TALESPINNERS - November, 2002

Hangar Flying
with Stu Faber

R-2800. In WW II the R-2800 powered many of the best planes the allies had.  Now an R-2800 is back in production by Rotec in Australia only it is 2800 cc (170 cubic inches), 110 hp @ 3500 rpm with 3:2 prop gearing, 7 cyl, 4 stroke, radial at 220 #.  It looks great in various replica aircraft.  Custom Planes, Dec 2002.

INSURANCE. Do you know what insurance coverage the FBO carries and what you and the FBO are responsible for as to parking, and tie down or hangaring?  Do you have a written lease agreement and have you reviewed it lately?  Insurance rates are up much this year and coverage may have changed.  See article in Custom Planes Magazine for Dec 2002.

ELECTROGRAVITICS. Electro-what? Dave Robertson loaned me a small book which is a collection of articles going back some 50 years on using a force similar to gravity to propel an aircraft at high altitudes and speeds in the mach 3 range.  Most of the articles are far above my head but here is what I gathered.  Using only a small part of the power of the engines to generate electricity a curtain of positive ions is projected ahead of the plane while the exhaust is negatively charged and the two opposite charges repel the plane forward.  There seem to be strong indications that the B-2 has been equipped with a leading edge antenna to project the charge and a spike in the exhaust to release the opposite charge.  It has been denied and may be one of the "black" secrets.  The installed equipment is passed off as only anti-radar.  An earlier experiment with 18 in. disks (like UFOs?) indicated it would work.  Are the aliens using it?

ANYONE FOR MACH 8? If the above is not fast enough Pratt & Whitney is working on a 200 pound scramjet engine.  Using JP-7, like the SR-17, it would not need to carry liquid oxygen as an oxidizer for the fuel like rockets must.  By slowing the air going through the burners to below Mach 1, to keep them lit, ramjets can reach as high as Mach 5.  Scram-jets would use supersonic air as is.  How do you get a 5000 mph wind tunnel?  You don't.  To run tests P & W has a special test chamber.  At the inlet end are a series of large tanks with air at 2400 PSI and at the exhaust end a 48 ft diameter sphere which is pumped to maximum vacuum.  When fired this gives a 30 to 60 second burn if it stays lit.  To do better tests NASA is building several variations of the 16' long X43A which will be followed by larger versions later.  They are basically lifting bodies with minimal wing surfaces.  One problem is that at these speeds drag goes up very fast too and surfaces reach 2000 to 3000 degrees.  Don't book your ride yet.  From Popular Science, November 02.

GOOD READING. A friend sent me a copy of about a 20 page article from the November Atlantic Monthly magazine.  It is a very interesting account of the operations of the 391 Fighter Sqn. over Afghanistan.  A lot of detail of what life was like and how they operated.  They flew F-15 Strike Eagles with a crew of two.  Life was a combination of military luxury at base and long stressful sorties.  It gave many very interesting details of how it all worked.  It is worth looking up or a visit to the Public Library.

LITTLE KNOWN were the ECMs of WW II.  Not declassified until late 1970s The 36 Bomb Sqn of the 8th AF was equipped with radar jamming equipment in B-24s to foil fighter and gun aiming devices.  They would fly ahead of bombing formations to give them a cleared bomb run.  They also transmitted fake radio traffic to add confusion.  In one year they flew 1200 effective sorties.  From book review - Squadron of Deception.

Chapter member, Don Fairbanks, was a crew member on a crew which flew B-24s carrying supplies at night to various resistance and underground fighters in occupied Europe.  Another little known mission.

Copyright © 2002 by Stu Faber.  All rights reserved.