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By: 4th February 2019 at 11:45 Permalink
-Hi Vultee
Does your username indicate some knowledge of that companies aviation products, because you probably already know that the Vultee BT-13/BT-15 has a wet wing, the function and issues of which are described in this Youtube clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRFcIzcQsUs
I have a nagging thought that something in the late 1920's had a wet wing, possibly a racer, cannot think what though.
Richard
By: 9th February 2019 at 20:19 Permalink
-Not the first example but I think the original Liberators ( a Vultee related product?) such as the LB-30s used by the RAF and BOAC had integral tankage /'wet wings' but later Liberators got rubberized self-sealing tanks
By: 10th February 2019 at 08:12 Permalink
-Not sure about the 'first' to have integral tanks but the PR Mk IV was the first Spitfire to have the 'Bowser' Wing which was integral tankage in the Leading Edge of the wing structure,the production PR IV carried 66 Gallons in each wing tank - giving this a/c an impressive range.
By: 10th February 2019 at 08:51 Permalink
-That sounds about right. Their patent applications for integral leading edge tanks were submitted in 1936 and 1937.
By: 10th February 2019 at 10:10 Permalink
-Have read about the Hudson having 'wet wings'. They were prone to catching fire if there was a undercarriage collapse or any sort of crash landing. I don't know if the earlier Lockheed twins had them?
By: 10th February 2019 at 21:59 Permalink
-The first wet wing aircraft? Langley's Aerodrome when it hit the Potomac. (sorry, I couldn't resist that)
By: Anonymous (not verified) - 4th February 2019 at 10:14 - Edited 15th February 2020 at 18:41
Over on Britmodeller, someone started a thread curious about the first aircraft with true "wet wings", rather than just fuel tanks in the wings. Suggestions include one of the PR Spitfires, the DC-6 and Constellation, but a quick net search hasn't brought up any proof.
Also what was the first aircraft to have tanks in the wings? I would have thought something along the dH biplanes in the 1920's, with the centre upper wing section as a tank, but I'm not sure when wings got thick enough to make their volumn useable to fit tanks inside.