--- Jay <dagobertii@home.com> wrote:
> One other important factor against mass-production
> of Mosquitos vs.
> B-17s was the raw materials required. As it stood,
> we already used up a
> lot of the Stika Spruce used in aircraft, which only
> grows in a limited
> region of the west coast and Canada. To replace all
> those B-17s with
> wooden aircraft would have decimated the species,
> and would not have
> been nearly as practical in the same numbers as
> Boeing could produce
> aluminum aircraft. Plus, while there were enough
> cabinet makers in
> England for the Mosquitos made there, I wonder if we
> would have had that
> kind of handmade workmanship available in the US- at
> least in large
> enough numbers to meet the production demands?
+++++++++++++
Now, wait a minute here.
In 1942 the U.S. Army was still buying wooden wagons
and other wooden items, the factories were still in
use the process for logging was getting better with
the newer heavy log trucks and rail capabilities.
The forestry school I went to had a surplus portable
sawmill that could have been '40's vintage, they had
torn the body off from a Dodge carry-all to use for a
wagon, two surplus dozers with stars peeked over the
ragweed. The sawmill had a 4 cylinder GM diesel and
used automotive wheels and tires for the flat belt
pulleys. Didn't notice a name on it but it was
probably a Frick or American.
Joe
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:31 PDT