German Wing lozenge: Chord-wise, Length-wise, Diagonal?

fishotter · 11 November 2006, 01:42 PM

Hello all,

Thanks to the many knowledgable forumites the various types of lozenge used on different German aircraft have been well explained and documented. However I had always assumed that the application of the strips of printed cloth on the wings would invariably be front to rear, ie from leading wing edge to trailing edge, so viewed from above it might look like this: I I I I I I
Apparently that was not always the case, from other threads on this forum I understand sometimes the cloth might be applied length-wise, and sometimes even diagonally. So I was wondering which aircraft types had which style of wing covering, and if diagonal, was it to the left \ \ \ \ \, or to the right / / / / / ? At 45 degrees, or just slighty angled?
I'd be most grateful for any help to clear my doubts.

StephenLawson · 11 November 2006, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishotter

Hello all,

Thanks to the many knowledgable forumites the various types of lozenge used on different German aircraft have been well explained and documented. However I had always assumed that the application of the strips of printed cloth on the wings would invariably be front to rear, ie from leading wing edge to trailing edge, so viewed from above it might look like this: I I I I I I
Apparently that was not always the case, from other threads on this forum I understand sometimes the cloth might be applied length-wise, and sometimes even diagonally. So I was wondering which aircraft types had which style of wing covering, and if diagonal, was it to the left \ \ \ \ \, or to the right / / / / / ? At 45 degrees, or just slighty angled?
I'd be most grateful for any help to clear my doubts.

Greetings fishotter;

The fore to aft orientation is called "chordwise." This runs the factory edges parallel to the lay of the ribs of most wings.

Ailerons and elevators were often covered from left edge to right edge. This is called "spanwise" where the factory edge runs parallel to the leading and trailing edges. In the field some repaired wings were covered "spanwise" as well.

The "angled" layout was usually employed on two seater aircraft with broader wing surfaces fore to aft. But later Siemens Schuckert Works used it on their production D.III (a single seater) top wing. Please note these are general observations.

fishotter · 16 November 2006, 04:16 PM

Thank you Stephen for your reply. I've checked every picture I could find of aircraft with lozenge, and your observation seems correct. With the possible exception of the SS DIII only two-seaters appear to have, occasionally, used diagonal wing covering. My sources are however very limited, and I was able to find only a single picture where this diagonal application is evident (a Halb CLII), all other two-seater pictures featured the ordinary chord-wise wing covering. Hopefully some kind soul can confirm whether these assumptions are correct?

There was a good thread about this argument some 2 years ago: http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/sh...506#post171506 . It doesn't however say if the SS DIII was indeed the only single-seat aircraft with this unusual arrangement, or if there were other types as well.

StephenLawson · 19 November 2006, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishotter

".. Hopefully some kind soul can confirm whether these assumptions are correct?...

Assumptions...Good luck with that.

Dan_San_Abbott · 19 November 2006, 09:55 AM

fishotter:
Almost all German aircraft factories used the chordwise method of covering wings. The Halberstadt, DFW and Siemans Schuckert used the bias covering method with the warp yarns (seams) at 45 degrees to the leading edge.
Some used the spanwise wing covering were used by Alb.D.Va on one production batch which included Alb.D.Va5390/17. Siemans-Schuckert used bias covering on the upper wing and spanwise on the lower wings on the SSW D.III fighter.
DFW built DFW C.V were bias covered on all their orders except Aviatik built, serial numbers DFW C.V (Av) 5825/16 to 5974/16 and all subsequent Aviatik built machines through serial DFW C.V(Av) 8249/18.
It is my understanding that bias wing covering were used on wings where wing warping was used for roll control.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

StephenLawson · 19 November 2006, 11:16 AM

Greetings Dan! Glad to see that you got the glitch fixed. You have a bit to catch up on. Happy Holidays old friend!

Dan_San_Abbott · 19 November 2006, 06:35 PM

Stephen Lawson:
My computer was compromised by some anal orifice 32 places and deleted some of my files. One cute one was the reply button here on the Forum. I finally got it fixed.I tried to contain my anger, I am still flying without my blood thinners.
Best to all the Family Steve,
Blue skies,
Dan

fishotter · 20 November 2006, 06:31 AM

Dan San,

Thank you so much for your reply! This is exactly the information I was hoping for. Your knowledge and your helpfulness are much appreciated.
Perhaps one last question pertaining the practice of chord-wise wing coverings with printed lozenge; the orientation of the fabric itself. Again, I cannot say for sure since I have but very few books about WW1 aircraft, but it seems to me that usually adjacent strips of printed lozenge were oriented in the same direction, and only occasionally in alternate directions. One fine example of the latter type can be seen on Rosebud's: http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/...3a_3892_18.JPG . How uncommon was this version of alternate direction lozenge? Was its use restricted to certain aircraft types or certain producers?
Again, I'd be very grateful for any help.

Dan_San_Abbott · 20 November 2006, 08:59 PM

Fishotter:
In the instructions that were put out by Idfliegthey requested that the adjoining lozenges be matchede as much as possible. From what I have studied they were not. The sewing machine operator had a stack of panel to be joined she took the panel and sewed them together adding to the right side each time. Take a close look, you will not see orientation. It won't work the pattern repeat on each panel dose not work. all the panels are on the same orientation.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

StephenLawson · 21 November 2006, 05:39 AM

Greetings Dan,

I would like to add that the the panel orientations were alternated. Especially with the OAW airframes. That is panels were turned 180 degerees from the next that it was joined to. The red arrows show the panel seams. The yellow arrows show the same lozenges on each panel as they oppose each other because the panels are at 180 degrees.