Modern adhesives

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Anyone heard of the Fokker F27? Designed in the 1950's, it used metal bonding on a large scale for the first time. The development of the metal gluing process, which was an important basis for the post-war success of Fokker, was by no means simple, but actually originated out of sheer poverty. Fokker did not have the money to buy machines that could mill the long aluminium skins for the wings from a larger to a thinner dimension. Sheet aluminium was available at a lower cost. The glued constructions could be subjected to considerably higher stresses than milled or riveted constructions.
Fokker continued this technique for its consecutive aircraft F28, F50, F100, and Stork/Fokker Aerospace continues to use this technique to this day make structural aircraft parts.

H.