The CAC Wirraway was a training and general purpose aircraft built in Australia around the time of World War Two. It was representative of the transition point in aircraft design from "rag and tube" construction to "stressed skin" construction, with different sections of the airframe being made using both methods.
This blog will trace the creation of a 3D virtual Wirraway, incorporating all the structure and components of the real aircraft.
First, we need to get organised.
CAC based the Wirraway on a design which they had licensed from North American Aviation, Inc. - the NA-16-2K.This design was modified according to RAAF requirements with extra capabilities (such as an increased bomb load) plus RAAF standard communications equipment and armament. However much of the structure remained common to the NA-16-2K. The design drawings also remained common and CAC followed the NAA part numbering system, as follows:
aa-01xxx General assembly drawings
aa-10xxx Wing installation
aa-11xxx Wing centre section
aa-12xxx Wing outer panel
aa-13xxx Wing centre section
aa-14xxx Wing outer panel
aa-20xxx Empennage installation
aa-21xxx Horizontal stabiliser
aa-22xxx Elevatoraa-23xxx Vertical stabiliser (fin)
aa-24xxx Rudder
aa-30xxx Fuselage installation
aa-31xxx Fuselage
aa-32xxx Engine nacelle
aa-33xxx Landing gear
aa-34xxx Tail wheel
aa-40xxx Power plant installation
aa-41xxx Engine assembly
aa-42xxx Engine accessories
aa-43xxx Engine controls
aa-44xxx Propeller
aa-45xxx Starting system
aa-46xxx Cooling system
aa-47xxx Lubricating system
aa-48xxx Fuel system
aa-50xxx Fixed equipment installation
aa-51xxx Instrumentation
aa-52xxx Surface controls
aa-53xxx Furnishings (seats, etc)
aa-54xxx Electrical equipment
aa-55xxx Handling gear
aa-60xxx Armament installation
aa-61xxx Fixed guns
aa-62xxx Flexible gun
aa-63xxx Bombs
aa-65xxx Pyrotechnics (flares)
aa-66xxx Gun camera
aa-70xxx Auxiliary equipment installation
aa-71xxx Communication equipment
aa-72xxx Navigation equipment
aa-73xxx Auxiliary equipment (photographic, safety, tools, etc)
Where aa represents the contract (or project) number for the particular aircraft design, as follows:
01 - Wirraway Mk I (CA-1)
03 - Wirraway Mk II (CA-3)
05 - Wirraway Mk II (CA-5)
07 - Wirraway Mk II (CA-7)
09 - Wirraway Mk II (CA-9)
16 - Wirraway Mk III (CA-16)
20 - Wirraway Mk III (CA-20)
and so on...
So I will be following the same organisation for this blog and the parts for my virtual Wirraway. The tags shown on the right side of the blog will refer to the drawing system listed above.
Next, we need to decide which model of the aircraft we will replicate. This is relatively easy. The Mk II Wirraway was the most numerous version, and was involved in the most interesting episodes in the Wirraway's service life, so that gets the nod. But unfortunately there are many minor variations within the "Mk II version", depending upon the production contract, as well as which CAC Engineering Changes, RAAF Technical Instructions and RAAF Technical Orders were implemented onto each particular airframe. So I'll start with a generic Mk II aircraft (say a CA-3 production contract) and see where that takes me.
I will also need a virtual engine for this virtual Wirraway, and luckily a lot of documentation is available for the Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340 S1H1-G engine used in the Wirraway.
Stay tuned...
