Lightning Stroke Damage to Aircraft

The paper describes a series of tests made in the period 1938 to 1942 to determine in the laboratory the effects of lightning strokes on the safe operation of aircraft. Due to wartime restrictions, publication was deferred. Investigated were: the burning of holes in the metal skin of planes and other metallic parts of planes; damage to airplane fuel tanks; breaking of safety glass in windshields; the effect of current flow on ball bearings; effect of impulse sparks on the vision of pilots; and tests on nonmetallic airplane parts. The tests showed that the probability of damage from lightning strokes to airplanes of sufficient magnitude to prevent further operation and to result in loss of the airplane is extremely small and can be discounted.