WW1 Plane most likely to breakup?

I was wandering, was it known if there was a single seater plane that would often break up due to having a poor structure? (the same applies to 2 seaters). For example the pilot is flying his plane in the air in a dogfight, he tries to out manoruvre his enemy by flying his plane to the deep right but it ends up creaking the wood and breaking the plane.

I am intrigued by this because of the game Red Baron 3D. I don't know whether they got the physics right, and if they did the Nieuports were surely some of the worst planes in the war? Im wandering if the game portrays them right, in that even the slightest of movements would make the Nieuports wings creak and make them vulnerable to breaking?
thanks

The Nieuports had a bit of a reputation for lower wing structural failure. The lower wing was attached to the upper with a V shaped strut. The lower wing would twist under some manoeuvering loads and fail. The Albatross had this happen as well.

Dave Cadorette

[R Pope]

No aircraft ever issued to any forces were ever that fragile. No-one in his wrong mind would ever have climbed in one.

I don`t find it too strange that many a/c of the era (Albatros, Fokker, Niuport, Aviatik Berg etc.) suffered from problems with wing failures.

After all, the art of motorized flight was little more than 10 years old and without computer aided design, windtunnels and without all the knowledge of various aerodynamic stresses that we have to day, I think they did remarkable well all things considered!

Best Regards,
Henry J.

Originally posted by kitfoxdave@Jun 12 2004, 04:30 PM
[b] The Nieuports had a bit of a reputation for lower wing structural failure. The lower wing was attached to the upper with a V shaped strut. The lower wing would twist under some manoeuvering loads and fail. The Albatross had this happen as well.

Dave Cadorette

thank you for the information

so fragile are the Nieuports in Red Baron 3D (II) that I never fly as the French or British in the early-mid war as usually the squardons would get assigned them

[JG1Schorner]

Please note that RB3D out of the box is a terrible example of a WWI aircraft damage model. The aircraft are practically made of tissue paper. User modifications have made VAST improvements on the original. Also note that overly ham fisted flying could tear apart planes that were far more sturdy than most WWI aircraft (talking WWII) but, in general, WWI planes were pretty solid aircraft. In the game you are sitting in a chair yanking on a joystick. In real life the pilot was feeling feedback and would have a much better sense of airframe stress.

Having said that:
Lower wing failure on single spar sesquiplanes, ie. Nieuports 10 through 27 and Albatros DIII and DVa.

Upper wing fabric tears on Nieuport 28s.

Upper wing failure on the Fokker DRI.

Overheating in the Fokker D.VII could cause phosphorous ammo to cook off.

SPAD XIII Hispano Suiza engine failures (drive shaft?)

The SPAD VII had serious cooling problems as well, I believe. But yes as far as wing failure most notable were the Nieuports, Albatross D-3 & D-5, and the DR-1 (early)... In the later DR-1s the problem, for the most part, was corrected, was'nt it??
"Prost!"

My money is on the RE-8. It had struts that fitted into sockets in the spars, and were held together by bracing wires. I;E, the struts held the wings apart, and the wires held them together. Like railway sleepers holding the rails just-so.
If the wires were shot through, or broke, the wing just lifted off the struts. Exit stage left.

thanks for the info

[Ginger.]

Nev,
did not know that about the 'Harry Tate', what a bloody awful contraption! I seem to recall Mick Mannock managed to land his Nieuport scout after one of the lower wings dropped off.