Aircraft fabric covering often used in the restoration of older types that were originally covered using traditional methods. The purposes of the fabric covering of an aircraft are: Pioneering aviators such as George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal used cotton-covered flying surfaces for their manned glider designs. The Wright brothers also used cotton to cover their Wright Flyer. Other early aircraft used a variety of fabrics, silk and linen being commonly used. Some early aircraft, such as A.V. Roe's first machines, even used paper as a covering material. Until the development of cellulose based dope in 1911 a variety of methods of finishing the
Joseph B. Noil this occasion, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. On May 25, 1881, Noil, promoted to the rating of Captain of the Hold and serving on the , was admitted to the Naval Hospital in Norfolk, suffering from "paralysis" (PTSD). About a week later, he was transferred to Saint Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he died on March 21, 1882, and was buried in the hospital graveyard under the name of "Joseph B. Noel". His grave was re-discovered in 2011 by the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States, a group that has a mission to identify