MPG? Who cares!

[user removed]

Got to ride in this baby at Pop's tribute. Navy version of the Texan. It was an experience to fly over a grass strip field where a flyable B17 was parked.

regards
Mech

[Cd]

Nice !
Big aviation fan myself.

[slowmover]

Lucky dog. I recall reading as a youngster about the convoy system; that the tankers carrying 130-octane avgas were quite vulnerable. Very brave men. Years later came across the reference that American refineries all produced this poteen for warbirds exclusively for the duration. Never again. I understand that TEXACO made some fairly hot juice for the RENO UNLIMITED races.

Can't find the pics tonite but there was a gathering of F8 Bearcats at the NAS Corpus Christi Airshow a few years ago. Love the sound of the starters, alone.

Radial engines are, bar none, the best sound of the 20th Century.

My father trained on Corsairs then the war ended. My FIL had over 55-types in his logbook, 1942-1946.

Congrats to the old guys. Miss mine (gone these past few years).

.

[SwamiSalami]

James May is lusting over this.

[Cd]

Speaking of 'fuel economy' and aircraft, I always found it interesting that the SR-71 was designed with fuel tanks that would leak untill the aircraft reached a certain speed and sealed the tanks through gap compression. As we all know, the plane would be nearly empty of fuel just after takeoff and would have to immediately meet up with a waiting tanker to refuel.
Does anyone know if the Air Force made any attempts at collecting the fuel that would leak from the plane ?
I had never read of the MIG-25 having this problem, but then it was contructed mostly of steel.

[Joenavy85]

The Mig never had the design feature due mostly to the steel construction. The Blackbird was built of titanium which expanded in size with increased temps (and actually got stronger over time due to the heat). I do know that after missions the canopy would be almost 600*F and they had to wait to exit the plane due to the heat.

The SNJ has always been one of my favorite WW2 era planes (after the P-51 Mustang and the F8F Bearcat) I've never flown in an SNJ, but have flown in a T-6

[Joenavy85]

Also, it wasn't the tanks that leaked, they actually used the fuel as a cooling element for parts of the fuselage.

[rm12577]

two years ago I got to fly the "aluminum overcast" B17 that is owned by the EAA. We flew it from Austin to Oklahoma City, I only got to sit at the controls and follow the gps for like 10 minutes but it was definitely a once in a lifetime thing with how few of those old birds are still flying today.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by Cd

...I always found it interesting that the SR-71 was designed with fuel tanks that would leak untill the aircraft reached a certain speed and sealed the tanks through gap compression...

I once read that the middle toilets on Concorde had a sliding door as the fuselage would lengthen by 2-3 inches at Mach 2+ due to heat friction so a solid one, which opened lengthways instead of sideways, wouldn't close properly.

Fancy paying all that money for a ticket and then having to sing / whistle whilst on the throne, with your foot against the door.

[JethroBodine]

Does anyone know if the Air Force made any attempts at collecting the fuel that would leak from the plane ?

Cd - I can't verify SPECIFICALLY about reclamation of SR71 fuel, but 6-7 years ago I was briefly involved with fuel reclamation on an ex military runway that involved pumping air into the ground under the concrete and collecting/condensing the fuel out of the air as it came back out. I saw about a dozen of these setups with 300? gallon collection tanks and was told they were emptied every day or so. I though it was awesome to see the military cleaning up after themselves instead of just burying it's problems( pun intended).