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SR-71 starter motors.....

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Lee Martin, Jul 31, 2008.

  1. Lee Martin
    Joined: Jun 17, 2005
    Posts: 739

    Lee Martin
    Member

    I just ran across a photo of the starter motors used to fire the SR-71 Blackbird engines. Turns out they used twin-nailheads on a trolley:

    [​IMG]

    -Lee
    Atomic Radio
    www.atomicpinup.com
     
  2. weez
    Joined: Dec 5, 2002
    Posts: 860

    weez
    Member

    That's nuts! My old landlord was a test pilot, he bailed out of an SR-71 once. He had a chunk of the plane on a plaque they gave him.
     
  3. Ole don
    Joined: Dec 16, 2005
    Posts: 2,915

    Ole don
    Member

    I saw one like that at Edwards. If my antique memory is working, there was a mark on the Tach at 4400. That must be why the big Holleys and headers.
     
  4. Von Rigg Fink
    Joined: Jun 11, 2007
    Posts: 13,418

    Von Rigg Fink
    Member
    from Garage

    and they left them blue..didnt paint them olive drab..
    thats cool I bet that sucker rocked
     

  5. aplayer
    Joined: Dec 2, 2006
    Posts: 148

    aplayer
    Member

    Now that's cool. I need to show that to my son, who is crazy for airplanes.
     
  6. Devin
    Joined: Dec 28, 2004
    Posts: 2,369

    Devin
    Member
    from Napa, CA

    cool. where did you find the pic?
     
  7. wally bell
    Joined: Apr 15, 2008
    Posts: 418

    wally bell
    Member
    from VA.

    one on display in warner robbins..ga.
     
  8. Lee Martin
    Joined: Jun 17, 2005
    Posts: 739

    Lee Martin
    Member

    A friend of mine that knows I'm into nailheads emailed it to me. I'll see where he found it.

    -Lee
    Atomic Radio
    www.atomicpinup.com
     
  9. mtlcutter
    Joined: Oct 6, 2007
    Posts: 364

    mtlcutter
    Member

    I'm going to start looking in starter trolleys for motors. nuts!!!
     
  10. zman
    Joined: Apr 2, 2001
    Posts: 16,730

    zman
    Member
    from Garner, NC

    That's been on here a couple of times as on the Yahoo Nailhead list about every year like clockwork... Welcome to the party... :D:D:D
     
  11. sik_kreations
    Joined: Jul 14, 2008
    Posts: 436

    sik_kreations
    Member

    damn thats awesome, thats my favorite plan
     
  12. They also used Olds 455s. My Sis and bro-in-law live about 5 miles from Beale AFB where the SR71 was being tested. After 2-3 starts at HIGH RPM, they were toast. As I recall, for $15 you could buy one off the scrap heap and haul it away. There were a LOT of ski boats in the area with 455s! This was in the mid-late 60s.
     
  13. zman
    Joined: Apr 2, 2001
    Posts: 16,730

    zman
    Member
    from Garner, NC

    word is the 455's (and other engines they tried) didn't do the job the Nailhead did, so they kept them for longer than any other engine....
     
  14. Was privy to some SR-71s taking off, we were stitting in a hangar next to the runway, nothing in the world as loud as that plane!
     
  15. 327-365hp
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 5,429

    327-365hp
    Member
    from Mass

    So clue me in, how the hell do you start an SR-71?
     
  16. moose
    Joined: Jan 11, 2005
    Posts: 353

    moose
    Member

    I went to school at Parks College in Cahokia IL back in the early '90's, and they had an early hemi powered GPU they used to start the jet engines in the test cells.

    I've got a picture of it somewhere. I'll take a look for it.
     
  17. LUX BLUE
    Joined: May 23, 2005
    Posts: 4,407

    LUX BLUE
    Alliance Vendor
    from AUSTIN,TX

    Have You ever seen a pit crew use a blower mounted starter?


    kinda like that....but waaaay bigger.
     
  18. 327-365hp
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 5,429

    327-365hp
    Member
    from Mass

    Oh, like the model airplane guys, they just hold the electric motor on the prop, only waay waaay bigger. I was just wondering in case I see an
    SR-71 broke down on the side of the highway :D
     
  19. Some how I doubt that's how thay work. The jet startes we used at ATA used Detroit sixty series engines to run vary large roots type supercharger. The compressed air from the blower was routed through a hose into a port on the aircraft, were it turned a turbine starting the engine.
     
