posted 05-02-2011 07:49 AM               

The procedures used in the fabrication of stages borrowed from prior aircraft experience and from extant techniques used in military rocket boosters. A useful semitechnical overview of contemporaneous practice is Frank W. Wilson and Walter R. Prange, eds., "Tooling for Aircraft and Missile Manufacture" (New York, 1964).

Nevertheless, production of the various stages of Saturn presented new problems in metallurgy, tooling, and welding. The evolution of the S-IVB upper stage presented many typical problems. See, for example, K. H. Boucher, "Saturn Third Stage S-IVB Manufacturing," Douglas Paper 3707(1965), and E. Harpoothian, "The Production of Large Tanks for Cryogenic Fuels," Douglas Paper 3155 (1964).

For discussion of the S-IC, see George Alexander, "Boeing Faces Unique Fabrication Challenge." Aviation Week and Space Technology, 77 (13 Aug. 1962): 52-63; Whitney G. Smith, "Fabricating the Saturn S-IC Booster," AIAA Paper 65-294 (1965).

The S-II stage was plagued by welding problems, as described in an anonymous article, "The Toughest Weld of All," Skyline (1968), an unpaged reprint in the SHP files.

Despite an obvious bias, company magazines like North American's Skyline and Boeing's Boeing Magazine frequently carried valuable descriptive articles and illustrations. The authoritative articles in Aviation Week and Space Technology are also valuable for their depth and accuracy.

posted 05-05-2011 06:27 AM               

Thank you for your efforts.

posted 05-06-2011 05:38 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by SpaceAholic:
...if somebody wants to host it.

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