Light weight and high strength fuselage

A fuselage assembly for an aerospace craft defining a long axis, said fuselage assembly comprising:

• a plurality of longitudinal stringer members radially spaced from, and extending generally parallel to, the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, said longitudinal stringer members further spaced circumferentially from each other, each of the longitudinal stringer members having a stringer wall structure including an outer longitudinal surface;
• a plurality of annular frame members spaced along the longitudinal axis, each of the annular frame members having a frame wall structure including a plurality of outer circumferential surfaces, each of the outer circumferential surfaces interposed between a respective pair of the longitudinal stringer members;
• a lightweight doubler attached to and covering at least a portion of the outer surfaces of the frame and stringer members;
• and
• a laminate sheet comprising alternating layers of metal and composite, said laminate sheet disposed over, and attached to, the lightweight doubler so as to form an outer skin of the fuselage strengthened by the underlying lightweight doubler, the annular frame members and the stringer members, wherein at least a portion of the laminate sheet disposed over the lightweight doubler defines an opening therethrough and has a constant gauge thickness approximately equal to another, remote portion of the laminate sheet that is free of openings and not disposed over the lightweight doubler.