What, like this?









Cheers

Tony

To quote the Ferrari driver form Gumball Rally - "What is behind me is not important!" Of course, he did not have anyone trying to shoot him down!

JR

All that missing metal would certainly make it lighter.

Chris

heat building up was the main reason. I also wonder how much lighter that aluminum panel and fasteners actually was than the perspex panel?? cheers, Len

So a friend says: "cheer up things could be worse; so I cheered up and sure as hell Things Got Worse!

the ship full of Spam and Plexiglass panels might have been sunk,,,,,or was "running a few weeks late"

popping a panel out of a shop full of stacks of sheet metal is/was a standard form of repair training

they needed that bird, they had sheet,,,,they made it work

just a guess, but, if Marines will "borrow" from the Air Force to keep a jet flying, I have to believe that someone would make their own parts if they could during WW II

Rex

one from each squadron??,,"geeez Rex, how many display cases will that take up?"

http://hangardeckview.blogspot.com/

kj;lk

So a friend says: "cheer up things could be worse; so I cheered up and sure as hell Things Got Worse!

Rex probably has it spot on. These guys were operating at the fine end of a long and sometimes tenuous supply line. It's likely that the plexi got broken for some reason or the other, and with no replacements available, sheet aluminum was used, as the aerodynamic integrity of the airplane had to be preserved if it was to do its job, and every plane was needed, and then some. I would even go so far as to surmise that you probably have been able to find a bird with the plexi intact on one side, and aluminum sheet on the other. Hal

makes me think they took it out for glare. I am glad you posted those pics. thanks, Darren

Glad they were of help. This is a section of spine recovered from Bougainville along with many other parts for the restoration of a Corsair being done here in Adelaide, South Australia.
I originally took the pictures to illustrate the well preserved blue-grey paint behind the mod, but it also shows how it was not just a simple sheet over job but indeed had quite a lot of engineering involved, as any properly done mod should have.

Cheers

Tony

nice pics Tony !
I get the metal panels for the windows for whatever reason (sheet is much lighter than Plexiglass).

I don't get the large rectangular panel centered on the spine, overlapping the windows -- serious damage under there ? I've sheeted-over roof-windows on bombers because they tend to leak but that looks like extra work for no real result.

cheers ray

NO idea on the doubler, that was an object of some discussion. The blue under the window inserts looks really good, note the obviously hand painted blue over the rivet and screw lines.

Overall it looks like a really well done conversion rather than a quickie field mod to replace broken perspex in my opinion as a thirty year aircraft fixer....

Cheers

Tony

Hi Tony,

If you look closely at the attachment of the internal stiffeners for the skin used to fair over the area left by the removal of the plexiglass, the stiffeners appear to have been spot welded to the skin. This indicates that this may have been a more sophisticated modification or repair using a factory or depot fabricated kit. The original plexiglass was 1/8" thick and was supported by three studs at the leading edge. Look on page 65 Of Mechanic of World Aircraft #9. This image shows the three studs installed.

Don

x

that the insert color was the same as the exterior color. of course the external color is badly faded, and while one insert show the color as pretty close to as originally painted, the other seems to have lost much of its paint. Great pics. haven't got any pix of the wheel wells do you? Hal