Books on WW1 Aircraft Craftsmanship

[Gweetar]

Hi Folks,

I was talking with a friend recently about how companies like Google have gobbled up all kinds of sites and services to create the same drab grey-blue virtual landscape. The convo then evolved into discussing the camps of people who followed armies to supply every little good and service to needing an entire country to support a modern air force. So I'm wondering if there are any good books that discuss the crafts and tradespeople who fabricated, maintained and repaired WW1 aircraft in good detail? I can imagine a great deal of tinkering was done with woods, metals, fabrics and machinery but would like to learn more about these everyday tasks, jobs and unsung craftspeople. Aircraft service manuals... if they've survived or existed before WW2... would also be interesting.

Thx,
Gweet

[John McKenzie]

There are a couple of books from memory ,.. "From the Ground up " , might been one example ....However this was mainly about the lives & troubles of ground , support personnel , rather than including anything more technical ,...because books that would appeal to todays buyer , only give cursory glance at such things .


Contemporary Technical manuals etc., often end up in the hands of " enthusiastic collectors" , on whom , for the most part ,..the contained information is wasted & consequently lost .

Clearly today even on this forum it is shown ,... judging from the number of replies to any such technical matters ,... there is now arrived the situation ,...where little knowledge or even any interest in technical matters is present by the major part of the 10,500 members .
Only except by a very few posters and a " regular few " , ..who show support & appreciation of such information .

So different from some years past

.

[Barrett]

Some years ago I was briefly in touch with the Curtiss museum in Hammondsport NY, which I inferred had WW I manuals/documents on aircraft construction and repair. Just FWIW.

[Gweetar]

Thanks for your replies. I ran into similar challenges trying to obtain copies of original docs from collectors and museums when gathering specs, diagrams and physics info for the RB3D devs to help model the game's planes... so sorry to see more haven't made their way online since... but I can dig some more and post what I find if folks here aren't already aware of them. Cheers.

[CjBobrow]

Originally Posted by Gweetar

Thanks for your replies. I ran into similar challenges trying to obtain copies of original docs from collectors and museums when gathering specs, diagrams and physics info for the RB3D devs to help model the game's planes... so sorry to see more haven't made their way online since... but I can dig some more and post what I find if folks here aren't already aware of them. Cheers.

Do you have a digital copy of "Aircraft Mechanics Handbook 1918" printed in USA? If you need/want a copy it is available https://books.google.com/books?id=5T...other_versions

[Bletchley]

Bramson, Alan. Pure luck : the authorized biography of Sir Thomas Sopwith, 1888-1989. Patrick Stephens, 1990.

"Half-way through the Great War the Sopwith works was expanding so rapidly that cottages near the factory in Elm Crescent were being pulled down to make way for new workshops. The urgency of war set the pace, and as soon as the floors were laid work benches appeared. On these carpenters or metalfitters could be seen making parts for the aircraft as the factory walls were erected around them. More and more skilled women were taken on for essential jobs, and Tommy Sopwith was probably one of the first employers in Britain to train women in the skill of oxy-acetylene welding.
Among those who had to move from Elm Crescent as the cottages came down and the Sopwith works expanded to meet the demands of war was the Brockwell family. Mr Brockwell was an experienced blacksmith by trade so he readily found employment in the metal fitting shop, while three of his daughters assembled wing ribs"

I am sure there must be local or company histories that could give you further information of this sort, if that is what you want. Also, there is Meekoms, K. The birth of aeronautical inspection : a short history of the origins and early years of the Aeronautical Inspection Department AID 1913-1918. AID, 1980

[MikeMeech]

Originally Posted by Gweetar

Hi Folks,

I was talking with a friend recently about how companies like Google have gobbled up all kinds of sites and services to create the same drab grey-blue virtual landscape. The convo then evolved into discussing the camps of people who followed armies to supply every little good and service to needing an entire country to support a modern air force. So I'm wondering if there are any good books that discuss the crafts and tradespeople who fabricated, maintained and repaired WW1 aircraft in good detail? I can imagine a great deal of tinkering was done with woods, metals, fabrics and machinery but would like to learn more about these everyday tasks, jobs and unsung craftspeople. Aircraft service manuals... if they've survived or existed before WW2... would also be interesting.

Thx,
Gweet

Hi

Google itself has a number of on-line old books on aircraft construction, some are also available as reprints still including Sydney Camm's 1919 book 'Aeroplane Construction'. For British aircraft industry during WW1 there is 'British Aviation, The Great War and Armistice' by Harald Penrose (his previous volume in the series 'British Aviation, The Pioneer Years' may also have some interest). The Official History of The Ministry of Munitions Volume XII, The Supply of Munitions' covers Aircraft in Part I and Aerial Bombs in Part II. This covers the problems of supply and production of all sorts of things including linen, AGS parts, timber, dope etc as well as problems of standardisation and interchangeability. The problems of logistics for the RFC on the Western Front to keep the squadrons operating is covered in Peter Dye's 'The Bridge to Airpower'. A small book by Aidan J Williams deals with 'Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force Engine Repair Shops France 1914-1918' may also be of use. A contemporary book 'The Aviation Pocket-Book 1918' (there are earlier editions) by R. Borlase Matthews, may still be around to buy, it covers many subjects, including 'Materials for Aeroplane Construction', 'Aeroplane Alignment and Rigging', 'Airscrews' and 'Engines', which also includes fuels and lubricants.

I do have a fair few 1930s and 1940s technical publications as well, also my apprentice training notes from the early 1970s.

I hope that is a little help for you.

Mike