Best friend & neighbour for about 10 years says his Buick will out pull my Buick. I'll have to show him one of these days. This pic was taken in June.
Not Buick powered but he's always trying to get me. He drives an ocean going tug, calls it his "Buick", used to service the offshore oil industry. Think he's off Scotland right now.
... you know the SR-71 Blackbirds used a special jet engine starter system of compressed air. The power unit was a Buick Nailhead ... selected because of the torque it produced.
Actually, there were a couple of different starter systems for the J58 engines used in the SR-71's. The air system used turbines that were attached to a pad on the bottom of the engine and were removed once the engine was started. This wasn't used very often as it wasn't too reliable. The preferred method of starting was a starter cart that was plugged into the bottom of the J58 with a retractable shaft. In this "cart" were a pair 425 Buick Nailhead engines hooked to two Dynaflow transmissions. The Dynaflows were connected by a 12" wide belt and drove the gearbox that was connected to the bottom of the jet engine. These were used up until near the end of the program. The 425's were stock except for short stacks in place of exhaust manifolds and a small Holley crab. After the supply of Nailheads dried up, several starters were converted to 454 "corporate" engines that were heavily modified to do the job. While the 20 year old Buicks had their share of troubles (blown head gaskets mainly) we used to blow up the Chevys all the time.
It must have been exciting starting up those engines, seeing as how the Blackbird was infamous for its fuel tanks leaking like a sieve until it reached cruising speed, which heated and expended the metal, sealing the leaks. Open stacks in the presence of puddles of aviation fuel? :eek2:
He drives an ocean going tug, calls it his "Buick", used to service the offshore oil industry. at least you've taught him proper respect for Buick torque, eh? :TU:
Thankfully the JP-7 used by the SR-71's was a rather stable fuel. You could drop a lit match into the stuff and the match would go out. The only time things ever got real interesting was one night (during a hot sortie no less) one of the 425s kicked a rod out the side of the block just as the J58 reached idle speed. The oil from the Buick caught fire and was threatening to light the fuel on the ground. We calmly (surprisingly) pushed the start cart out back while the fire guard did his job and doused the flames. The rest of the launch went off without a hitch.
I always wanted to ask the SkunkWorks engineers about this. Why would it be advantagaous to have a tank leak EVER. Why couldn't they make the tanks leak proof but able to expand during the heat cycle of supersonic flight. As a kid I had pictures of the SR-71 and other planes (as well as Daisy Duke and her ilk:grin: ) all over my room and just knowing about the leaking fuel tanks as I stared at the pictures would drive me bats. I just couldn't wrap my head around it.
I'd like to hear their answer, too. I suspect that back in the day they didn't have any composites or polymers which could withstand the intense heat, and any metal used needed expansion joints lest it crack. Or maybe it was unintentional. In engineering, when the money or schedule runs out, bugs are declared features and you move on.
The fuselage tanks on the SR's didn't leak, but the wing tanks sure did. Depending on the fuel load we put on prior to launch the wings either leaked a little of a lot! Two of the three tanks in either wing were never filled before flight but were topped off by a KC-135 once airborne, and were the first tanks emptied after refueling. The trouble trying to seal the tanks was due to the amount of thermal expansion that took place during a hot leg. The wings on the SR-71's (and her cousins the A-12 and YF-12) were corrogated to allow for the expansion. The sealants used simply couldnt flex enough to keep the fuel in. The leaking was so bad on some aircraft that during leak checks we would fill the tanks to capacity and it looked like a heavy downpour under the wings.
The start carts were in fact 425's there was one cart that had a 401 and a 425 in it and we hated using it because it had a hell of a time getting the J-58 up to idle speed. The air start system was a pain and used only rarely, more to prove it still worked than for any other reason. We didn't get our first Chevy (at Beale AFB anyway) until around 1986. Most of the start carts were still Buick powered when I left the program in December of 1987.
The SR-71 is one bad-ass airplane. Close to the heart for us musclecar fans. You don't need a gun if you can outrun the bullets. :Brow: I wonder if they'll declassify its top speed some day. I know they've gone public with several time/distance records it set, but I suspect the real top speed is considerably higher. Not bad for '60s technology. Makes you wonder what secret things they might have today ......
I was stationed at a semi-remote radar base in Washington in '65-'68. I was pulling 3rd shift one nite in the ops area when something went across the scope screen in 3 rotations & disappeared. We couldn't even catch it on the heigth radar. I called Seattle to find out what it was & was told in so many words that "You didn't see a dam thing". I said "the hell I didn't". I was then told to "READ MY LIPS, YOU DIDN'T SEE A -------- THING".:af: I've wondered to this day what it was. Maybe Chuck Yeager having some fun. Thom
I was stationed at a semi-remote radar base in Washington in '65-'68 ... I've wondered to this day what it was. Maybe Chuck Yeager having some fun. the SR-71 had an official service life from 1964-1998 and there were development variants flying as early as 62.
