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Engineers test skin of SST

Boeing test engineers inspect a brazed honeycomb titanium panel on a special rig using high-frequency sound waves to check the strength and integrity of bonding of face sheets to honeycomb core. The 20-foot-long panel, produced by Aeronca, Inc., at Middletown, Ohio, is representative of panels on the vertical fin of the supersonic transport. Because much of the SST's wing and tail outer skin will be honeycomb-core titanium "sandwich," virtually every inch must be tested.

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