Blackbird “Mother Ship”
The Blackbird family of aircraft cruised at speeds of more than Mach 3 and altitudes of over 85,000 feet (25,500 m). Conceived more than 45 years ago and retired from active service since the late 1990s, Blackbirds remain the fastest piloted jets ever built.
Lockheed M-21 Blackbird with attached D-21B drone at Seattle's Museum of Flight
Lockheed M-21 Blackbird at Seattle's Museum of Flight
Lockheed M-21 Blackbird at Seattle's Museum of Flight
World War II B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
World War II B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Liberty Belle landing at Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA. April 25, 2010.
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
World War II B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
World War II B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
World War II B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Flying Fortress at Museum of Flight, Seattle
B-17 Liberty Belle at Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA. April 25, 2010.
B-17 Liberty Belle at Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA. April 24, 2010. The Liberty Belle crashed and burned June 13, 2011. All seven on board escaped safely.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-crews-responding-to-incident-involving-wwii-bomber-20110613,0,5852034.story
B-25 Mitchell bomber at Museum of Flight, Seattle. June 23, 2019
B-25 Mitchell bomber at Museum of Flight, Seattle. June 23, 2019
Green
B-24 Liberator bomber at Museum of Flight, Seattle. June 23, 2019
Used for the Apollo space program's Saturn 5 rocket, the F-1 engine is the most powerful single-nozzle liquid-fueled rocket engine ever flown. The M-1 rocket engine was designed to have more thrust, but it was only tested at the component level. Also, the RD-170 produces more thrust, but has four nozzles. The F-1 burned RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) as the fuel and used liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer. A turbopump was used to inject fuel and oxygen into the combustion chamber.
The heart of the engine was the thrust chamber, which mixed and burned the fuel and oxidizer to produce thrust. A domed chamber at the top of the engine served as a manifold supplying liquid oxygen to the injectors, and also served as a mount for the gimbal bearing which transmitted the thrust to the body of the rocket. Below this dome were the injectors, which directed fuel and oxidizer into the thrust chamber in a way designed to promote mixing and combustion. Fuel was supplied to the injectors from a separate manifold; some of the fuel first traveled in 178 tubes down the length of the thrust chamber — which formed approximately the upper half of the exhaust nozzle — and back in order to cool the nozzle.
A gas generator was used to drive a turbine which drove separate fuel and oxygen pumps, each feeding the thrust chamber assembly. The turbine was driven at 5,500 RPM, producing 55,000 brake horsepower (41 MW). The fuel pump delivered 15,471 US gallons (58,560 litres) of RP-1 per minute while the oxidizer pump delivered 24,811 US gal (93,920 l) of liquid oxygen per minute.
Environmentally, the turbopump was required to withstand temperatures ranging from input gas at 1,500 °F (820 °C) to liquid oxygen at −300 °F (−184 °C). Structurally, fuel was used to lubricate and cool the turbine bearings.
Test firing of an F-1 engine at Edwards Air Force Base
Below the thrust chamber was the nozzle extension, roughly half the length of the engine. This extension increased the expansion ratio of the engine from 10:1 to 16:1. The exhaust from the turbopump was fed into the nozzle extension by a large, tapered manifold; this relatively cool gas formed a film which protected the nozzle extension from the hot (5,800 °F (3,200 °C)) exhaust gas.
Each second, a single F-1 burned 5,683 pounds (2,578 kg) of oxidizer and fuel: 3,945 lb (1,789 kg) of liquid oxygen and 1,738 lb (788 kg) of RP-1, generating 1,500,000 lbf (6.7 MN; 680 tf) of thrust. This equated to a flow rate of 671.4 US gal (2,542 l) per second; 413.5 US gal (1,565 l) of LOX and 257.9 US gal (976 l) of RP-1. During their two and a half minutes of operation, the five F-1s propelled the Saturn V vehicle to a height of 42 miles (222,000 ft; 68 km) and a speed of 6,164 mph (9,920 km/h). The combined flow rate of the five F-1s in the Saturn V was 3,357 US gal (12,710 l)[4] or 28,415 lb (12,890 kg) per second. Each F-1 engine had more thrust than three Space Shuttle Main Engines combined.
Recovered from ocean bottom, the Apollo space program's Saturn 5 rocket's F-1 engine.
Recovered from ocean bottom, the Apollo space program's Saturn 5 rocket's F-1 engine.
Recovered from ocean bottom, the Apollo space program's Saturn 5 rocket's F-1 engine.
LexJet eSatin
Recovered from ocean bottom, the Apollo space program's Saturn 5 rocket's F-1 engine.
Used for the Apollo space program's Saturn 5 rocket, the F-1 engine is the most powerful single-nozzle liquid-fueled rocket engine ever flown. The M-1 rocket engine was designed to have more thrust, but it was only tested at the component level. Also, the RD-170 produces more thrust, but has four nozzles. The F-1 burned RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) as the fuel and used liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer. A turbopump was used to inject fuel and oxygen into the combustion chamber.
