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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1647.PDF
•• FLIGHT International, 12 September 1963 457 Caravelle VI OO-SRG ofSabena every 2cm with the aid of a template. Rigorous traction and X-ray tests take place both before and-after the operation. To stretch the skin panels themselves, a Hufford machine with curvable jaws is used; one is told with considerable pride that the skin of the Atomhim at the Brussels Exhibition was made on it. Finally there is a completely automatic Cramic controlled by Ferranti tapes from an air-conditioned chamber: on this are machined such parts as the floor cross-members. Assembly The assembly line at the second Toulouse factory, situated on Blagnac airfield, is impressive, spotlessly clean, full of aircraft, and fast-moving. It begins with the riveting of the skin (with stringers already attached) to the frames of the centre fuselage, all of this having arrived from the first factory five miles away. This is done on the jig in two portions, frames 16-30 and 31-48. Much basic equipment is then added. This is followed by the attachment of the already equipped nose and tail sections to the centre section to make a complete "cigar." The next stage is the most interesting and unusual of all. The two wings, which have arrived from Sud at Nantes, are joined together by their five pairs of upper and lower fork fittings, which extend symmetrically from the upper and lower roots, each fitting being joined and held firm by two expansion pins and three bolts. One is told that there has never been any trouble with these attach ments. The cigar fuselage is now lifted by crane from its jig and lowered on to the wings, which fit into a cut-out between the luggage bays, and are attached at 18 points. This takes no more than half an hour. For the fitting of the undercarriage immediately after, the aircraft is again lifted from its cradle. The fin is then attached and the tail- Plane slotted through an aperture as a single unit. The rest of the assembly line is the normal sequence of fitting "fliers," testing con trols and circuits, and the commercial fitting-out. The aircraft is *oved twice before it reaches flight test—it leaves one hall to move 00 yards for the commercial fitting out and then is moved again, natf-way through this, for painting and the fitting of cabin windows fad windscreen. No more than three flights are usually necessary before delivery. repressions on tne Line °ne is immediately struck by the good oks of the fuselage, especially in the VIR version, and by the wing thsT*\u Was surPrised to learn that the wing surface area is greater "^ that of the Trident and almost as large as the 727's. ne rear entry door is impressive and practical, though it im poses considerable structural complexity. The pressurization seal- 8 comes not from the stairs themselves, but from an inner plug- st t 0or: One wonders whether the extra cost of design and con- there I0D 1S w?rtnwri''e» because airstairs are only necessary where are no airport facilities, and medium-range jet aircraft do not use such airports. Turn-round time is scarcely affected and some companies do not even use the rear door. However, passengers like it; and, because it is used also on the Martin 404, BAC One-Eleven and Boeing 727, it may well become the mode and do away with the incon venience of mobile airport steps. The soundproofing employed in the VI R and Super versions is efficient. It consists of plastic mattress rolls which are held over the frames by removable clips and in between by plastic "poppers" that fit into tiny brackets already attached to the structure. Over other protrusions such as air-conditioning pipes it is held in posi tion by the "burr" system of adhesion. This saves a considerable amount of time and money in fitting and means that the whole soundproofing is easily removable for checking the cabin wall and associated equipment. There is a curious optical system for checking in emergency that all three undercarriages are locked down. A light in the under carriage bay illuminates automatically when the gear is locked. This light is reflected up a tube to an angled viewing mirror that can be seen under the floor panels in the cabin aisle. This safety measure has saved much worry when the instrument panel "u/c locked down" lights have malfunctioned. The undercarriage itself seems unnecessarily complicated. There are five doors for each main leg and three for the nose leg, which are raised hydraulically or mechanically by a system of complicated link rods. One notices also the Fowler flaps which extend over two-thirds of the trailing edge, and that the screw jack and roller system they employ is relatively simple. Production planning at Sud is highly efficient. Each jig or machine has its programme of work, in graphic form, posted on it. The shop control has overall and detail plans of the work to be done, and by when. Each man's work is planned down to an hour in the sense that each operation of fabrication or assembly is divided into the number of man-hours necessary and how they are to be spent. This helps to explain why only two or three aircraft have been delivered late (and these were but 24 hours late). Different Versions There are six versions of the Caravelle for sale at the moment: the III, VIN, VIR, Super A, Super B, and XBIR. The III is the basic version still in production, mainly for repeat orders from SAS and Air France. The VI N (normal) is the same aircraft with Avon 531s and an extra heat exchanger for the air con ditioning. The VIR is much improved and three per cent more ex pensive. It has Avon 532s with reversers, a new windscreen and forward view, the new soundproofing and the addition of spoilers. The luggage bay is fitted with an up-and-over door instead of the inward-hingeing type. The improvements are those demanded by United Air Lines. The Series Super have all the improvements of the VIR, but many more changes as well. The Super A and Super B differ from each other only in the engines, both of which are turbofan, the former having General Electric CJ-805-23C, and the latter Pratt & Whitney JT8D-1. The main changes are as follows: the fuselage is lengthened by 33in, and the cargo-hold capacity is increased by raising the floor support struts to the vertical. The cabin windows are 4in higher, a much-needed improvement for those taller than the average Frenchman. An a.p.u., two constant-speed a.c. genera tors (instead of d.c.) and a hydraulic system with variable-displace ment pumps, are fitted. The wing is quite different: double-slotted Fowler flaps (with more complicated transmission) improve take-off and landing, the stall-vanes are relocated, with two more added to each wing, the root is aerodynamically improved, and the leading-edge profile is still under development. Finally, the tailplane has an aerodynamic fairing behind its junction with the fin. The X BIR is the VI R with Pratt & Whitney JT8D-1. There is talk of a Caravelle 20 increased in length by 3m to hold 110-130 passengers, and with a semi-bubble underneath to increase
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