MANY thanks for Mike Jones’s superbly researched article on the railway-related RAS airline routes.
That said, I fear that Mike (and alas many so-called aviation experts who should know better) has repeated the myth that aircraft were‘constructed of wood and canvas’.Whilst the framework was indeed wood, an aircraft covered in canvas would be far too heavy.
The overall covering used was a much lighter material, Irish linen. After covering the frame, this thin lightweight fabric was treated with‘Dope’, a lightweight cellulose-based varnish.
Perhaps the nearest railway comparison to‘linen and canvas’would be to infer that locomotive boilers were made of tinplate rather than boiler plate!
Markham Bailey, Stopsley