Bare metal is such a pain. When we had bare metal tutors here they were beautiful when polished and waxed up but so hard to keep from pitting and oxidizing. They were also faster than the painted aircraft. I can't imagine trying to keep up a fleet of big birds. One thing good though is it makes inspections a lot easier. No paint striping for crack detection!
I wonder if there were noticable savings over a painted aircraft, as a fully painted boeing weighs ~ thousand pounds more than a bare metal one.
I remember touring the boeing plant many moons ago, and all the aircraft on the line were bare except for the rudders, which were painted so you could tell which airline it was being built for (if you could recognize half a logo, lol). The paint on the rudder affected the balance so it has to be painted before installation.
Anyway, that's my useless trivia for the day.
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