This is Not a Dolphin
No. As you know, dolphins can corrugate their skin when they encounter turbulent water in order to lessen the effect of that turbulence on their speed; an increase in streamlining, if you will. Apparently shark skin is also corrugated, if you look at it through a microscope, giving the animal similar benefits.
There is, however, some debate over the reason why the skin of this 1934 Junkers Ju52 is corrugated, with one faction firmly in the streamlining camp, one in the added-strength camp, and one straddling the two ideas.
For my part, I like to think that it is perhaps a little bit about streamlining and strength, but actually it’s more about aesthetics: it just looks fabulous, made all the more so by the way the fabricators have fluted the ends of the corrugations around the little window, making the aeroplane look fast even when it’s standing still.
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Shot at Goodwood Revival in 2013
This is Not a Dolphin
No. As you know, dolphins can corrugate their skin when they encounter turbulent water in order to lessen the effect of that turbulence on their speed; an increase in streamlining, if you will. Apparently shark skin is also corrugated, if you look at it through a microscope, giving the animal similar benefits.
There is, however, some debate over the reason why the skin of this 1934 Junkers Ju52 is corrugated, with one faction firmly in the streamlining camp, one in the added-strength camp, and one straddling the two ideas.
For my part, I like to think that it is perhaps a little bit about streamlining and strength, but actually it’s more about aesthetics: it just looks fabulous, made all the more so by the way the fabricators have fluted the ends of the corrugations around the little window, making the aeroplane look fast even when it’s standing still.
—
Shot at Goodwood Revival in 2013