Cutaway views of aircraft.
I’m not certain when this Rolf Klep cutaway was produced, but the magazine text mentions that V-E Day was upcoming, so I’ll put it at 1945.
This 160 ton aircraft was expected to be able to take 200 passengers from New York to London in 9 hours.
Consolidated ventured that it would build about 15 Vultee Clippers for PanAm immediately following the War.
The RAF’s Typhoon was termed an “Engine With Wings” by Popular Science because of its 2,200 horsepower, 24 cylinder power plant–a massive engine at the time.
The Typhoon carried four 20 mm cannon. With its capacity for carrying two 500 lb. bombs, one under each wing, the Typhoon could be a fighter-bomber as well as a fighter only.
At a loaded weight of 11,300 lbs., it was fairly heavy compared to its sister, the Hurricane, which weighed in at 7,290 lbs. loaded.
This cutaway is from Popular Science, August 1944
The R.A.F. Mosquito was a zippy, nimble aircraft, its fuselage built of plywood on a balsa wood core and its wings made of spruce and birch. Other than mechanical working parts, this made the Mosquito nearly all wood.
The Mosquito’s crew of two could take the 18,500 lb. craft to relatively low altitudes to whisk into position, drop its load, and whisk away.
This cutaway drawing was pieced together from a December 1943 issue of Popular Science.
In 1950, Popular Science issued a cutaway drawing of the most exciting object to grace the skies to that point: Convair’s B-36 Bomber. At that time, it was the world’s biggest bomber.
Its 13 man crew could ride at altitudes as high as 50,000 feet, the magazine noted.
Here is a closeup of the cockpit area:
My favorite part of the B-36 is its pressurized 87 foot-long tunnel that allowed crew members to shuttled from one end of the craft to the other. They laid on a four-wheeled cart and pulled themselves along by cable.
This cutaway drawing shows the PanAm Yankee Clipper (B-314), which was built by Boeing on the base of an XB-15 bomber fuselage. On December 21, 1937, Boeing delivered the first Yankee Clipper to PanAm.
The Yankee Clipper was the result of over 6,000 engineering drawings, 50,000 parts, and one-million rivets. But with such complexity came problems. First, it was the spark plugs. Then Boeing discovered that when the plane was loaded light, it was no match for the admittedly weak winds blowing across South Lake Washington (Seattle, WA).
And when the test pilots got the B-314 up in the air, then had yet another problem. As pilot Eddie Allen succinctly put it, “The plane won’t turn.”
But Boeing ironed out these wrinkles and eventually the Yankee Clipper became a graceful, reliable craft. Each Clipper cost $668,908; needed 3,200 of clear waterway to take off; and weighed 84,000 pounds gross.
Boeing eventually stamped out six of these Clippers for PanAm.