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.IAL USE QNI.Y .,
File D 52.1 / G. A.~X./ 9 McCOOK F I EL D REPORT SERIA L No . 1437

AIR SERVI~E INFORMATION CIRCULAR

(AVIATION)

PUBLISHED BY THE CHIEF OF AIR SERVICE, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Vol. III May 15, 1921 No. 228

REPORT OF STA TIC TEST OF WING

STRUCTURE OF U. S. GAX-1
(TYPE VI) ,

(AIRPLANE SECTION, S. & A. BRANCH)

Prepared by Engineering Division, Air Service

McCook Field, December 11 , 1920

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UIRARV. .

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WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1921
- - ----- ---------------- ------------------ - - - - - ---,----- - - - -- - ---------.

REPORT OF ST A TIC TEST OF WING STRUCTURE OF

U. S. GAX- 1 (TYPE VI).

OBJECT. RESULTS.

The object of this test was to determine the strength of
the \\·ing structure of the U . S. GAX-1.
DATE AND PLACE OF TEST.
The test was made July 16- 20 and 26, 1920, at McCook
Field , Da:r ton, Ohio.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
The U. S. GAX-1 is a twin-engined triplane for ground
:i,ttack (Type VI ). The two Liberty 12 engines are
placed in armored nacelles on either sid e of a central
armored fu selage.
The interplane bracing is obtained by means of lami-
nated spruce N struts and wires from the nacelle out to
the tip. The inner portion between fuselage and nacell e
is braced with circular steel tubing with balsa fairing .
There is no external drag bracing.
The area of the wings is 1,004 square feet, di vided as
follows :
Upper ..... . . . .... . .. . .... . . .. . ...... ...... ........ 426
Intermediate . ~- ... .... ....... .... ....... .. ....... . 275
Lower ..... ... .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . ... . .. . .. . .. ....... 303
The weight of the wing structure, without the nacelles,
is 1,622 pounds, or 1.62 pounds per sq uare foot.
Details of the constructions may be obtained from
E ngineering Division drawings Nos. GAX- 17542, GAX-
17591, GAX- 17615, GAX-17597, GAX-17590, GAX-17593.
PROCEDURE.
The wing cell was set up with the mean chord inclined
,
0
to the horizontal, with the leading edge high. .-\ s the
armored body was not available for this test , falsework,
b uilt up of 4 by 4's a nd 6 by 6's, was used for the attach-
ment of the wings. This falsework was supported rigidly .
):Ieavy tim bers were placed und er the engi ne b earers in gave the fo llowing resul ts:
each nacelle, with cables attached to each end , carried
over pulleys and attached to a platform on which was
placed the load representing the reaction of the nacelle
The lift cables stretched consid erably so that there
was excessi ve deflection under the loads for factors of 5
and 5.5. As th e jacks 1vere being lowered for th e factor
of 6, one of th e front lift cables from the lower to in ter-
m ediate wing in the inn er bay fai led in th e loop . The
edge of the t urnbu ckl e eye h ad sh eared through th e
thimbl e and into the cable, resulting in th e failure o[
th e latter. The cable was replaced with Ys-i1ic h nickel-
steel rod, the ends of which 1,·ere thread ed to fit the turn-
buclde barrels. When the jacks we re released again,
however, the rear cables gave way. When they were re-
placed and th e load again applied, th e inner lift cables
from intermediate to u pper wing on the oth er sid e fai led
in the same way. The cables were examined and fo und
· to be f. inch instead of ,14 inch as called for on th e draw-
ings. The load , which had been partly carr1ed hy th e
jacks and partly by the wing cell from Jul y- l 6 to 20,
. d uring th e series of failures of cables, was removed while
ne ,v 7-i'. inch cables were made up. These cables \\·ere
used in the inner bay from intermediate to upper wings,
Square feet.
while the % -inch rods ·were used fro m lower to in ter-
m ediate wings. The wings were th en lined up and the
loading resu ~ed, starting with th e load for a factor of 6.
The stru cture held up satisfactoril y uud er the load factor
of 6.5, but a few seconds after th e jacks were rele!lcsed
under th e load for a factor o[ 7 th e lugs, to which are at-
tach ed the lift cables fro m lower to intermediate wing in
the outer bay, failed in tension as sh own in figure 2. As
a res ul t, th e intermediate spars receiYed th e pull of the
lift wires to th e upp er wing and failed in bending. These
failures were a ll on the righ t wings, no. d arqage being
evident on the left side.
DISCUSSION.
Tests of th e spruce used in the spars on ' the right side
Spar . Specifi c I
Modu lus Modulus Ulti.ma tc
of of
gravity. rup ture c lastici ty pression
com-

and its co ntents. The usual scaffolding to facilitate load- (;;/sq.iu .) . (#/sq. in .) . @sq.in.) .
- - - - -- --1-- - - - 1- - -
ing and to catch the wings when failure occurred , was
Upper rear .. ____ ... . - - · · .. 0.406 8, 155 1,735,000 5, 660
erected . Upper fro nt. .. ............ . .398 5,980 1,4.75, 000 5 900
The loading sch edule, figure 1, was based on relative Intermediate rear ...... _._. . 482 6, J 10 2, 245,000 1; 385
In termediat e fron t .... _. __ . . 351 6, 05:) 1, 395,000 4, 720
lift coefficients of 1, 0. 75, and 0. 82 on th e upper, inter- Lower rear . . ·. __ . ___ . _.. .. . . . 394 7,455 1, 600,000 5, 290
mediate, and lower wings, respectively. Lo\ver fron t .. __ .... _... _._. . 386 I 6,175 1,390,000 5.470

To the weigh t of each nacelle, 70 pounds was added to

allow fm· friction in the pulleys in determining the plat- The intermediate front spar do es J)Ot m eet th e rec1uirc-
fo rm loads. With two platforms for each nacell e, the ments of specification No . 15021- 0, which calls for a mini-
load on each for a unit factor was 1,000 pounds. mum specific gravi ty of 0.36. The intermediate rear spar,
Defl ections of each wing were m eas ured in the usual although high in specific gravi ty, modulus of elasticity,
manner. and compressive strength, was very brash, and at one
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LOA.0//VG SC#ELJl'.ILE
FOR
c5 TATIC TEST OF6.AX-1 ff/NG c5T/?l'.IC Tl/l?E
FIG. l.
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Fig{ 2-Faihite: o/· intermediate wing fitting---0uter bay.

place showed a rapid ·and irregular growth with less than The steel t ubular bracing between fuselage and nacell e
the required six rings per inch. Aside from th ese points, showed no signs of failure . In view of the indeterminate
the results of these tests show normal values for spruce, nature of this bracing, however, it does not seem advisable
and the load factor developed in the static test need not to reduce sizes in this section.
be modified to correspond to standard design values for
strength · of material s. CONCLUSION.
Although the strength develope4 is sufficient for air-
planes of this type, an increase in strength , with practically With the proper size cable, the strength of the wing
no increase in weight, may be obtained by using -h-inch structure is satisfactory.
steel instead of -h-inch for the side plates in the fitting It is recommended that instead of using a -h-inch steel
which failed (fig. 2). The lift wire lugs on this fitting plate with a ~-inch steel strip brazed on the lugs for
already h ave a ~-inch plate brazed on to bring the thick- the intermediate spar fitting in the outer bar, the whol e
ness up to -h inch. side plate be made -h-inch in thickness.