Fabric work (rib stitching)

[Rookie]

Hi all,

Some time ago I sent a mail to the RAF Museum to enquire about rib-stitching relating to British WWI aircraft.

Courtesy of the RAF Museum, via Gary Haines, archivist of the RAF museum in London, a got this document. Although it is dated 1945, I think it is very informative.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FvewTCMvnlTMv4yV5rf-bgONv4toP4ie/view?usp=sharing

I visited the reading room of the RAF museum in March 2020, and I can tell you it is a treasure trove!

For those who are interested, here’s the link:

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/visit-our-reading-room/

Willem

[macsporran]

Fascinating document, Willem, thanks for posting this.

My Dad was in a team of fitters who spent time at the De Havilland factory, then visited each squadron as Mosquitoes went into service, showing ground crews how to maintain the Wooden Wonder. He was always mentioning madapollam, which I hadn't understood until I read these notes you have posted. Now I do!
Cheers
Sandy

[KiwiZac]

This is priceless stuff, thank you for sharing it Willem!

[IanB]

Very interesting, thanks for posting the link. My mum was a pretty good seamstress and had a set of "pinking shears" which were basically scissors with a serated edge. Obviously this was to stop the fabric fraying as per the document.
You learn something new every day!

Ian

[WD]

Very interesting, thanks for posting the link. My mum was a pretty good seamstress and had a set of "pinking shears" which were basically scissors with a serated edge. Obviously this was to stop the fabric fraying as per the document.
You learn something new every day!

Ian

My mother was a very talented seamstress/sewer, and I asked her when I was a kid why she used those pinking shears as opposed to regular scissors, and that's when I found out about it being to prevent the fabric from unraveling. Funny how some things cross over, no?

Warren