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Re: DH 103 HORNET's

Posted by Ryan Harris on Wed Feb 04, 2004 09:24:33 AM

In reply top Re: DH 103 HORNET's posted by Jeff on Wed Feb 04, 2004 02:53:21 AM

I've heard of the Mustangs being used and I believe one is flying again today. It might be the ECLAT airframe. I know I read about it in Flypast.

I guess that the affects of radiation on aluminum aren't that bad after 50-60 years. I know that "Nine-O-Nine" was used in Operation Snapper in 1952 at the Nevada Test Site on Yucca Flats. Final Cut says that she was used in three blasts to test the "Vulnerability of Parked Aircraft to Atomic Bombs". The first blast she was parked 10,000 ft from a 1 kiloton explosion, the second she was 10,000 ft from a 30 kiloton explosion, and the last she was 8,000 ft from a 19 kiloton explosion. After all this, it was determined she would need 5274 man hours to repair the damage. From there, she was allowed to cool off until 1964 when the USAF determined that all subjects were "cooled" off and offered for sale. Valley Scrap who bought 800 tons of the scrap from the site, purchased the B-17 for a net cost of $269!!! 14 May 1965 is when she took to the air again. So she only sat for 12 years before she was considered safe which is much shorter than I would've figured.

I would think that wood is a little more likely to hang on to the stuff for quite a while seeing as how it is a layered type material in a sense. It would seem that the radiation can be trapped and absorbed much like say water does in wood. Not sure though after 60 years.

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