  20. LUX BLUE
    Joined: May 23, 2005
    Posts: 4,407

    LUX BLUE
    Alliance Vendor
    from AUSTIN,TX

    that doesn't sound like nearly as much fun.:D
     
  21. DocWatson
    Joined: Mar 24, 2006
    Posts: 10,273

    DocWatson
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    You know the SR-71 was designated the RS-71 at first but a persidential worb bungle swaped the R for S and the rest is history!
     
  22. moose
    Joined: Jan 11, 2005
    Posts: 353

    moose
    Member

    I spent a few years in the aviation industry, and the only piston engine powered start carts I've seen have been used as big generators. These generators then put the power to the electric starter motors of the jet engines, via thick electric cables. I have also used turbine engine powered "huffer" carts that basically pump a large amount of compressed air to pneumatic starter motors. These are used on aircraft that don't have an APU(mostly '60's or earlier planes like the SR-71) or the APU is broken.

    I would have to guess that these twin engine start carts were of the huffer variety. That would explain the high 4400 RPM line mentioned earlier. The generator variety usually had a working RPM of around 2600.

     
  23. The SR stands for "surveillance/reconnaisance". It was not "RS".
     
  24. partsman
    Joined: May 18, 2008
    Posts: 79

    partsman
    Member

    I have a small garrette t3 turbo from a start cart that had a Buick nailhead in it the strange thing is that it ran on propane, Its one of those things that got thrown away when the cart was dissmantled, I saw a video from my buddy that gave me the turbo of this thing running wide open and the turbos (yes two of them) looked like you could stick a screwdriver through the side they were so red.
     
  25. Those planes would get to about our hangar and just go straight freakin up! The afterburners would rattle the place for 5?+ minutes?
     
  26. FNG
    Joined: Jan 22, 2006
    Posts: 422

    FNG
    Member
    from New Jersey
    1. HAMB Relays

    When I was stationed in the Phillipenes it's where they had a SAC base and the legendary B52 I was talking car stuff one Sunday with a couple of the AirForce wingnuts and they showed me the APU for the one of the B52's powered by a 454 chevy motor.
     
  27. DocWatson
    Joined: Mar 24, 2006
    Posts: 10,273

    DocWatson
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yes, and if you did a little research you will find that the SR-71 was the first aircraft to wear that designation. Officially called a Reconnaissance/Surveillance aircraft until it was publicly announced inaccurately by the US Pres. Guy Rich, the second man after Kelley Johnson and his successor as head of the 'Skunkworks' talks about it in his book 'Skunkworks'.
    Funny, but I think the thermodynamicist that designed the intake spikes and ran the plant that built the thing would know about such things.
    It cost the Skunkworks a LOT of money as everything needed to be changed as everything was already stamped or produced as RS-71.
    Another interesting thing about the SR(RS)-71 is the interesting way aircraft components were cut! Being made of the then exotic metal titanium the cost for cutting materials was extreme! That was until someone marked a line on a sheet of titanium with a Biro pen. I don't remember what it was in the ink but it ate through the thin sheet! That was how skin was then cut out on the SR-71!

    We historians are anal, make sure you bring FACTS not opinions.;)
    Doc.
     
  28. Gentelmen all bullshit aside I used to operate that start cart at Beale AFB. and they were Buick 401 Wildcat engines in tandem series and they did reach 4400 rpm and beyond. I was in the 9th OMS. and a crewchief of a b model and an a model.back in 1967 and again in 1971 through 1973. Always was a Buick nailhead motor and what a rush to crank em up. Rags
     
  29. Directly from the SR-71.org webpage. No mention anywhere of "RS-71", BTW.

    http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/sr-71/

    "We historians are anal, make sure you bring FACTS not opinions"

    Indeed.
     
  30. DocWatson
    Joined: Mar 24, 2006
    Posts: 10,273

    DocWatson
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Go away and look up Guy Rich and Kelly Johnson. If they nsay that something happened in the design and build of the SR-71 I will take that over any web site any time.
    Yes INDEED.
     

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