The heart of the engine was the thrust chamber, which mixed and burned the fuel and oxidizer to produce thrust. A domed chamber at the top of the engine served as a manifold supplying liquid oxygen to the injectors, and also served as a mount for the gimbal bearing which transmitted the thrust to the body of the rocket. Below this dome were the injectors, which directed fuel and oxidizer into the thrust chamber in a way designed to promote mixing and combustion. Fuel was supplied to the injectors from a separate manifold; some of the fuel first traveled in 178 tubes down the length of the thrust chamber — which formed approximately the upper half of the exhaust nozzle — and back in order to cool the nozzle.
A gas generator was used to drive a turbine which drove separate fuel and oxygen pumps, each feeding the thrust chamber assembly. The turbine was driven at 5,500 RPM, producing 55,000 brake horsepower (41 MW). The fuel pump delivered 15,471 US gallons (58,560 litres) of RP-1 per minute while the oxidizer pump delivered 24,811 US gal (93,920 l) of liquid oxygen per minute.
Environmentally, the turbopump was required to withstand temperatures ranging from input gas at 1,500 °F (820 °C) to liquid oxygen at −300 °F (−184 °C). Structurally, fuel was used to lubricate and cool the turbine bearings.
Test firing of an F-1 engine at Edwards Air Force Base
Below the thrust chamber was the nozzle extension, roughly half the length of the engine. This extension increased the expansion ratio of the engine from 10:1 to 16:1. The exhaust from the turbopump was fed into the nozzle extension by a large, tapered manifold; this relatively cool gas formed a film which protected the nozzle extension from the hot (5,800 °F (3,200 °C)) exhaust gas.
Each second, a single F-1 burned 5,683 pounds (2,578 kg) of oxidizer and fuel: 3,945 lb (1,789 kg) of liquid oxygen and 1,738 lb (788 kg) of RP-1, generating 1,500,000 lbf (6.7 MN; 680 tf) of thrust. This equated to a flow rate of 671.4 US gal (2,542 l) per second; 413.5 US gal (1,565 l) of LOX and 257.9 US gal (976 l) of RP-1. During their two and a half minutes of operation, the five F-1s propelled the Saturn V vehicle to a height of 42 miles (222,000 ft; 68 km) and a speed of 6,164 mph (9,920 km/h). The combined flow rate of the five F-1s in the Saturn V was 3,357 US gal (12,710 l)[4] or 28,415 lb (12,890 kg) per second. Each F-1 engine had more thrust than three Space Shuttle Main Engines combined.
Recovered from ocean bottom, the Apollo space program's Saturn 5 rocket's F-1 engines injector sprayed fuel and oxidizer into the thrust chamberwhere they ignited. The hundreds of tiny holes on this injector are arrayed to provide a precise mix of fuel and oxidizer, while the baffles (ridges) reduce fluctuations in engine pressure helping to ensure a stable burn.
The injector sprayed over 5,500 pounds of fuel and oxidizer into the chamber every second which produced 1.5 million pounds of thrust when ignited.
The F-1 engines were loud enough to break windows miles away. Up close, the noise damaged the engines themselves. It took over 2,000 tests between 1962 and 1966 to achieve the intricate pattern of holes and baffles to manage the damaging shock waves.
Apollo 11 medical kit
Apollo 11 lunar sample return case.
Apollo 11 command module hatch.
Apollo 11 command module hatch.
Apollo 11 command module.
Apollo 11 command module.
Apollo 11 survival kit #1 with 3 water containers, a radio beacon and sopare battery, 3 pairs of sunglasses, six packages of desalting chemicals, a desalter kit, 2 survival lights, a machete and 2 bottles of sunscreen.
Lockheed M-21 Blackbird — the world's fastest airplane
The Blackbird family of aircraft cruise at speeds of more than Mach 3 and fly over 85,000 feet (25,500 m) in altitude. Conceived nearly 50 years ago, Blackbirds remain the fastest and highest flying air-breathing production aircraft ever built.
This M-21 is a unique variant of the A-12, the earliest Blackbird type. Built for a CIA program code-named "Tagboard," the M-21 carried unpiloted vehicles for intelligence gathering. These drones were intended for launch from the M-21 "mother ship" for flights over hostile territories. Design features of the M-21 include the second seat for the Launch Control Officer and the launch pylon on which the drone is mounted.
The Museum's M-21 was built in 1963, and is the sole surviving example of its type.
(mounted on top) Lockheed D-21B Drone
The D-21 drone was an unpiloted aircraft originally designed for CIA and Air Force surveillance missions over particularly hostile territories. Launched from airborne carrier aircraft, the D-21's Marquardt RJ43-MA-11 ramjet engine propelled it at speeds over 2,000 mph. (3,200 km/h). The two Lockheed M-21 Blackbird "mother ships" were designated M/D-21s when the D-21 "daughter" drone was mounted on top.
