Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Lex/
Did you ever get the pleasure of picking one up from the factory and get the old steel thermos w. the classic cork stopper they put under the seat for the guy what breaks the virginity of the gal? At least that’s the way they did it in my day. I had the pleasure of picking up a brand spanking new F-4D at Lambert Field in St. Louis from the good people at McDonnel once. Like a new car–same feeling–man-o-man!
Gotta hand it to the video makers — it had a great beat, you could dance to it, I’m giving it a 3 (OB American Band Stand).
That wasn’t an assembly line. That was a shop with a limited product. Design the line better you could cut the assembly costs in half. Of course, you’d need a contract for multiple units before you’d invest that much in the line.
Can’t help but think we’re slitting our own throats giving too little for contract and ordering not enough to make them worthwhile.
– Max
Max/
LOL. you’re right about the assembly-line bit. Sure doesn’t look like the WWII pics of B-24s a mile long back-to-back at Willow-run, does it? Looks more like they’re putting together a hand-crafted Maserati.
Was thinking the same thing, Max. “It’s bloody piecework!”
Reminds me of the difference between Curtiss and North American Aviation during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Curtiss was pretty much wedded to old-style manufacturing methods while NAA designed the Mustang to be mass-produced.
Also reminds me of a chapter I read in Murray Williamson’s The Luftwaffe, 1933-45: Strategy for Defeat discussing the inefficiency of German methods; apparently Messerschmidt and others spent an inordinate amount of time finely finishing even interior bulkheads, and other detailing. The effect was as one was flying a BMW sports car. Alas, sloppy, impatient Americans didn’t waste time on such fripperies and produced far more planes.
Max, the rates of production for pretty much everything in the Aerospace business make us a piece-part/machine shop, with costs to match.
Now, if they ordered them in bulk…
Actually the LRET(Low Rate Expansive Tooling) manufacturing process is more efficient and costs less than the standard assembly line in terms of people and equipment required to operate it. I did an engineering research project on this process in college when the first Superhornets rolled off the ‘line’ in the 90s. The idea is that you build the aircraft on a jig and move it around. The process of adding parts and pieces is relatively the same you just don’t require countless square footage and eqiipment to make it happen. Of note, the 340ish Superhornets that have been delivered to the Navy have all been on or ahead of schedule. Also of note, the manufacturing process for airplanes today(composite) is much different by definition than 2nd and 3rd gen. aircraft.
Pssssssst Lex, that one was built in Saint Louis, we’re pinching USN production slots.
WGCDR Glen ‘Blitz’ Braz was looking well pleased sitting in the cockpit, first one, all shiny and new and he gets to pick it up at the factory, complete with his name on it.
I found it terribly amusing one of the first things they sorted was the decals marking it an RAAF bird, no PR slouches there
Pilots talk about the ‘FnA18F’ or (‘FANF’) for the RAAF: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f85qHZqKwlQ
Spaz/
Every time I see vid like that and see a shot of those glass cockpits, HUD, etc., and think back to the old F-4 analog control panels, I realize it really WAS like rubbing sticks together to make fire back then compared to the capabilities of these glass birds. Scary.
Ps: While my last is in the moderation queue, did you know RAAF has a channel on YouTube?
http://www.youtube.com/user/AirForceHQ
VX, present AF Chief AM Mark Binskin was an RAN FAA A4G Skyhawk pilot back in the early 1980s so he knows about rubbing two sticks together: http://tiny.cc/LnZZq He is chuffed to be mesmerized by those fancy TV thingos and it shows. Sadly I’m told that the AoA indexer has been removed from our new Super Hornets (same same Hornets). That would keep me amused for hours.
‘Binny’—”Binny the Kid” in his heyday: http://tiny.cc/alUsZ
Binskin Local Bio: http://tiny.cc/c1×7K & Official: http://army.gov.au/leaders/airForce/markBinskin/index.htm
Aw, come on now — all you *really* need is the Costco-sized one of these
- SJS
SS, probably how I got into NavAv was too much glue sniffing whilst plastic ship and aircraft model making as a youngie. Old style cement was powerful.
LOL! That stuff probably rots the common sense center of the brain.
OR… the glue made me ’sharp as a tack’. Take yer pick.
That might explain a lot of my mis-spent adolescence
- SJS
I was living in Marietta, GA…across the street from Dobbins AFB, where my good Aussie friend was heading up the financial Juju for their C-130J project with Martin Marietta. They were building the Raptor at the same time. I got a tour of the 130 line (couldn’t get close to the 22 line…guys with guns, but I did get to take a gander at the scaled down stainless steel or titanium wind tunnel test model), before a Cricket game between the Aussies and Brits. It was so clean you could eat off the floor. Anyway, I got a runway pass to see their first Raptor take off…I was amazed how large it was…it dwarfed the F-16’s chasing it.
I still have the ball, and remember the beers and bruises from my first game. Drinking while playing was expected and encouraged.
Anyway, an aircraft assembly line is quite impressive.
Oz Cricket Channel Utube: http://www.youtube.com/cricketaustraliatv
What is the total elapsed time (in days) from start to finish of the video?
154 days (not including last day) Start: 05 Feb 09 “Northrop Grumman has begun production of major structural components for the first F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighter aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). On Feb. 5, GKN Aerospace-Monitor, a premier supplier to Northrop Grumman, began machining the first wing bulkhead, one of three titanium bulkheads that hold the F/A-18 wings in place.” http://tiny.cc/UEGYe
5 days or when someone wins: (used to have a rest day in the middle which made 6 days) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_cricket
Todd, OOPS I guess you were not referring to the ‘cricket videos’ times (immediately above). Scusi – I’ll attempt to find out length of Super Hornet assembly video. There was a press release for the beginning of the process – so that would be a good guide.
Great stop action vid. Pretty amazing what it takes to snap one of those things together.
[The techno background music was the same as used in "Day hike on The King’s Pathway" post on the Flight Deck.]
Sam-
Let it be known those in the Baggy Green are currently making the English look a little silly in the Ashes, complete with one guy in the crowd with his sign saying ‘Only Cowards Pray For Rain’