F8F: only airplane with sheddable wingtips?
As many of you will remember, the Grumman F8F Bearcat was originally designed with outer wing panels that broke off if 7.5Gs were exceeded. Then to prevent asymmetric wingtip shedding, the panels were installed with primer cord along the seam, to blow the recalcitrant tip off if one went away. Finally, the whole idea was given up as unworkable. (It worked during well-controlled test conditions but proved to be risky otherwise.)
Question: Was there ever another aircraft with such a designed-in failure mechanism, whether wingtips or some other component?
The only one I can think of was that Dornier-like rear-engine Saab fighter that had a mechanism to blow off the entire propeller if the pilot needed to bail...which ultimately led to the Swedes inventing the ejection seat. (No, not the Germans nor the Brits...and it wasn't even Volvo.)
Last edited by stepwilk; 30th Nov 2009 at 17:09.