to make the wing shape.  I'm guessing that the wood was soaked in water before hand to make the curving part.  It occurs to me that one could 3D print this as one solid piece.

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