With 2 Buick 401 nailheads in tandem. Interesting there are no mufflers because that would be an insult to the plane. article says the start cart sounds like an Indy 500 starting. here is link with pic. http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/ag330_sr.htm apologies if this is old news to this board, new to me and thought it was fun.
I never did work on the SR-71 but I did spend 8 years on the other spy plane, (U-2/TR-1) and alot of the guys I worked with had worked on both and were quick to tell about the SR-71 start carts. From what I remember there wasn't much that wasn't cool about the SR-71. Thanks for posting the pictures. :beers2:
Hate to rain on this parade but the engines in the link do not look like nailheads to me. Can't get a great look, but the valve cover width and angle together with the exhaust manifold make me think that's a Chebby in there. Found one where I am sure it's a Nailhead Start Cart. Also note the headers going straight out instead of the manifolds on that Chebby. Devon you beat me to it! They have one of these carts under the M-21/D-21 (Attack/Drone)combo at the Museum of Flight here in Seattle. I just can't resist adding this image link for everyone who enjoys blatant displays of horepower. SR-71 full power test at night
Big pic of the Buicks: http://www.enginehistory.org/G&jJBrossett/Hill Field/Lockheed SR-71 AG330 start cart.JPG Devon
A friend of mine has a CD titled "Supersonics - Just Jets" and the sounds of the SR-71 engine start is pretty awsome sounding. Nothing like big V-8's basically doing a long dyno pull. I had always heard that the SR-71 start carts were Buick 455 powered, but I have never seen one so o No: http://www.amazon.com/Supersonics-J...4324955?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1182983100&sr=1-3 Buick also manufactured the engines for the WWII B-24 Liberator Bomber, and produced some early jet engines (J47 I think) for General Electric.
The nailheads were on the original start carts and were later on replaced by big block Chevrolets. The example i seen at the NASA space center in Huntsville, AL has the Chevy engines.
The ones in this pic are Hemi's CORRECTION they arent-- BBC maybe? (they are not Nailheads).. They were found not suitable because the had less low end torque.
My first engineering job out of college was for the Skunk Works, and I had the privilege of doing some avionics upgrade work on the SR-71. What an awesome airplane!!! The day it was retired, they did a flyby over Burbank airport. The airport was shut down for 15 minutes so that there wasn't any traffic. On his third pass, he came by at about 50 feet, gear up, about 250 knots. He pulled up vertical above the airport, and hit the afterburners. I'm not sure what altitude he was at, but he quickly went supersonic, sending a huge sonic boom over the entire San Fernando Valley. Apparently the airport neighbors weren't real happy about that:rant: , but we sure loved it:TU: ! Later, we had one of the airframes in mothballs at our Palmdale facility. One day I was over at one of the buildings close to where it was parked, and couldn't find a parking place. I noticed a couple of cars parked near the SR, so I parked over there as well. When I came out a few hours later, Lockheed security had put a "ticket" on my car; in the violation spot was "Parked under wing of SR-71". I still have that somewhere, I should dig it out and frame it; I doubt many people have one of those!!! Oh, the old days........wish I could share some of the other experiences I had during those days with Lockheed......... Keith
When I said the one in the link looks like a Chevy, you need to look at the pics from the original post (see above quote) and I think you will agree with what I said.
