What was the fabric used?

Dont look at me Carl.I`m here to learn

[Volker_Nemsch]

Hello Carl!

Here you will find a photo of the "silk Fokker Dr.1"

http://204.83.160.230/archive/a/images/silkDr1.JPG

Hope this helps!

[leo]

Didn't Fokker experiment with a transparent covering on one of the E series? Which material might he have used?

I believe the clear covering was something called "cellon" an early form of plastic based on[aargh!what do they call that stuff that plants live on?? damn can`tt remember >]Still try this:the Linke Hoffman R1 was covered in cellon to make it "invisible " in the air.Can`t find a date for it but circa 1917at a guess.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Volker:
The photograph is of MvR's Fok.DR.I 477/17. This is one "myths" that persists. There would be nothing gained in covering this aircraft with silk. I don't know the origin of this "story", but that is all it is. The cost of 3.5 oz. silk would be three to four times the cost of linen, and would not be any better in quality or performance. I can't imagine this being done. Both China and Japan were on the Allied side. So were did the silk come from after three years into the war? This is a lot of baloney! This picture was taken at LeChelle Airfield on 26 March 1918.
Blauer Himmel and Happy New Year,
Dan-San

An addendum to one of my earlier postings.Apparently Cellon is/was based on Cellulose.Now that is all very well but if you apply a clear material to a wooden frame wouldn`t the frame be visible?Nevermind the engine/pilot/fueltank etc!!So much for invisibility

From newspaper, The Warrnambool Standard, Jan 3 1920.
"Imperial Government
UNBLEACHED IRISH LINEN
Specially manufactured for Aeroplanes
-------------------------------------
Finest Quality Ever Produced.
Part of the Great ^4,000,000 deal.(I have no Pound Sign on my keyboard)
Every yard tested by Government experts.
Suitable for highest class ladies' costumes, dust coats, pillow slips, blinds, motor coats, children's clothing & fancy work.
1,000 yards for sale locally.
Arrival by troopship ss Devon.
Can be bleached snow-white in your own home by formula supplied with each piece.
Sales, Dimensions & Prices
at CLEMO & Co.'S Liebig Street.
Call immediately and secure your piece.
This linen was bought in England, and is being retailed exclusively by Returned Soldiers.
Prices phenomenal and not exceeding present manufacturing costs in Ireland."

No specific weights though. Parachute silk for undies...linen for dust coats, eh?

'Cellon' was a trade-name for clear acetate sheet; the same material nowadays most commonly found stiffening the collars of shirts in their packaging.

Fokker built an Eindekker covered in the stuff to see whether it rendered the aircraft less visible in the air; it didn't, quite the opposite, it reflected the sun something awful. And the material doesn't react well to ultra-violet rays, tending to harden and yellow and becoming liable to 'explosive shattering' after a relatively short period of such exposure. (As I discovered many years ago, when the last motorcycle sidecar in captivity that still had windows made of it came into my possession. Mum couldn't see out through the amber gloom on the way to the shops and tried to push them open, only to watch them instantly disintegrate under the lightest pressure. Happy days . . .)

After trying the same trick on a B.E.2c, the Allies used 'Cellon' only for covering upper centre-sections, in order to provide the unfortunate pilot with some view forwards and upwards (R.E.8s particularly); toughened glass was preferred, but not available in the quantity desired. When the 'Cellon' 'perished', it was usually replaced with conventional doped linen.

The aircraft industry has spawned all manners of wonderful materials and applications, that's for sure - perspex being one of the 'brighter ideas'.

Cheers!

(8:¬)}

Simba.