wood in German planes?

Hi everyone:
I'm doing some research into the historical use of aircraft spruce, the wood that was used for some parts of allied warplanes, especially the long wing spars. Its very favorable strength-to-weight ratio -- better than aluminum -- makes it highly desirable for that use. So valued was it in WW1 airplanes that, because the allies could not get it in Europe, the US sent troops into US forests in the northwest to cut millions of board feet of spruce to build Sopwith, Spads, etc. My question is: if the allies could not get spruce in europe, and had to rely on the US, then what did the *Germans* use for aircraft wood -- especially the wing spars? I am assuming they were unable to get enough spruce either, and of course could not import it from the US. Anyone who has knowledge of what wood the Germans used to replace aircraft spruce in wings would be most helpful to me. Thanks...

[leo]

I would imagine Canada might have been a major source of Spruce Wood for the Allied war effort.

[GrzeM]

Central European forests are full of spruce, so there was no problem in first years. Later everything turned to be a problem, seasoned wood too (as seasoning takes time!) so Fokker was accused of using green wood for building planes (Dr.1 and E.V especially).
Grzegorz

[GrzeM]

Another thing is, that AH industry used different woods too. Oeffag built Albatrosen had pine wing spars, and longest elements of fuselage structure were made of fraxinus.
(sorry, I've forgotten English name)
G.

[Graeme]

Fraxinus is the Latin name for the Ash tree; the stuff used in the Great War was probably Fraxinus Excelsior - common in Europe and Asia - nowadays used to make tool handles.

Graeme

[GrzeM]

Exactly. Fraxinus excelsior, european ash. Also structures of folding kayaks are made of ash, even nowadays.
In middle ages ash was used to make longbows. I've read, that in England there was capital punishment for lumbering ash without king's permission.
G.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Stephent:
The German aircraft used esche,(ash) for forward longerons were greater strength was required and where they were usually bent. Aft longerons and spars fichte,(spruce) and kiefer, (scotch pine). plywood was made of birch. Other woods were Norwegian pine. Idflieg permitted spars to be spliced. Most manufacturers used box spars which were light and stronger than solid spars. Wood was imported from Norway and Sweden. With the massive increase in aircraft production on both sides, seasoned wood be came critical. In the USA, this was solved by kiln drying, I don't know if the German knew of this method of forced drying of wood.
Bluer skies,
Dan-San

"wood in German planes"
I totally misunderstood what this thread was about!
I thought he was talking about the time a flight of
German Planes was flying over a creek and some gals
were bathing in the creek
My mistake

[leo]

Baron:

Pay attention! Where is your mind?


G.

Where in Poland are you?

"Its a joke son,I say its a joke son"


I'm in that part of Poland called Toledo
sunny and cool on the banks of the
muddy Maumee,which runs backward