Description
The "SS-463L" project was developed by a U.S. Air Force committee in 1957 and awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1959. The "SS-463L Pallet Cargo Handling System" specifications for aircraft (aka "463L") included a "Master Pallet" design to meet a component of the materiel handling specifications of this system. The "Master Pallet" was contracted to the AAR Cadillac Manufacturing Corporation, at one time AAR Cadillac Corp, and now AAR Corporation.
In the 1950s, the U.S. Air Force used a standard designation system for all awarded projects. The "SS" represents (Support System), the "463" represents an assigned general system category, 400–499 series for "Support Systems", and the suffix "L" also represents "Support Systems". Thus, "463L" is the name of the system.
The standard HCU-6/E pallet in the "463L" system was designed and finalized in the early 1960s by the AAR Cadillac Corp. to implement the "SS-463L Pallet Cargo Handling System" now known as "Materials Handling Support System "463L"". The original design of the HCU-6/E pallet met the standards of the Universal Cargo Handling Rail System design in 1962 for the C-130 and C-141 transport aircraft. The new sturdy HCU-6/E pallet was a drastic improvement to the older lightweight balsa wood pallets used by the Air Force in previous years. It has often been thought that the 463L stands for the year that the pallet was initiated April 1963. Each HCU-6/E pallet is 88 inches (224 cm) wide, 108 inches (274 cm) long, and 2-1/4 inches (5.7 cm) high. The usable space is 84 in (213 cm) by 104 in (264 cm). It can hold up to 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) of cargo at 8 g. Empty, each pallet weighs 290 lb (130 kg), or 355 lb (160 kg) with two side nets and a top net.
Based on the HCU-6/E air cargo Master Pallet, additional components include the HCU-7/E side net, the HCU-15/C top net, and the CGU-1/B Device or cargo strap. MB-1 Devices or MB-2 Devices may be used with appropriate chains.
The "463L Master Pallets" can be unloaded on the ground in peacetime or in combat, or airdropped with a parachute.
They are built of a balsa wood core and surrounded by a thin aluminum skin. There are 22 rings surrounding the edge, each rated at 7,500 lb (3,400 kg).
Read more about this topic: 463L Master Pallet
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“He hath achieved a maid
That paragons description and wild fame;
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I was here first introduced to Joe.... He was a good-looking Indian, twenty-four years old, apparently of unmixed blood, short and stout, with a broad face and reddish complexion, and eyes, methinks, narrower and more turned up at the outer corners than ours, answering to the description of his race. Besides his underclothing, he wore a red flannel shirt, woolen pants, and a black Kossuth hat, the ordinary dress of the lumberman, and, to a considerable extent, of the Penobscot Indian.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)