Where is everyone #5

@PoleCrusher I became “Unslack” and detailed her also

 

Speed Goats!

 

sorry. I didn't mean to confuse you. I spent 10 yers fixing planes in the Navy. What I meant was that the stresses on high performance machinery causes them to breakdown faster than more heavily built machinery can endure. Aircraft don't have the luxury of being built heavier because that takes away performance in other areas. In effect, it would make them slower, use more fuel, have reduced range, etc. The metal, any metal, gets "work hardened" from being pressurized at different altitudes and the massive heat from the friction of passing through the air in some cases, plus the effects of the extreme cold temperatures at high altitudes. Combining these two extremes of temperature on a very thin sheet of metal at the same time ( or very close in time ) can have devastating consequences on the metal and quickly deteriorates its original strength that it was manufactured too. At a certain point, there is no choice but to replace it with a new part. But the entire aircraft has been subjected to theses same stresses, so after a long enough period it's usually cost effective to replace the entire structure. It's massively expensive to build most of these military aircraft but it's cheaper in the long term to replace them, at a certain point. especially if we have a improved model ready to be put into production. Some aircraft don't get outdated as quickly as others though, like the B-52. It's very very good at the job it's designed for. Which is why it's still in the active inventory. It's not the fastest plane out there, but it's not designed to be. This has made it more economical to rework and rebuild them than replace them, although so many parts have been worked on or rebuilt that , at times, it might almost be regarded as a "new" plane. The SR-71Blackbird was/is such an astounding machine mainly because it was built with cutting edge technology, using a large amount of titanium. Titanium has different physical properties than other metals. It's so much stronger than other metals that they had to create new tools to create the shapes of the pieces they were making from it. Because of the effects of the massive heat from the friction of the air I mentioned earlier, they had to purposely build it with gaps in the skin of the plane because when it would be flown at high speeds the metal would expand from the heat and close the gaps in the skin. It leaked fuel like a sieve while on the ground because of the gaps but sealed itself at speed. This was also why they were painted that flat black. Flat black paint helps to dissipate the heat from the friction. ......................... ( sorry, I can't get the Tabs button to work ) Does this make more sense to you now ? i hope so. i didn't mean to bore you to death, and hopefully didn't.

 

Actually not bored at all. Grew up flying w/ several navy aviators in the family. But pilots don’t know the cool nuts and bolts like the people that build and maintain them. So a light plane last for decades because it’s slow, only flys lower levels and isn’t stressed. Our plane was a 1958 purchased in 1971, she was mint, still was mint in 1993 when sold. Since you have knowledge what’s the difference in structure between the Blackbird and the U2. Also Thank You for your service. If the FAA hired the military to run all maintenance on civilian aircraft there would be fewer mishaps. Just MHO

 

maybe so.

 

Rounds a little smaller than these are sold to Boeing?? For the main drive in the engines. Only material that will withstand the heat, from what I’m told.

 

Still stress , just not as highly stressed. Those two ( U-2 and SR-71 ) share nothing that I'm aware of. Except they're both metal and fly. Thank you as well.

 

Hasn’t 1 been scrapped ( U2) I can’t remember. I really thought they did “close” to the same job
@MagnumaMoose SR71 retired U2 still in service. Thank You for your work in detail very interesting stuff. Did you serve East or West Coast

 

That place you pick up at makes a lot of different alloys apparently. That's interesting stuff right there.