Aircraft fabric covering

Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures, the de Havilland Mosquito being an example of this technique, and on the pioneering all-wood monocoque fuselages of certain World War I German aircraft like the LFG Roland C.II, in its wrapped Wickelrumpf plywood strip and fabric covering.

Early aircraft used organic materials such as cotton and cellulose nitrate dope, modern fabric-covered designs usually use synthetic materials such as Dacron and butyrate dope for adhesive, this method is often used in the restoration of older types that were originally covered using traditional methods.

The purposes of the fabric covering of an aircraft are:

Pioneering aviators such as George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal used cotton-covered flying surfaces for their manned glider designs. The Wright brothers also used cotton to cover their Wright Flyer. Other early aircraft used a variety of fabrics, silk and linen being commonly used. Some early aircraft, such as A.V. Roe's first machines, even used paper as a covering material. Until the development of cellulose based dope in 1911 a variety of methods of finishing the fabric were used. The most popular was the use of rubberised fabrics such as those manufactured by the "Continental" company. Other methods included the use of sago starch. The advent of cellulose dopes such as "Emaillite" was a major step forward in the production of practical aircraft, producing a surface that remained taut (eliminating the need for frequent re-covering of the flying surfaces)

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