Old 660 had a thorium alloy panel on top of left wing which
had a radioactive icon painted on it, and a note in the
"Form 1" to not work around it for longer than (???)
minutes.
Anyone know what that was all about? Mr.
"Motor Mouth", the civilian crew-chief at Edwards AFB, told me once,
but can't remember anymore.

Old Chief Lynn

On 2/19/2012 12:24 AM, coffelt2 wrote:
> Old 660 had a thorium alloy panel on top of left wing which
> had a radioactive icon painted on it, and a note in the
> "Form 1" to not work around it for longer than (???)
> minutes.
> Anyone know what that was all about? Mr.
> "Motor Mouth", the civilian crew-chief at Edwards AFB, told me once,
> but can't remember anymore.
>
> Old Chief Lynn

Known target for sensors?

"coffelt2" > wrote in
:

> Old 660 had a thorium alloy panel on top of left wing which
> had a radioactive icon painted on it, and a note in the
> "Form 1" to not work around it for longer than (???)
> minutes.
> Anyone know what that was all about? Mr.
> "Motor Mouth", the civilian crew-chief at Edwards AFB, told me once,
> but can't remember anymore.
>
> Old Chief Lynn

From some of the papers I found, I would suspect that it was a test
panel to measure the corrosion resistance of a magnesium / Thorium alloy
skin for high-speed aircraft with coatings

Found several reports on tests by Convair dated 1957-1959 & 1962

"Dow #17 treatment applied to HK-31 magnesium-thorium alloy*
protects the surface of the alloy against corrosion and at the
same time offers a potentially good surface for adhesive bonding.
Therefore, the purpose of this test request was to obtain
information applicable to the adhesive bonding of Dow #17
treated HK-31 magnesium-thorium alloy"


"I. Effect of Certain Process Variables on Dow #17 Treated
HK-31 Magnesium-Thorium Bonded With AF-31 Adhesive"


"II. Lap Shear Strength of Standard Dow #17 Treated Magnesium
Thorium Alloy - Primed With EC-1459 and Bonded with
AF-31 Adhesive "



also a test report of a magnesium / Thorium alloy skin on a F9F


and since Thorium is naturally radioactive , the warning.symbol...

Thanks, John, that explains a lot!

Old Chief Lynn

"John Szalay" <john.szalayATatt.net> wrote in message
42...
> "coffelt2" > wrote in
> :
>
>> Old 660 had a thorium alloy panel on top of left wing which
>> had a radioactive icon painted on it, and a note in the
>> "Form 1" to not work around it for longer than (???)
>> minutes.
>> Anyone know what that was all about? Mr.
>> "Motor Mouth", the civilian crew-chief at Edwards AFB, told me once,
>> but can't remember anymore.
>>
>> Old Chief Lynn
>
> From some of the papers I found, I would suspect that it was a test
> panel to measure the corrosion resistance of a magnesium / Thorium alloy
> skin for high-speed aircraft with coatings
>
> Found several reports on tests by Convair dated 1957-1959 & 1962
>
> "Dow #17 treatment applied to HK-31 magnesium-thorium alloy*
> protects the surface of the alloy against corrosion and at the
> same time offers a potentially good surface for adhesive bonding.
> Therefore, the purpose of this test request was to obtain
> information applicable to the adhesive bonding of Dow #17
> treated HK-31 magnesium-thorium alloy"
>
>
> "I. Effect of Certain Process Variables on Dow #17 Treated
> HK-31 Magnesium-Thorium Bonded With AF-31 Adhesive"
>
>
> "II. Lap Shear Strength of Standard Dow #17 Treated Magnesium
> Thorium Alloy - Primed With EC-1459 and Bonded with
> AF-31 Adhesive "
>
>
>
> also a test report of a magnesium / Thorium alloy skin on a F9F
>
>
> and since Thorium is naturally radioactive , the warning.symbol...
>

"Richard" > wrote in message
m...
> On 2/19/2012 12:24 AM, coffelt2 wrote:
>> Old 660 had a thorium alloy panel on top of left wing which
>> had a radioactive icon painted on it, and a note in the
>> "Form 1" to not work around it for longer than (???)
>> minutes.
>> Anyone know what that was all about? Mr.
>> "Motor Mouth", the civilian crew-chief at Edwards AFB, told me once,
>> but can't remember anymore.
>>
>> Old Chief Lynn
>
> Known target for sensors?

I'd not thought of that. Thanks, Richard,

Old Chief Lynn

"coffelt2" > wrote in
:

> Thanks, John, that explains a lot!
>
> Old Chief Lynn
>

Was lucky, searching the tech report server produced
3 tech reports on those Convair tests. of the alloy

considering the speeds the planes were getting to and the heat
build-up from the friction. Aluminum alloys tend to loose their
strength becasue to the annealing effect of that heat.
believe that they were looking for an alloy that could be used.

and the F9F, was probably a test for carrier use, being exposed
to the salt air at sea.

As you know
Lockheed used Titanium to solve that annealing issue on the Blackbird.