Wright Flyer 1903

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Geodetic airframe

A geodesic (or geodetic) airframe is a type of construction for the airframes of aircraft developed by British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis in the 1930s. It makes use of a space frame formed from a spirally crossing basket-weave of load-bearing members.

The principle is that two geodesic arcs can be drawn to intersect on a curving surface (the fuselage) in a manner that the torsional load on each cancels out that on the other.

Barnes Wallis, inspired by his earlier experience with light alloy structures and the use of geodesically-arranged wiring to distribute the lifting loads of the gasbags in the design of the R100 airship, evolved the geodetic construction method (although it is commonly stated, there no geodetic structure in R100).

Wallis used the term "geodetic" to apply to the airframe and distinguish it from "geodesic" which is the proper term for a line on a curved surface, arising from geodesy