In article ,
"Brian Gaff" writes:
Ohf course, the first stealth fighter was the De Haviland Mosquito in WW2,
made of wood so it would not show on the primitive radar of the time.

No, the Dh.98 Mosquito was made out of wood because DeHavilland knew
how to make fast airplanes from wood. (Not always with success - the
immediate ancestor to the Mosquito, the Albatross 4-engine airliner,
was a structural disaster of incredible proportions. Actually, DH
(Great Britain) seems to have never quite caught on to getting
monoplane airliners quite right)

The main reason for using molded wood in the Mosquito was to get the
smoothest surface possible. Wood, with a doped fabric cover. (Note:
to reduce the deterioration of the fabric cased by sunlight, the
underlayers of the dope used on the fabric has a fair bit of
Alumin(i)um powder stirred into it - negating any "stealth" effects
from the wooden skin/structure)

In terms of radar signature reduction, nothing could be done about the
engines, or the radiators and oil coolers which had to be open to the
outside, and (due to space limitations) perpendicular to the airframe.
Or, for that matter, the contribution to the radar signature by the
propellers. Not only do the props give you two highly reflective
disks 12' in diameter bolted to the front of the aircraft, but they
have a unique signature - they case the radar return to scintillate.
This scintillation was, in fact, used by the Germans to separate
aircraft returns from chaff clouds.

Mosquitos were hard to intercept because they flew fast Long range
cruising was typically around 200 mph IAS at 25,000', compared with a
B-17's 140 IAS or 160 IAS for a Lancaster (Which couldn't fly that
high anyway. (Note to the groundlubbers: These are Indicated
Airspeeds, which are a measure of the dynamic pressure on the airframe.
Because the air's thinner at altitude, the True Airspeeds are higher.
In this case the Mosquito cruise is 300 mph/25,000', the B-17G is 208
mph/25,000' and the Lancaster weighs in at 220 mph/20,000' (Cause it
couldn't ever make 25,000')) While it may seem that the Luftwaffe's
interceptors had a hefty speed advantage, even over the Mosquito, it's
not really true. While their flat-out Maximum speeds were higher,
their endurance at those power levels was short - about 3-5 minutes
(Before the engine came apart) at full power, and a fuel-limited 30
minutes at Maximum Continuous power. This meant that, in order to
intercept a Mosquito, a properly-based Schwarm or Me 109s could, with
enough warning, take off, form up, and, if they didn't have to
displace laterally too much, (The target cooperates by flying directly
at them) _might_ be able to climb to altitude in time to make one pass.

The Mosquitos also flew as singles, not in large formations that were
much easier to detect, easier to track, and which eliminated the
ability of single aircraft to maneuver to evade attack.

So. Not stealthy, just swift and devious. (And pretty danged good at
that).

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster