WolfPackST
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Skip to 4:03 for the good stuff.
Skip to 4:03 for the good stuff.
So the SR-71 Blackbird was started by Chevy V8 smallblocks - pure awesome video.
- Thread starter WolfPackST
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Snover's gonna be in heaven, what a machine.
The early carts were actually Buicks. They were twin Buick V8's. Later came the Chevy carts, that were actually Big Block V8s, connected by belts.
They essentially turned a drive shaft that rotated the engine, then once at a certain speed, the engines would kick on fuel, and a crew member on the ground would spray TEB into the engine, which is a catalyst for fuel ignition.
Love the BlackBird, it was, and still is one of the greatest aviation feats of our time.
They essentially turned a drive shaft that rotated the engine, then once at a certain speed, the engines would kick on fuel, and a crew member on the ground would spray TEB into the engine, which is a catalyst for fuel ignition.
Love the BlackBird, it was, and still is one of the greatest aviation feats of our time.
IIRC, they had to swell up to stop that correct? It was a built in design feature?
Correct. The panels on the plane swelled during high speeds due to heat from friction.
It wasn't so much a feature as it was the only solution to the question: what sealant do we have that can go from 60 below zero to over 1500F? Answer: None.
Leaking: lots of pictures of the Blackbird leaving a tanker after refueling show fuel streaks all over the upper wing surfaces. Refueling could take up to thirty minutes, so the plane had lots of time to cool down and start leaking again, which it did.
Imagine flying in close formation to another large aircraft for over thirty minutes, with your plane getting heavier with every minute. There wasn't one fuel tank on the Blackbird, it had a series of them distributed throughout the airframe so that the aircraft's center of gravity could be controled depending on how fast or slow it was flying. The pilot has to fly the plane, manage the fuel to the right tanks, and by the time they are done refueling, he has the left engine in minimum afterburner because that's what it takes to keep up with the tanker now the Blackbird is nearly 100,000 lbs heavier than when they started!
Oh, and just for laughs, I have read reports that half the Blackbird's windshield frosted over every time they refueled.
Leaking: lots of pictures of the Blackbird leaving a tanker after refueling show fuel streaks all over the upper wing surfaces. Refueling could take up to thirty minutes, so the plane had lots of time to cool down and start leaking again, which it did.
Imagine flying in close formation to another large aircraft for over thirty minutes, with your plane getting heavier with every minute. There wasn't one fuel tank on the Blackbird, it had a series of them distributed throughout the airframe so that the aircraft's center of gravity could be controled depending on how fast or slow it was flying. The pilot has to fly the plane, manage the fuel to the right tanks, and by the time they are done refueling, he has the left engine in minimum afterburner because that's what it takes to keep up with the tanker now the Blackbird is nearly 100,000 lbs heavier than when they started!
Oh, and just for laughs, I have read reports that half the Blackbird's windshield frosted over every time they refueled.
While stationed in Mt. Home , I worked on the F and Ef 111A.
We had a Sr-71 crash land on our puny short run way.
It was actually a front landing gear malfunction, caused minimal so to speak , damage.
It was with us for about a week while repair parts were brought in .
An amazing aircraft .
We had a Sr-71 crash land on our puny short run way.
It was actually a front landing gear malfunction, caused minimal so to speak , damage.
It was with us for about a week while repair parts were brought in .
An amazing aircraft .
Yea they had to use GM engines...because we all know Ford engines were turds back then and had none of that stuff called TORQUE
When I was stationed at Kadena in the early 80's we had a couple Habu's (That's what the Japanese called 'em) on the SAC side of the base. The area on the ramp where they prepped the birds prior to flight was stained black from the continual fuel leaks.
Never ceased to amaze me when it took off on night missions. You'd be laying in bed at night and the dorm would start to shake & rumble. You KNEW a Habu was throttling up to full AB at the end of the runway. We'd run outside in our skivvies just to watch those dual 40-ft long blue flames disappear into the night sky. Most awesome. Watching them land was cool too. Big black bird with twin orange chutes.
U.M.
Never ceased to amaze me when it took off on night missions. You'd be laying in bed at night and the dorm would start to shake & rumble. You KNEW a Habu was throttling up to full AB at the end of the runway. We'd run outside in our skivvies just to watch those dual 40-ft long blue flames disappear into the night sky. Most awesome. Watching them land was cool too. Big black bird with twin orange chutes.
U.M.
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love stuff like this
Fav plane next to the Tomcat.
Favorite plane of all time. In my home town there is a "display" of a bunch of planes up against the road where you can see it all while driving by. They have an SR-71 there, and I love driving by. So cool to see it. It is an incredible piece of machinery.
My brother also said big block Buick's were used to start them when he was stationed in Cali years ago.
He sent me a video that showed large buckets under various parts of the plane to catch leaking fuel in the hangar and to prove the high flashpoint of the fuel, somebody dropped a lit cigarette into a bucket of fuel and the cigarette went out
He sent me a video that showed large buckets under various parts of the plane to catch leaking fuel in the hangar and to prove the high flashpoint of the fuel, somebody dropped a lit cigarette into a bucket of fuel and the cigarette went out
We would pass that going to my grandparents...favorite part of the trip lol
My favorite plane!
My dad was an A&P mechanic for some time and used to do this all the time. One particular instance he and his superior were working on a fuel leak and both of them were smoking. The pilot came out and started yelling at them about how they were going to blow themselves up. He tossed his lit cigarette in the bucket catching the fuel and it extinguished lol.
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