Editing Geodetic airframe (section)

==Aeroplanes==
[[File:Vickers Wellington Mark X, HE239 'NA-Y', of No. 428 Squadron RCAF (April 1943).png|thumb|Wellington Mk.X ''HE239'' of [[No. 428 Squadron RCAF|No.428 Sqn.]] RCAF, illustrating the geodetic construction and the level of battle damage it could sustain and still return to base]]

The earliest-known use of a geodetic airframe design for any aircraft was for the pre-World War I [[List of Schütte-Lanz airships#SL1|Schütte-Lanz SL1]] rigid airship's envelope structure] of 1911, with the airship capable of up to a 38.3&nbsp;km/h (23.8&nbsp;mph) top airspeed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.earlyaeroplanes.com/archive/airships01/1911.airship.SL1.framework.jpg |title=Archived copy |website=www.earlyaeroplanes.com |access-date=22 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112025350/http://www.earlyaeroplanes.com/archive/airships01/1911.airship.SL1.framework.jpg |archive-date=12 November 2013 |url-status=usurped}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2022}}

The [[Latécoère 6]] was a French four-engined biplane bomber of the early 1920s. It was of advanced all-metal construction and probably the first aeroplane to use geodetic construction. Only one was built.

[[Barnes Wallis]], inspired by his earlier experience with light alloy structures and the use of geodesically-arranged wiring to distribute the lifting loads of the gasbags in the design of the ''[[R100]]'' airship, evolved the geodetic construction method (although it is commonly stated, there was no geodetic ''structure'' in ''[[R100]]'').<ref>Murray, p.34 and p.44</ref> Wallis used the term "geodetic" to apply to the airframe; it is referred to as "Vickers-Wallis construction" in some early company documents.<ref name="barneswallisfoundation.co.uk">{{Cite web|url=https://www.barneswallisfoundation.co.uk/life-and-work/geodetic-aircraft-design/|title = Geodetic Aircraft Design – Barnes Wallis Foundation}}</ref> "Geodesic" is used in the United States for aircraft structures.<ref>https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-aircraft_january-february-2002_39_1, p.18</ref>

The system was later used by Wallis's employer, [[Vickers-Armstrongs]] in a series of bomber aircraft, the [[Vickers Wellesley|Wellesley]], [[Vickers Wellington|Wellington]], [[Vickers Warwick|Warwick]] and [[Vickers Windsor|Windsor]]. In these aircraft, the fuselage and wing were built up from [[duralumin]] alloy channel-beams that were formed into a large framework. Wooden battens were screwed onto the metal, to which the [[aircraft dope|doped]] [[linen]] skin of the aircraft was fixed. The Windsor had a woven metal skin.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The metal lattice-work gave a light and very strong structure.<ref name="Buttler93"/> The benefit of the geodetic construction was larger internal volume for a given streamlined shape.<ref name="barneswallisfoundation.co.uk"/> Flight magazine described a geodetic frame as sheet metal covering in which diamond shaped holes have been cut leaving behind the geodetic strips.<ref>Flight magazine, 15 December 1938, p.548</ref> The benefit was offset by having to construct the fuselage as a complete assembly unlike aircraft using stressed-skin construction which could be built in sections. In addition, fabric covering on the geodetic frame was not suitable for higher flying aircraft that had to be pressurised. The difficulty of providing a pressurised compartment in a geodetic frame was a challenge during the design of the high altitude Wellington Mk. V. The pressure cabin, which expanded and contracted independently of the rest of the airframe, had to be attached at the nodal points of the structure.<ref>From Bouncing Bombs To Concorde, Robert Gardner 2006,{{ISBN|0 7509 4389 0}}, p.33</ref>

Geodetic wing and fin structures, taken from the Wellington, were used on the post-war [[Vickers VC.1 Viking]], but with a metal stressed-skin fuselage.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1945/1945%20-%201005.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604095942/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1945/1945%20-%201005.html |archive-date=4 June 2016 |date=24 May 1945 |work=Flight |title=Vickers Viking |first=C. B. |last=Bailey-Watson }}</ref> Later production Vikings were completely stressed-skin construction marking the end of geodetic construction at Vickers.<ref>From Bouncing Bombs To Concorde, Robert Gardner 2006,{{ISBN|0 7509 4389 0}}, p.65</ref>