S.A.E. National Aeronautic and Space Engineering and Manufacturing Meeting

Abstract

The Convair B.58 Hustler is a Mach 2, delta‐winged bomber which makes extensive use in its structure of metal bonding adhesives. The entire surface covering of the B.58 is composed of bonded structure with the exception of the elevons and the aft section of the nacelles and pylons. The aluminium bonded structures used are (i) beaded panels in the fuselage and (ii) sandwich panels in the wing. The delta wing is of multi‐spar construction with no chordwise ribs as in conventional wing structure but with chord‐wisc members at elcvon, nacelle and landing gear attachment points. To simplify tooling, construction and assembly all wing sandwich panels were made of one consistent overall thickness. This dimension is 0–58 in. and all skin thickness changes are accounted for by varying chord thickness. Fuselage surface skins are stiffened by the use of beaded inner skins. Alloys used were the 2024 range. The paper describes the selection and use of the adhesives for bonding and the structural development programme. Construction details and cost are also covered. 52,700 panels have been produced with a scrap rate of only 4 per cent.