Timeline for Why are planes generally painted white?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 14, 2014 at 15:21 | comment | added | Skip Miller | @egid: Without question, the SR-71 is exceptional in many ways! | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 15:18 | comment | added | egid | @SkipMiller I'd say it's the exception that proves the rule. | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 13:51 | comment | added | Skip Miller | Also, the SR-71 was black. It was heated by friction with the atmosphere, not by solar heating. Diamonds as noted above are white to avoid getting solar heat, the SR-71 was black to efficiently radiate the heat of friction away. | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 13:42 | comment | added | Skip Miller | @egid: How about at 80,000 feet and Mach 3.2? The SR-71 Blackbird was built out of titanium because the high temp "enjoyed" at cruise speed would melt aluminum easily. | |
| Mar 20, 2014 at 16:29 | comment | added | egid | ...except maybe a volcano. | |
| Mar 18, 2014 at 23:43 | comment | added | egid | It's worth noting that I doubt this is the definitive answer, even though it's been accepted. The structural temperature issues are only really relevant for the newest composite designs. There's no place on earth that's likely to be hot enough to cause issues with an aluminum airframe. | |
| Mar 18, 2014 at 7:13 | comment | added | orique | I read some time ago that supersonic aircraft like Concorde also required almost all-white livery due to thermal issues | |
| Mar 18, 2014 at 0:56 | vote | accept | Danny Beckett | ||
| Mar 17, 2014 at 5:41 | vote | accept | Danny Beckett | ||
| Mar 17, 2014 at 5:41 | |||||
| Mar 17, 2014 at 4:49 | history | edited | egid | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 17, 2014 at 3:41 | history | edited | egid | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 17, 2014 at 3:36 | history | answered | egid | CC BY-SA 3.0 |