Geodetic airframe

[2] The principle is that two geodesic arcs can be drawn to intersect on a curving surface (the fuselage) in a manner that the torsional load on each cancels out that on the other.

[4] Diagonal riders are viewable in the interior hull structure of the preserved USS Constitution on display in Boston Harbor.

[8] Wallis used the term "geodetic" to apply to the airframe; it is referred to as "Vickers-Wallis construction" in some early company documents.

[10] The system was later used by Wallis's employer, Vickers-Armstrongs in a series of bomber aircraft, the Wellesley, Wellington, Warwick and Windsor.

The difficulty of providing a pressurised compartment in a geodetic frame was a challenge during the design of the high altitude Wellington Mk.

[12] Geodetic wing and fin structures, taken from the Wellington, were used on the post-war Vickers VC.1 Viking, but with a metal stressed-skin fuselage.

A section of the rear fuselage from a Vickers Warwick showing the geodetic construction in duralumin. On exhibit at the Armstrong & Aviation Museum at Bamburgh Castle .
18th-century American warship's "Diagonal riders" in their construction
Wellington Mk.X HE239 of No.428 Sqn. RCAF, illustrating the geodetic construction and the level of battle damage it could sustain and still return to base