ITEM DETAILS
video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrXUh0eZjw
A piece of equipment that never ceases to bewilder
Aerospace and engineering
The Pratt & Whitney J58 engine of the Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird"
Everything about this plane seems impossible. Very inspiring because the people who built it seem to have been unassuming and always willing to experiment.
The amount of space dedicated to the two engines is gigantic, so the engines are gigantic.
How the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkyVZxtsubM
Animagraffs
The Pratt & Whitney J58 - The Engine of the SR-71 Blackbird
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrXUh0eZjw
Air Zoo
~~~
Arnie Gunderson, eventual Program Manager for the Pratt & Whitney engine:
Engine designed for optimal performance doing 2,300 miles per hour at 80,000 feet.
Control system: hydraulic computers. "All of those tubes are just like the circuitry that's in any computer-type device these days".
'Buick Start Cart' to start each engine:
"A few of the guys were hot-rodders back then.
It turned out that one V8 engine wasn't enough.
So we ended up putting two V8 engines side by side, and the engine that we chose was the 1960-1962 Buick 400 cubic inch Wildcat engine.
Since we had JP7 as our fuel -- and it may leak occasionally -- it turned out to be safe and ok because we had these very short pipes on the Buicks and when we were running the Buick carts we literally had flames shooting out of the exhaust pipes.
The sound coming out of those high-revving Buick engines was just amazing, it was like music to a gearhead's ears.
After we broke all the Buick engines from every junkyard in the entire United States, we ended up choosing the Chevy 454 because there were more of those around than almost anything else.
It had the power and the torque that we needed to start but it never did sound as good as the Buicks."
~~~
So a bunch of guys standing around cobbling together commercially available explosive devices so get the SR-71 going -- not exactly a strictly academic process!
And i would argue that is where true innovation comes from. Not the institutions, but the crazy people who are given access to the resources of institutions.
The amount of space dedicated to the two engines is gigantic, so the engines are gigantic.
How the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkyVZxtsubM
Animagraffs
The Pratt & Whitney J58 - The Engine of the SR-71 Blackbird
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrXUh0eZjw
Air Zoo
~~~
Arnie Gunderson, eventual Program Manager for the Pratt & Whitney engine:
Engine designed for optimal performance doing 2,300 miles per hour at 80,000 feet.
Control system: hydraulic computers. "All of those tubes are just like the circuitry that's in any computer-type device these days".
'Buick Start Cart' to start each engine:
"A few of the guys were hot-rodders back then.
It turned out that one V8 engine wasn't enough.
So we ended up putting two V8 engines side by side, and the engine that we chose was the 1960-1962 Buick 400 cubic inch Wildcat engine.
Since we had JP7 as our fuel -- and it may leak occasionally -- it turned out to be safe and ok because we had these very short pipes on the Buicks and when we were running the Buick carts we literally had flames shooting out of the exhaust pipes.
The sound coming out of those high-revving Buick engines was just amazing, it was like music to a gearhead's ears.
After we broke all the Buick engines from every junkyard in the entire United States, we ended up choosing the Chevy 454 because there were more of those around than almost anything else.
It had the power and the torque that we needed to start but it never did sound as good as the Buicks."
~~~
So a bunch of guys standing around cobbling together commercially available explosive devices so get the SR-71 going -- not exactly a strictly academic process!
And i would argue that is where true innovation comes from. Not the institutions, but the crazy people who are given access to the resources of institutions.
United States of America
1964 to 1999
Air Zoo - Animagraffs
Lockheed Skunk Works ~~ United States Air Force ~~ NASA
This item is shared by Philip M Shearer
with
the Community and the World.