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Aviation History
1987
1987 - 0155.PDF
The cockpit module, top, is made up of lightweight Fibrelam sheets cut, folded, and bonded to form panels and consoles. The equipped module is then installed in the helicopter, above The Osprey connection As one half of the Bell-Boeing tilt-rotor team, Boeing Vertol is building the all- composite fuselage of the V-22 Osprey. Construction of the V-22 is very different from that of the Model 360, however. Instead of the honeycomb- stiffened sandwich skins used on the Model 360, the V-22 has conventional skin-and-stringer construction, albeit executed in high-strength carbonfibre. The US Navy mandated this conser vative approach because it was concerned that water would get into the honeycomb. It based this decision on its bad experience with aluminium- honeycomb components, which are a major source of corrosion at sea, and a major maintenance headache. It was also influenced by problems of water ingress experienced with early composite rotor blades. These prob lems are long overcome, says Boeing Vertol. Going for 360-type construction would not have saved much more weight, Boeing Vertol admits, but it would have cut V-22 manufacturing costs. The lessons learned in building the Model 360 will be applied to a greater extent on the US Army's LHX light helicopter. The innovative "inside-out" tooling used to assemble the Model 360 has not been used on the V-22, which in the conventional style has a number of separate fixtures. Tooling techniques developed for the Model 360 are likely to be applied to the LHX which is scheduled to fly in 1991. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 18 April 1987
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