From:      skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu
To:        skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu
Subject:   Skunk Works Digest V5 #504
Reply-To:  skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu
Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu
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Skunk Works Digest       Thursday, 9 November 1995     Volume 05 : Number 504

In this issue:

	Re: SR-71 paint 

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From: Michael Chui <mchui@cs.indiana.edu>
Date: Thu, 09 Nov 1995 00:00:22 -0500
Subject: Re: SR-71 paint 

Wei-Jen Su <wsu02@barney.poly.edu> writes:
>	I heard from a interview with Ben Rich that there was a time when 
>a General asked the Skunk Works eng. to paint the identification letters 
>on the SR-71, eg: country (USAF), USAF logo, etc.
>	Ben Rich told him that there is no way you can do it because the 
>speed of the aircraft will ripe all the paint off... But the General 
>insisted, so they have to come out with a 1 million dollars in 
>development for the special paint!!!!

	From _Skunk Works_ (Rich, B. and Janos, L., 1994), p. 327:

"...Another frustrating example was the stubborn insistence of the
Air Force to have its insignia painted on the wings and fuselage of
the SR-71 Blackbird, even though no one would ever see it at
eighty-five thousand feet; finding a way to keep the enamel from
burning off under the enormous surface temperatures and maintain
its true red, white, and blue colors took our chief chemist, Mel
George, weeks of experimentation and cost the government thousands
of unnecessary dollars."

Michael Chui
mchui@cs.indiana.edu

------------------------------

End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #504
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