the airframe; it is referred to as "Vickers-Wallis construction" in some early company documents. "Geodesic" is used in the United States for aircraft structures. The system was later used by Wallis's employer, Vickers-Armstrongs in a series of bomber aircraft, the Wellesley, Wellington, Warwick and Windsor. In these aircraft, the fuselage and wing were built up from duralumin alloy channel-beams that were formed into a large framework. Wooden battens were screwed onto the metal, to which the doped linen skin of the aircraft was fixed. The Windsor had a woven metal skin. The metal lattice-work gave a light and very strong structure. The benefit of the geodetic construction was larger internal volume for a given streamlined shape. "Flight magazine" described a geodetic frame as sheet metal covering in which diamond shaped holes have been cut leaving behind the geodetic strips. The benefit was offset by having to construct the fuselage as a complete assembly unlike aircraft using stressed-skin construction which could be built in sections. In addition, fabric covering on the geodetic frame was not suitable for higher flying aircraft that had to be pressurised. The difficulty of providing a pressurised compartment in a geodetic frame was a challenge during the design of the high altitude Wellington Mk. V. The pressure cabin, which expanded and contracted independently of the rest of the airframe, had to be attached at the nodal points of the structure. Geodetic wing and fin structures, taken from the Wellington, were used on the post-war Vickers VC.1 Viking, but with a metal stressed-skin fuselage. Later production Vikings were completely stressed-skin construction marking the end of geodetic construction at Vickers. See also Design principle Figure of the Earth Geodesic dome Geodesic (disambiguation) Geodetic system References Inline citations Sources Airship technology Structural system Aerospace engineering Vickers Barnes Wallis