Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:42 pm
#1895608
146 is a de Havilland number, i.e. dh 146.
The aeroplane was stillborn in 1974, and it probably should have stayed that way.
I was asked to inspect a load of fuselage panels at Weybridge for corrosion, they had been stored for years.
The construction was complex, these panels would be chemically etched to remove 8 thousandth of an inch inside leaving a pattern of raised surfaces between where the stringers would be Redux bonded to the skins. Weight saving at a price.
Redux bonded structures require heavy repairs when fork lifts, and ground equipment is driven into them. Look at the riveted boiler plates on some Comet airframes...
Add ten minutes and save a lot of fuel on a typical 146 journey by flying a Viscount instead. Fuel guzzling Lycomings were not progress.
The core engines were used in Huey helicopters.
The better aeroplane would have been the 1-11 with Tay engines. This design was given over to Rombac, but didn’t last long.
A lot of snags with the 146 design, not as well made as a Hunting Percival 1-11 or a Vickers VC10.
All the chemical etching, how much weight was saved?
The cabin floor was too weak... There was Michael bending over inside the cabin at Hatfield inspecting the floor strengthening modifications that put weight back on...
Then the ‘ditching mod’ increasing the thickness of the rear fuselage bottom skin behind the gear box.
Best design office was at Weybridge which continued with the design of Airbus wings.
Best factory to work in was Weybridge, very clean and professional.
Worse factory to work in was Hawarden, Chester, awful just plain awful!
How nice it was to relieve one’s stress in G BARS, when the duty instructor wasn’t drunk on a gorgeous day.
Then the Hurn holiday camp atmosphere... They made A310 leading edges, and I had to sort them out at Hawarden.
Filton made the 146 fuselage centre section, and I inspected them at Hatfield for a short time.
MichaelP
Wandering the World