Jim Macklin wrote:

It was something I read many years ago, maybe during my A&P
course at Spartan, but I remember that the issues cited were
design of the windows and the quality of the joints and
rivets. The metal was an alloy that was prone to cracking,
but was strong. The extra pressure cause the metal to
expand and contract into the fatigue range of the alloy. It
all came together or should I have said apart on several
airplanes.


Bit worse than that, in order:

The name - de Havilland aircraft had a habit of structural failure
The glue - Redux wasn't that good (note this was also a factor in the
convertible 737)
Fatigue - A mysterious new ailment for primitive people to blame the failure
of their "world beating" aircraft on. Strange that a novelist had written a
best seller on the subject 3 years earlier, stranger that Neville Shute had
worked for de Havilland 30 years before, had initially employed many of the
design staff after he founded Airspeed and presumably knew a lot that
wasn't didn't make the inquiry.



--

regards

jc

LEGAL - I don't believe what I wrote and neither should you. Sobriety and/or
sanity of the author is not guaranteed

EMAIL - and are not valid email
addresses. news2x at perentie is valid for a while.