Classic Alfa Forums

Kegsti66 wrote:I will send Shrew a few SR71 pics for you Lauren, plus a "spacey"one.

Simon, your P51 photos are "top trumps". I don't think any of us can match them. Awesome.

Ooh, lovely - can't wait. I seem to remember that the Northrop M2-F3 lifting body (rebuilt from the M2-F2 of "Six Million Dollar Man" fame) is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington. That and the HL-10 were my favourite shapes back in the 70s - the Shuttle actually looked like a step backward in comparison.

Simon, I love those P51 shots - such a great looking bird. Like Kelly Johnson said, if it looks right, it will fly right. And as for the strategic location of the oil cooler, that is pure genius - basically a ramjet engine with a heat exchanger providing the thermal energy instead of burning fuel.

This is such a cool thread!

Lauren

Hi Lauren,
Interesting you should mention the under belly oil cooler that provides thrust. Stallion 51 guys teach very wealthy Americans how to avoid killing themselves when flying their own Mustang at airshows. The Mustang has a laminar flow wing and can suffer from a high speed stall.
The new owner flies along the display line and pulls the aircraft up steeply and it can stall and kill him even at 250knots. The Stallion 51 guys demonstrate that when you get close to a high speed stall the oil cooler intake starts to whistle. It sounds like the noise produced when blowing across the top of a coke bottle.
The Mustang was not a good aircraft when it first entered service with the Allison engine but was transformed by fitting a Merlin 61 with twin superchargers, intercooler and two supercharger speed settings. It was an RR test pilot who suggested they fitted the Merlin 61.
The Stallion 51 Mustangs we flew in have been modified to have a second seat and dual controls. They flew so smoothly and were beautifully set up. The pilots who took us up were very very good.
Brgds
Simon

I hadn't realised the effect of that P51 oil cooler - subtle! But I am sure I have seen a similar intake somewhere before.... This certainly is a great thread - Thanks.

Do I detect a bit of inspiration there Philip?
How is yours doing?

Kegsti66 wrote:Do I detect a bit of inspiration there Philip?
How is yours doing?

Well I built it in 1989 with a Rover V8 to drag race, then sold it 5 years later......missed it, couldn't trace it, started to build another and it turned up so I changed the build to use the V12. No recent progress as house move and recently Brake van rebuild have taken my time.......Sorry to go off thread!

Sorry Keith if these are a little late

Cheers Shrew, it is Lauren we have to answer too
These were for her.

The SR 71 just looks so EVIL! and Concorde is so sleek......... and both designed 50 odd years ago!

Hi Guys,

Just saw this message today:

We will begin our first World Land Speed Record campaign in the second half of 2018.

Concorde moment? Book your place on the Hakskeen Pan as soon as it is announced to see it run?
I went to the Reno air races once and while we are there - isn't the black rock dessert near here? where Thrust SSC is going to run?
4 hours later we drove on to the salt flats and met Andy Green and his girlfriend and saw the car in its little hangar on the salt flats. Then I bumped into someone I knew! John Fack.
John flew the Pegasus microlight for security on the days the car was running, basically to make sure nobody had strayed onto the track.
He took this famous picture:
The story goes that the shockwave you see spreading out from the car also spreads out vertically. When it got to John in the flexwing microlight it nearly flipped the aircraft on its back.
Never got to see the car run as we were flying out before the next scheduled run.

Brgds,
Simon

Is this to push our record higher still ?
Is it still the same team?
Sound wave picture is a fantastic one Simon.

Hi Keith,
Currently 763mph with thrust SSC.
Bloodhound is targeting 1000mph.
Same driver and same team leader- Richard Noble.
Brgds
Simon

Brilliant stuff - thanks Keith/Shrew for the lifting body and Blackbird pics, mmm, luvit, luvit luvit...

In fact, it's about time I watched the intro to the Six Million Dollar Man again - the film is the actual crash footage of the M2-F2 (apart from the spacecraft separation which is the Northrop HL-10). Test pilot Bruce Peterson was at the controls, he had the "right stuff" alright - and survived without needing any bionic transplants...

I love the picture of Thrust SSC - the shock wave is amazing, the point where the vehicle actually overtakes its own sound...

Richard Noble is quite a character, when they analysed the aerodynamics of Thrust 2 (which Richard drove himself to the last subsonic LSR) they discovered that he was only about 6 mph from a fatal backflip

As for SSC, another fantastic feat of British engineering. Bloodhound will be even more impressive, but there is a precedent for the rocket engined LSR car, the 1979 Budweiser Rocket, which allegedly hit Mach 1.01 (one way) at Edwards AFB using a combination of liquid fueled rocket engine and a Sidewinder missile solid rocket motor for extra ooomph. Stunt driver Stan Barrett was at the controls, he had the right stuff too... The attempt was controversial as it was only a one-way trip, was never ratified by the FIA and unlike SSC there was no audible sonic boom, even though the radar at Edwards clocked the car at 733 mph.

Lauren

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jvGJhJINlc

https://youtu.be/0CPJ-AbCsT8

Mmm, lovely

Would anyone object to me changing the title of this thread to something with more of an Aviation swing to it, make it easier to find for folk that might think we're just reciting the radio times!

Yep, sounds good, it threw me out atleast twice

That's a good idea as its been an excellent thread.

Perfect !!

Gets my vote - it is certainly an active thread, well worth keeping!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeclZdJHPtQ


I know everyone who has been following this thread will love this clip.

Morning peeps

Great video. Never seen it before ,but I've seen a photo of the typhoon up close and personal to the plane

https://youtu.be/ncUdqT8AxY0

Just saw this and thought I would share.
Lovely.

Morning peeps

Just read this on twitter from an ex lightning pilot I follow. Made me smile