Amazing Details Here!

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger

Nowadays it's all about Dacron, but the good ol' linen caught fire like nothing,especially if hit by the fierce German incendiary/tracer rounds,think of the poor Wellingtons,burning down to their geodetic framework whilst airborne. In order for aluminium to catch fire you'd need at least a 20mm hit with a HE/I round, not impossible but still..

I was actually thinking cotton/butyrate. Cotton/nitrate was practically explosive but SHOULD have been off the shelf for military aircraft before WW2, but maybe not in some cases as it is a much better adhesive - why it is still available today. One of the planes I take care of (a C120) has 34 year old linen/butyrate - still looks and tests like new (it's kept in a climate controlled hangar with a jet ...).