Re: What on earth?!?
Posted: 23 Oct 2009, 22:26
Garry,
I remember the Pepsi Concorde being speed limited due to the paint issue, along with another article about why Concorde didn't get the full BA paint scheme. I'm 99% sure it was a problem with the paint standing up to the airframe temp at high mach, rather than that preventing her reaching full speed, i.e. she could go M2.0 without any problems but there'd be lots of paint missing when she got back. Apparently the Typhoon has a similar problem as a lot of the markings etc. are getting worn off or peeling away due to the extended periods of time they spend at high speed.
Of course I've always found it perverse the two fastest aircraft were polar opposites in terms of colour scheme, I do wonder if Concorde would have had less cooling issues* with an all black paint scheme.
Skippy
*I mean at the design phase rather than in service
I remember the Pepsi Concorde being speed limited due to the paint issue, along with another article about why Concorde didn't get the full BA paint scheme. I'm 99% sure it was a problem with the paint standing up to the airframe temp at high mach, rather than that preventing her reaching full speed, i.e. she could go M2.0 without any problems but there'd be lots of paint missing when she got back. Apparently the Typhoon has a similar problem as a lot of the markings etc. are getting worn off or peeling away due to the extended periods of time they spend at high speed.
Of course I've always found it perverse the two fastest aircraft were polar opposites in terms of colour scheme, I do wonder if Concorde would have had less cooling issues* with an all black paint scheme.
Skippy
*I mean at the design phase rather than in service
