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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1655.PDF
800 FLIGHT to conform to the area ruling, and within it are housed the majorityof the aircraft's basic accessory systems. It is worth noting that a special tool is employed to ensure a good fit at the splice betweenthis section and the centre fuselage (and between the centre fuselage and the nose). When the two mating portions are broughttogether, a small surplus is left on the adjacent skinning and this is trimmed off both sections simultaneously by a pair of circularsaws, which are ganged together to produce a close-tolerance cut. When trimmed, the two portions of fuselage can be wound togetherand joined by a double line of heavy countersunk rivets. The aft fusdage is relatively conventional and is made in a rotatable jig.As it must be readily removable for powerplant changing it is attached to the rear fuselage by four bolts at the main longerons. Both port and starboard wing structures are quite straight-forward. There are two principal spars running from root to tip, and a lighter spanwise member runs between them. At theroot the immense loads are taken by a chordal member known as the transverse spar. This is forged in 75 ST and is thenmachined on a tape-controlled Kearney & Trecker. A similar machine is used to profile the caps (booms) above and below thefront and rear spars. Both of the latter are machined to close tolerances as flat slabs of 75ST, after which they are forged bythe Wyman-Gordon Company to the correct compound curva- ture and quenched in the die. Nearly all the inboard wing struc-ture is covered by a machined skin, which is likewise pressed to the required contour before being attached by heavy bolts andflush rivets. A considerable proportion of the inner wing is occupied by the Thunderchief . . . main undercarriage legs. The lower portion of each leg ismachined from very high-strength steel, to permit its section to be small enough to lie beneath a recessed portion of one of theforged wing chordal members. The retracted wheel occupies the innermost portion of the wing, immediately to the rear of theintake duct. The skin above the cut-out is stabilized by a bonded "waffled" inner skin. The whole design is extremely neat, andthe fact that the intake ducts run diagonally through the inboard jSortion of each wing provides sufficient depth for stowage of theundercarriage entirely outside the fuselage, thus leaving the latter free for the weapons bay. In order to provide the maximum possible lift and minimumdrag under all conditions of flight, the leading edge is contoured to a conical-camber profile, in which the camber of the wing (andthe percentage chord at which camber starts) increases progres- sively from root to tip. Moreover, the entire leading edge ishinged and can be mechanically depressed to prevent separation of flow at high angles of attack. From the wing root to the aileronon each wing is mounted a single section of slotted flap. These flaps are mounted on tracks and are wound out by screw-jacksdriven by hydraulic motors. A portion of the trailing edge of each flap is hinged to the main flap surface, and as the latteris depressed the secondary portion is pulled upwards so that it does not foul any of the variety of large stores that can be carriedbeneath the wings. Perhaps surprisingly. Republic have not attempted to put fuelinside the Thunderchief wing; doubtless this will form some potential inbuilt "stretch" for future versions. The complete wing 1 Dielectric nosr-cone 2 Gun-laying radar aerial 3 Nose latches (hinged to starboard) 4 Gun port 5 Access to centre barrel 6 Vulcan six-barrel 20 mm gun 7 Two-belt feed from ammunition tank 8 Ejection to used-case compartment 9 Case-compartment exhaust 10 Utility hydraulic disconnect 11 Hydraulic-filter hatch 12 Main battery hatch 13 Oil-cooler and alternator exhaust 14 Cooling-air turbine unit 15 Exhaust from 14 14 Gun bore-sighting post socket 17 Link chute 11 Refuelling probe If Probe-well drain 20 Drop-out emergency turbine to starboard 21 Toss-bomb computer and sight acceierometer 22 A.C. junction box and radar com- puter 23 T.A.S. amplifier and sight amplifier 24 Utility hydraulic-pressure trans- mitter and radar-power control 21 Main hydraulics bay 26 Electronics compartment, D.C. and A.C. generators, controls and cock- pit air-conditioning 27 Canopy-jettison handle 28 Canopy external latch 29 Ejection seat 30 Radar gunsight 31 Cockpit floor beams 32 Production break between stations 291 and 300 33 Steerable nose undercarriage 34 Variable-geometry intakes 35 Boundary-layer splitter 36 Production break between stations 515 and 525 37 Ground-running intake 38 Forged centre-section spar 39 Front wing attachment 40 Rear wing attachment 41 Conical-camber hinged leading edge 42 Actuator for 41 43 Transverse spar 44 Forged bridge-member 45 Heavy machined skin 46 Five-section spoilers 47 Flap guide 48 Low-speed ailerons 49 Universal stores pylons 50 Gravity Fillers to pylon tanks 51 Fuel lines from pylon tanks 12 Wing does not house fuel 53 Main fuel cells 54 Republic "Buddy" pack 55 Boom and drogue 56 390 U.S. gal ferry tank in weapons bay 57 450 U.S. gal tank 58 Fuel-cell compartment drains 59 Main-gear anchorage 60 Breaker strut 61 Reduced-section fork to clear 44 62 Fuel-cell access hatches 61 Pratt & Whitney J75-P-5 engine 64 Stainless-steel firewalls 65 Johns-Manville "tadpole" firewall 66 Compressor blow-off valve 67 Oil tank 68 Engine oil drain 69 Oil filler point 70 Access to rail/roller engine mount 71 Accessory group (two doors under fuselage) 72 Engine-duct door 73 Combustion and turbine section shroud 74 Cooling air to afterburner 75 Air discharge from 73 76 Rudder disconnect 77 Rear-fuselage disconnect (four bolts) 78 Rudder actuator compartment 79 Afterburner fuel injectors 80 Con-di nozzle actuators 81 Tailplane fulcrum 82 Four-petal speed brakes 83 Speed-brake actuators 84 Brake petal depicted in cruise position 85 Pneumatic-tube practice-bomb dis- penser 86 Turbine danger-line 87 Braking-parachute box 88 Access to aerial cable 89 Buzz dampers 90 Lifting points 91 Taxying lamp
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