Americans Expect Victory In Supersonic Airliner Race

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30398, 24 March 1964, Page 17

Americans Expect Victory In Supersonic Airliner Race

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) WASHINGTON,

March 23.

The planned American supersonic airliner may be in the skies before the competing British-French Concorde, according to airline sources.

The “titanium breakthrough” which made the re-cently-developed 2000 m.p.h. All interceptor aircraft possible would speed up development of the American supersonic transport and also cut its cost, airline officials indicated.

They said the Lockheed Aircraft Company’s new method of fabricating heatresistant titanium amounted

to a technological revolution that:

Virtually eliminated the aluminium BritishFrench Concorde as a

major competitive threat. Would cut development costs of the American supersonic transport almost to the 1000 million dollars predicted by

the Federal Aviation Agency. Would make it possible for the United States to fly a supersonic transport prototype by 1967 and begin scheduled supersonic travel as early as 1971. (British sources previously have reported

that the Concorde cannot meet its 1971 deadline for the start of

regular airline service.) Might bring the price of the American plane down from an estimated maximum of 45m dollars to as low as 15m dollars, depending on how much it cost to develop a satisfactory engine.

Industry sources said that the airlines had known about Lockheed’s new titanium process since late last year. They were not aware, however, that several All interceptors had been built using the revolutionary fabrication method. Titanium is three to five times stronger than a comparable volume of aluminium, but until Lockheed discovered a cheaper and more efficient way to fabricate and mould titanium, tooling the metal was like trying to cut a block of steel with a kitchen knife. Lockheed’s process has been shared with other airframe manufacturers.

The importance of the “titanium break-through” was coupled with persistent reports that the Concorde faced major re-design if it was to remain competitive. One American airline executive said the Concorde’s weight already had increased in order to achieve a greater range—with corresponding limitations on payload.

“The aluminium airframe is wedded to an engine that simply can’t do the job,” one official said. “It’s becoming apparent that the British and French, if they’re to make the Concorde an eco-nomically-efficient aeroplane, are going to have to start all over again and this would put them almost hopelessly behind.”