9. The airframe was built of wood and cloth
Kettering envisioned the aircraft which came to be known as the Kettering Bug as a simple and inexpensive container for high explosives. He assigned one of his team, Jay Schoonmaker, to design the vehicle. Schoonmaker worked in harness with Orville Wright, probably the foremost authority in aerodynamics at the time. They designed an airframe which was blunt-nosed to accommodate the DePalma engine, about twelve feet in length. The wings were designed to be attached in the field, making shipping easier. Overall, the wing span was about fifteen feet. The airframe could hold sufficient fuel for a range of about fifty miles.
The materials used to construct the Bug were wood, cloth, paper, and papier-mache. It was simple in appearance and assembly, deliberately designed as components that troops could easily assemble in the field who were neither aviators nor aircraft mechanics. The entire Bug could be put together using common hand tools, wrenches, pliers, hammers, and screwdrivers, with written instructions provided. The only technically challenging component of the assembly was the guidance mechanism, which though complex in design was made to be installed as easily as possible. Kettering’s Bug was designed as a kit to be put together in adverse circumstances by men who had no idea of the complexities of the device, yet operated reliably.