General Weight Summary Format
In
general the weights reported in the references listed above fall into
a "Weight Breakdown Structure" similar to the one shown below
shown below, with a few small exceptions, as discussed below.
In
general
Basic Mission Gross Weight
= Basic Empty Load
+ Useful Loads
Maximimum Gross Weight
= Basic Mission Gross
Weight + Additional
Loads
Where
Basic Empty Weight - is the sum of
Groups 1 through 3 below
- Structural Weight
- Wing
Group, which includes;
- Wings
- Ailerons
- Flaps
- Fuselage
carry through structure
- Tail
Group, which includes;
- Stabilizers
- Elevators
- Fins
- Rudders
- Body
Group, which includes;
- Alighting/Landing
Gear, which includes:
- Main
Landing Gear
- Retracting
Mechanisms
- Auxiliary
Landing Gear (ie tail or nose wheels, etc)
- Power Plant Weight
- Engine (as
installed)
- Engine
Accessories
- Turbocharger(s)
(If not included with Engine Accessories)
- Water
Injection System (If
not included with Engine Accessories)
- Power Plant
Controls
- Propeller
- Starting
System
- Lubricating
System (Tanks and Piping, etc)
- Fuel System
(including Tanks (with Protection), Piping, Fittings, Pump, etc)
- Fixed
Systems & Equipment
- Insruments
- Surface
Controls
- Furnishings
- Electrical
Equipment and Systems
- Hydraulics
Systems
- Electronics/Communications Equipment (Sometimes included as
part of the Useful Load Group for early war aircraft)
- Arresting Gear (Moved to the Structural Weight Group in Ref
[2])
- Armament Provisions, Armor Plate, and Bullet Proof
Glass
- Anti-Icing
Equipment (if not included Furnishings Group)
- Other/Miscellaneous
Useful
Loads - is the sum of
items 1 through 7 below
- Crew
- Equipment
- Oil
- Fuel
- Radio/Communications
Equipment (if not included in the Fixed Equipment Group)
- Armament,
including both
- Other
Useful Load Items
Additional
Loads -
is equal to the some of Items 1 through 4 below
- Additional
Fuel (including Drop Tanks)
- Additional
Optional Armament, including both
- Additional
Optional Bombs, Torpedoes and/or Rocket Loadouts
- Additional
Other Miscellaneous or Special Load Items
Caveats/Comments
- For a few
aircraft (primarily
early war or pre-war types) Electronics/Communications systems (such as
radios) were identified as part of the useful load instead of as part
of the Fixed Systems & Equipment weight group. I will
try and
highlight such instances in the analyses of the data and parametric
plots developed.
- It is
currently unclear what all is included in the "Engine Section"
weight group. For most of the aircraft it appears that this
includes the the engine
mounts as well as cowling and cooling flaps for aircraft with
radial
engines. However for a few aircraft such as the
XP-63A a very low value of 4lb is given, while for the P-63A-10 and
P-63C no value is given, leading to the suspicion that the weights of
the enine mount for those aircraft may be included elsewhere in the
weight estimate (such as in the "Fuselage" weight or "Engine
Accessories" weight groups.
- It appears
that "Fuselage" weight is equal to the
sum
of the "Body" and "Engine Section" weight groups. However for
the
weight listed in Ref [1] for several of the Brewster F2A and B339
variant aircraftit appears that the "Landing Gear'weight group has been
included with the "Body" weight group. As such I have included a row
for "Body + LG" in the tables below, that I intend to populate for the
other aircraft types soon, to allow for a comparison between the
reported weights for those Brewster Aircraft and the other aircraft in
the tables. Similarly, for the XF2A-1 listing from Ref [1] it
appears that the wiht listed for the "Body" group also includes the
"Enine Section" weight in addition to the "Landing Gear" weight, so a
line has also been added to the table for "Body + Engine Section + LG"
as well.
- For
a few aircraft Turbocharger and Watr Injection weights are listed
separately, whereas it it appears that for some other aircraft listings
(which are known to have these systems) these values may be included in
the Engine (As Installed) or Engine Accessories weight groups.
- For a few
aircraft Anti-Icing
systems weights are listed separately, whereas it is indicated in some
of the references that this weight is included in the Furnishings
weight group.
Notes:
This website
has been developed with a number of low cost or free programs including
Hot Metal Pro, KompoZer, Microsoft Designer and Da Button Factory.com
Rev 2-18-25
