What is the airspeed of an unladened Albatros?

[nvalbatri]

My apologies to Monty Python...... Had an interesting thought cross my mind. How much weight would a paint job add to an Albi, or anyother A/C for that matter? I read somewhere that the RAF, after the Second War to End All Wars, stripped a Spitfire down to Natural Metal and got something like an additional 13 MPH out of her. (A good wax job cut drag enough to get another 5) Seeing some aircraft were repainted a couple times by different pilots, I'd imagine that would kill the performance.

[Pmacko]

Love your Monty Python reference.

This is an interesting question. I remember reading about a checker board painted SPAD once and the caption said the paint job really affected the performance so I bet there is something to that

[shackleton]

This won't be the most helpful answer you get but it is interesting.

Upper and lower half of fuselage and tail painted plus customer markings of a Boeing 737 weighs over 80 kilograms.

A gallon of dope surely enough to cover a first world war fighter would weigh about 4 and a half kilograms.

Less than the difference in weight of a small and a large pilot?

Still every little helps.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Hi nvalbatri:
German decorated their Albatros aircraft with ordinary paint which in those days had a lead base. They did not use dope, it was in critical short supply. A gallon bucket of paint, my guess is about 25 pounds.
Blue skies nvalbatri,
Dan-San

[stevedrew]

Originally Posted by nvalbatri

My apologies to Monty Python...... Had an interesting thought cross my mind. How much weight would a paint job add to an Albi, or anyother A/C for that matter? I read somewhere that the RAF, after the Second War to End All Wars, stripped a Spitfire down to Natural Metal and got something like an additional 13 MPH out of her. (A good wax job cut drag enough to get another 5) Seeing some aircraft were repainted a couple times by different pilots, I'd imagine that would kill the performance.

You BETTER apologise to Monty!

Seriously though, some of the photo reconnaissance spitfires used in WW2 had their paint removed, their rivets replaced with countersunk versions, guns removed, fillets for the wing joins were filled in and polished etc etc. They were very much faster than the Spits issued to squadrons with camo schemes etc. I don't think they ever went with the "natural metal finish" as they would glint in the sun when they turned, and generally were painted in one thin coat of paint.

[bristol scout]

I recall reading (I will track it down) somewhere of a trial they did with an early mark 1 Spit. to see what difference domed rivets made compared to flush rivets.

They labouriously stuck half peas all over it and tested the speed----it was not all that different, but they went with flush on the wings and domed on fuselage aft of cockpit.

I also think that the waxing of painted ones giving a boost is down to removing the matt finish--which definately reduced speed, but, of course, the camouflage was there for a reason also. Sometimes a trade off is required.

Cheers,
Dave.

[bristol scout]

The book is 'The Spitfire Story' by Alfred Price---page 49,

"rudimentary though they may have been, the split pea trials did establish the important fact that while dome headed rivets were not acceptable on the wings, they could be used in fore and aft rows on the fuselage with only a minimil reduction in performance..."

The same book tells us (in relation to the high speed Mk.1 photo-recce version) that they were---

"carefully polished up to reduce drag to a minimum.....their maximum speed was 10-15 mph greater than the equivalent fighter version"

page 95,

Cheers,
Dave.

[nvalbatri]

I seem to remember the bit I read was a post war MK XXII or such, probably a bubble top version.