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There was a shortage of materials and manpower in late Germany, that is another benefit of the forge and extrusion process. The alternative to forging the wing

There was a shortage of materials and manpower in late Germany, that is another benefit of the forge and extrusion process. The alternative to forging the wing spars is to create a sub assembly from a dozen or more smaller components. The fasteners, drilling, and overlapping joints create a mechanically weaker, larger, and heavier assembly with worse material properties than a one-piece forged part. In addition, assembling a wing spar from a dozen parts creates wasted materials from additional steps in the process (machining, forging, drilling, riveting a dozen parts) which takes much more time, requires skilled technicians, and decreases tolerances in the resulting assembly. Machining titanium has different and worse metallurgical properties than a single forged part. You can heat treat the forged titanium part which has totally uniform mechanical properties, where in an assembly each part might have different inclusions and defects that are much harder to control for in process. This aids QC as well, as you can just X-ray the forged titanium part once. So yes, they did, but its much more than that. The forged wing spars improve dozens of manufacturing, QC and engineering problems in addition to the material savings. Even without that, the forged parts are still a prerequisite for modern air frames. EDIT: sorry, I didn't notice your edit. It may be that the market would provide these Heavy Press machines, and I mean the DoD partnered with ALCOA and other existing experts to build and run the presses, and the private market owned and profited from them, but in 1945 there wasn't a market for this except to the Air Force. That's why the DoD funded it. I'm sure the market could have also invested the absurd dollar sums, I mean the things are still used today, what was the total ROI on the Iron Giant presses... its incalculable. But I'm almost certain today's globalized manufacturing would do what they are doing now: Make them in Taiwan, China, developing nations, and ship them across the ocean. The point is that the Air Force recognized the value of making the wing spars in country, so you can't bomb, flood, or capture the presses. We should definitely be able to crank out i7's on our continent, I don't care how.

aww_dang 5y ago
>We should definitely be able to crank out i7's on our continent Agreed. I'd add that the export of dollars is related to central bank policy.
- cartoonworld 5y ago
  Yes it gets rather complicated, is Breton Woods good or bad, so to speak? Well, I'd like my non-irradiated cake and eat it too. Its mind blowing how much that the post war era is still affecting current affairs.
- imtringued 5y ago
  The export of dollars has to do with the fact that if every nation runs a trade surplus then there must be an escape hatch or deficit black hole that soaks up the deficits. That black hole is the US. Things would be better if we had an international clearing union but that is a pipe dream today.
  - cartoonworld 5y ago
    Well, that and the petrodollar's standardization of price in US Dollars following Breton Woods in the 1970's
    - aww_dang 5y ago
      I'm not sure I see a practical way out of the current system that returns us to a more free market system. Instead we see carbon credits promoted, perhaps as a part of a SDR like system. Where the petrodollar required somewhat incoherent rationales for war, a supranational carbon credit regime would offer somewhat more self-coherent rationales. It isn't difficult to imagine how it might play out. "Nation X's refusal to honestly participate in the carbon credit system is a crime against the Earth. Sanctions have been insufficient. The global coalition must act militarily to protect the Earth from..." Regardless, I'm not sure there is a practical way to get the US back on track to where markets are more free and investment in domestic industry isn't distorted. A 25% tax credit or outright government funded or perhaps an initially nationalized industry? The difference is only in degree.

aww_dang 5y ago

>We should definitely be able to crank out i7's on our continent Agreed. I'd add that the export of dollars is related to central bank policy.

cartoonworld 5y ago
Yes it gets rather complicated, is Breton Woods good or bad, so to speak? Well, I'd like my non-irradiated cake and eat it too. Its mind blowing how much that the post war era is still affecting current affairs.
imtringued 5y ago
The export of dollars has to do with the fact that if every nation runs a trade surplus then there must be an escape hatch or deficit black hole that soaks up the deficits. That black hole is the US. Things would be better if we had an international clearing union but that is a pipe dream today.
- cartoonworld 5y ago
  Well, that and the petrodollar's standardization of price in US Dollars following Breton Woods in the 1970's
  - aww_dang 5y ago
    I'm not sure I see a practical way out of the current system that returns us to a more free market system. Instead we see carbon credits promoted, perhaps as a part of a SDR like system. Where the petrodollar required somewhat incoherent rationales for war, a supranational carbon credit regime would offer somewhat more self-coherent rationales. It isn't difficult to imagine how it might play out. "Nation X's refusal to honestly participate in the carbon credit system is a crime against the Earth. Sanctions have been insufficient. The global coalition must act militarily to protect the Earth from..." Regardless, I'm not sure there is a practical way to get the US back on track to where markets are more free and investment in domestic industry isn't distorted. A 25% tax credit or outright government funded or perhaps an initially nationalized industry? The difference is only in degree.