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
Fire-retardant fabric Fire-retardant fabric Fire-retardant fabrics are textiles that are naturally more resistant to fire than others through chemical treatment or manufactured fireproof fibers. The term "fire-retardant" as applied to organic (i.e., containing carbon) materials, is intended to refer to "reduced" fire hazard, as all will burn under certain circumstances. The tests used specified in building codes, such as NFPA 701, are more correctly "flame resistance" tests, which test a fabric's ability to resist ignition with the flame size and duration in the test conditions. The result is a comparative test, which provides a measure of the material's resistance to propagating combustion