"Hobo" wrote in message
...


I've read that the vertical tail buffeting problem on the F-22 prototype
was solved by replacing composites with titanium spars.

What you read is speculation that the titanium spar has fixed the F-22's
structural integrity problem. There is no way for anyone to know that until
the aircraft has flown at least 500 hours.

This makes me
wonder why the titanium wasn't used in the first place.

The tail boom was stiffened in the first place and then an air damn was
tried, but both failed to fix the "buffeting" problem.

Was it
cost/weight/stealth or something else?

Shotgun, to fix a poorly understood problem.