Supersonic trees

[mexchiwa]

Thinking of the general awesomeness of the DH Mosquito/Hornet, I began to wonder if there were ever any supersonic aircraft built of wood. Can think of one transonic, maybe (haven't actually looked at its construction, but think parts of it might be biodegradable). Just wondered if y'all could think of any.

[bdk]

The subsonic jet powered Vampire/Venom series had a wooden cockpit enclosure, but no primary structure. The problem with wood is that strength properties are variable and not easily controlled. By the time you get to the performance level/strength requirement for a supersonic aircraft the benefits of a wooden structure go away. It would be hard to carry fuel in the wings for instance if they were made of solid wood which might be required to obtain the required strength.

[dhfan]

A dubious claim, as it's not primary structure, could be made for the DH 108.

Based on a Vampire fuselage, it was a swept wing tailless research aircraft and the third one built became the first jet powered aircraft to exceed the speed of sound.

A dangerous era with research into the unknown. Three built and all crashed killing the pilots, including Geoffrey de Havilland Jr.

[bdk]

Based on a Vampire fuselage, it was a swept wing tailless research aircraft and the third one built became the first jet powered aircraft to exceed the speed of sound.

You mean before the F-86 exceeded the speed of sound (just before Chuck Yeager did in the X-1)?

[dhfan]

Before the F-86 officially exceeded the speed of sound...

Edit: Having posted the above, I'm now not certain. Being too idle to go and look it up, I checked quickly with Wikipedia. Something doesn't fit.

However, it was still partially of wooden construction and was supersonic - downhill.

[mexchiwa]

Yeah, DH 108 was the only thing I could think of. Anything Russian, maybe? (very probably not, though, would almsot guarantee)