But why would a pilot be privy to the materials sourcing operations?
This information has been declassified for decades, much longer than the quote from the pilot. I first read about it in Ben Rich's memoir, published 1996.
Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
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Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
#22Perhaps a more accurate headline would have been this buried deeper in the article
"The US worked through Third World countries and fake companies and finally was able to ship the ore to the US to build the SR-71."
And to complete the loop, Russia is now importing sanctioned American microchips for its missiles via third parties. I wonder if the order form states they will be used in smart pizzas ovens.
Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fun fact, pizza was virtually unknown in USSR throughout its existence.
What you could get was Georgian-style khachapuri which is an amazing cheesy butter bread thing. Now there’s a Dodo pizza in every city and pizza-sushi-etc places on every corner.
Khachapuri was certainly known but hardly could be ordered anywhere outside few large cities or Georgian SSR. Most people who knew about it have never tasted it (as is still the case with me).
Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
What you could get was Georgian-style khachapuri which is an amazing cheesy butter bread thing. Now there’s a Dodo pizza in every city and pizza-sushi-etc places on every corner.
Khachapuri was certainly known but hardly could be ordered anywhere outside few large cities or Georgian SSR. Most people who knew about it have never tasted it (as is still the case with me).
You should fix that never tasting it thing, it's so worth it. Just make sure to eat it when you can afford to have a nice nap afterward, it's that filling and rich.
Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rutile is used in refractory bricks and the import was of the ore mineral. So not completely unbelievable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutile#Application
There was no shortage of TiO₂ in the US. It's used everywhere. They were specifically importing the refined metal because the soviets had the only viable production capacity.
> There was no shortage of TiO₂ in the US.
But the article says that the US lacked the ore:
“Back when they were building the airplane the United States didn’t have the ore supplies – an ore called rutile ore. It’s a very sandy soil and it’s only found in very few parts of the world.”
Also, the Wikipedia link above doesn’t show the US to be major producer. It does show ex-Soviet block countries to be major producers.
I mean, you might be right about importing the metal rather than ore. I’m commenting only about whether the ore is widely available in the US.
Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
#26USSR should have supplied a weakened metal that would be only good for pizza ovens.
Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Khachapuri was certainly known but hardly could be ordered anywhere outside few large cities or Georgian SSR. Most people who knew about it have never tasted it (as is still the case with me).
You should fix that never tasting it thing, it's so worth it. Just make sure to eat it when you can afford to have a nice nap afterward, it's that filling and rich.
Oh absolutely. It's on my contingency TODO list.
Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
#28The US "intelligence" apparatus created a particular cover story. There's no actual information as to what the USSR actually believed at the time. If they weren't particularly interesting in competing in aerial surveillance then it may have been seen as worth the money they got in return. They were already in the business of exporting it, it's not as if we got them to create a special market based on this cockamamie story.
It does make great propaganda for the supposed capabilities of the CIA, though.
Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was no shortage of TiO₂ in the US. It's used everywhere. They were specifically importing the refined metal because the soviets had the only viable production capacity.
> There was no shortage of TiO₂ in the US. But the article says that the US lacked the ore: “Back when they were building the airplane the United States didn’t have the ore supplies – an ore called rutile ore. It’s a very sandy soil and it’s only found in very few parts of the world.” Also, the Wikipedia link above doesn’t show the US to be major producer. It does show ex-Soviet block countries to be major producers.…
There's plenty of titanium in the us. They opened a mine in the Adirondacks just for this purpose in WW2, and there's tons of untapped ore. Chances are that it was cheaper to get from the USSR than to make it ourselves
Re: Soviet Union sold titanium to US believing they needed it for pizza ovens
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should fix that never tasting it thing, it's so worth it. Just make sure to eat it when you can afford to have a nice nap afterward, it's that filling and rich.
Oh absolutely. It's on my contingency TODO list.
There are a couple Georgian restaurants in the Bay Area, in Palo Alto and Los Altos.