Fire - By Reflection?
 

Now that past copies of Aviation Safety Digest are available in digital form via Pprune "sticky", I found this gem from ASD March, 1964. It is worthy of Agent Maxwell Smart of the popular TV series Get Smart, where he invariably starts a sentence with "Would you believe...?

Well, would you believe that recently a Tiger Moth tied down outside a hangar on a country aerodrome caught fire and was severely damaged. The fire occurred soon after midday and was first noticed by a motorist who was approaching the aerodrome along a service road.

The aircraft engine had not been run for two days prior to this fire and some of the possible causes, such as smoking, welding or soldering near the aircraft were investigated and eliminated. The cause of the fire has not been positively established but is believed that the ignition was brought about by reflections from an aluminium cowl which was positioned near the front of the aircraft. Tests carried out with the cowl indicated that in hot sun conditions it was capable of raising the temperature of the aircraft fabric sufficient to cause it to ignite.:hmm:

Heh, I guess mice chewing battery wiring thus causing a fire starting short would be out of the question in a 1964 era Tiger Moth..:)





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Flying B,
But a wing coming off an RAF Blackburn Beverley, just after liftoff at RAF Khormaksar, Aden, was attributed to mice.

More specifically, the urine from an infestation, undetected, had caused such corrosion, undetected, as gave this result.

The remains of the poor old girl served a diving platform, for as long as the poms stayed in Aden.

The headlines in London, at the time, were really very funny.

Tootle pip!!