well this will need attention....

[Roadcuda]

Having been in Airframe Repair in the USAF, I would have been really proud of a sheet metal patch like that.

Someday I will tell the story of the patch that, blew off the SR-71.

Don't wait too long, that sounds like it will be a good one!

 

[Basketcase]

I know it is no excuse but in the 70's and 80's we did not have the Mig Welders and you either Brazed, wire welded or pop riveted. I do not think the repairs were half as good as they are today. The stuff was just not available or we could not afford it.

Just a Thought.

I've got no problem with brazing, I can do a pretty decent job myself. when I was in my senior year of high school, I had my Starsky & Hutch Torino. one day I got out, and shut the door. the door came open. shut it a couple more times before it dawned on me to look. the door latch area had completly broken off. I took it to my Uncle, who is a mechinacal wiz. he cut a piece out of an old tractor seat, and gas welded it in place. unless you got your nose up on it, you couldn't tell it had been welded. but crap like this job.... :brickwall:

 

[glhcarl]

Having been in Airframe Repair in the USAF, I would have been really proud of a sheet metal patch like that.

Someday I will tell the story of the patch that, blew off the SR-71.

Don't wait too long, that sounds like it will be a good one!

OK, I have a few minutes!

I worked on the SR-71 in the USAF at Beale AFB, Marysville California. I was assigned there right after Tech School and it was the first airplane I ever worked on. Will one dark and rainy night (I was working grave shift 1200 to 0700) in winter 1967 I was sent out to one of the hangers where the SR's were kept. They each had its own hanger. It must have been around 35 degrees, raining and the wind was blowing. I asked the crew chief what he had for me and he showed me a crack in the skin of a part we called the "stub fin". On the SR the entire rudders move, but the "stub fin" is the part directly below the rudder that does not move. The forward part of the "stub fin" is fixed but the aft portion is removable. Will the crack was on the removable part something we have seen many times, so I told the crew chief to remove the "stub fin" and send it to the shop and we will fix it. He says he can't do that because the aircraft is due to fly a mission tomrrow and they are preflighting it now. So I call my boss and and looks at the crack tells me to patch it in place.

So I get everything set up and I open the aft hanger door so I can put the gas powered portable air compressor outside. Well to make a long story shorter the door does not shut. So its cold raining and the wind is blowing but this should only that an hour or two so I can take it.
Well everything was going ok I layed out the patch and started drilling the holes for the rivets. That is when it happened, the first row of rivets were in an area where I could not reach them to install solid rivets. So I called the boss again, he came out and said to install all the soild rivits I could and he would go back to the shop and get a blind rivet gun to use in the first row of rivets. When I got the blind rivet gun I installed the last row of rivets painted it and went and sign off the log book I went back to the shop and tried to get warm and dry.

Two days later! The mission the day after I made the repair had been cancelled and rescheduled for today. That night I was called out to the hanger by the crew chief after the post flight inspection was complete. I asked the crew chief what do you have for the sheet metal shop. He hands me a stack of write ups. Several cracks on the fuselage fairings, a couple of delaminations on the wing leading edge, a crack on the main landing gear door and a "crack and several open holes on the aft inboard side of the right stub fin". Sure enough the blind rivets did not hold and the patch disintegrated during the flight. After looking at it in disbelief, I told the crew chief, remove the "stub fin" and send it to the sheet metal shop for repair.

The guys in the shop gave me some #$%^ for awhile but it died down after my buddys flashlight incident.

 

[moparchris]

Hey Dave,

I went out and got the passenger side B pillar. The only thing is that I cut it at the base and left the flange on the rocker. It is complete and rust free. I am not sure of how you are going to replace your B pillar. If you want to drill out the spot welds and replace the entire piece then this piece wont work. If you are going to cut out the offensive part and weld in just that part then this part will work perfectly. I will post a pic tomorrow, I forgot my camera today. :brickwall:

 

[Basketcase]

Chris that will work fine. I had a bad spot on my drivers front frame, behind the bumper bracket. Got my ace welder Uncle to cut out the bad area, and weld in a good chunk from a frame section I had. can't even tell it's been fixed.
thanks for your trouble