The D-21's Mission
During a reconnaissance mission, the D-21 drone would follow a pre-programmed flight path over areas of interest. Then the drone would return to international airspace, where the reconnaissance film package, equipped with its own parachute, was ejected. The package was then recovered in mid-air by a specially equipped airplane or at sea by a ship. Shortly after the film package was jettisoned, the drone self-destructed.
Runaway
Engineer Ben Rich worked on the D-21 program starting in 1962. Later, when he succeeded Clarence "Kelly" Johnson as the head of Lockheed's secret Skunk Works, he told of a day in the mid-1980s when a CIA man arrived carrying a panel. "Do you recognize this?" Rich did, but he couldn't figure out how the CIA man had gotten it. "It was a Christmas gift from a Soviet KGB agent," the CIA man explained. "He told me it was found by a shepherd in Siberia." The panel was part of a D-21 drone that had disappeared during testing over China in 1969. Hopelessly off course, the D-21 ran out of fuel and crashed in the vast Siberian wilderness.
Lockheed M-21 Blackbird — the world's fastest airplane
The Blackbird family of aircraft cruise at speeds of more than Mach 3 and fly over 85,000 feet (25,500 m) in altitude. Conceived nearly 50 years ago, Blackbirds remain the fastest and highest flying air-breathing production aircraft ever built.
This M-21 is a unique variant of the A-12, the earliest Blackbird type. Built for a CIA program code-named "Tagboard," the M-21 carried unpiloted vehicles for intelligence gathering. These drones were intended for launch from the M-21 "mother ship" for flights over hostile territories. Design features of the M-21 include the second seat for the Launch Control Officer and the launch pylon on which the drone is mounted.
The Museum's M-21 was built in 1963, and is the sole surviving example of its type.
(mounted on top) Lockheed D-21B Drone
The D-21 drone was an unpiloted aircraft originally designed for CIA and Air Force surveillance missions over particularly hostile territories. Launched from airborne carrier aircraft, the D-21's Marquardt RJ43-MA-11 ramjet engine propelled it at speeds over 2,000 mph. (3,200 km/h). The two Lockheed M-21 Blackbird "mother ships" were designated M/D-21s when the D-21 "daughter" drone was mounted on top.
The D-21's Mission
During a reconnaissance mission, the D-21 drone would follow a pre-programmed flight path over areas of interest. Then the drone would return to international airspace, where the reconnaissance film package, equipped with its own parachute, was ejected. The package was then recovered in mid-air by a specially equipped airplane or at sea by a ship. Shortly after the film package was jettisoned, the drone self-destructed.
Runaway
Engineer Ben Rich worked on the D-21 program starting in 1962. Later, when he succeeded Clarence "Kelly" Johnson as the head of Lockheed's secret Skunk Works, he told of a day in the mid-1980s when a CIA man arrived carrying a panel. "Do you recognize this?" Rich did, but he couldn't figure out how the CIA man had gotten it. "It was a Christmas gift from a Soviet KGB agent," the CIA man explained. "He told me it was found by a shepherd in Siberia." The panel was part of a D-21 drone that had disappeared during testing over China in 1969. Hopelessly off course, the D-21 ran out of fuel and crashed in the vast Siberian wilderness.
Boeing WB-47E Stratojet (1947) at Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA.
Boeing B-52G Stratofortress
The U.S. Air Force initially deployed the Boeing B-52 in 1955. Some forecasts indicate it may remain in use until 2040. At the beginnings of the Cold War, Air Force leaders believed the best way to attack hostile countries would be with nuclear weapons from high altitude at high speed. Boeing engineers originally designed the B-52 for that mission. When the Air Force used the B-52 in combat in the Vietnam War, however, individual aircraft typically dropped dozens and dozens of 500-pound bombs from high altitude.
This particular airplane was one of 193 G-models built at Boeing's Wichita plant and spent its entire life in-service with Strategic Air Command until placed on long-term loan with the Museum. The plane is powered by eight PW J57-P-43WB engines and had accumulated 15,305 hours of flight time by retirement. This airplane was one of 110 G-model B-52s which saw combat duty during the Vietnam War as part of Operation Bullet Shot and Linebacker II.
This aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Boeing B-52G Stratofortress
The U.S. Air Force initially deployed the Boeing B-52 in 1955. Some forecasts indicate it may remain in use until 2040. At the beginnings of the Cold War, Air Force leaders believed the best way to attack hostile countries would be with nuclear weapons from high altitude at high speed. Boeing engineers originally designed the B-52 for that mission. When the Air Force used the B-52 in combat in the Vietnam War, however, individual aircraft typically dropped dozens and dozens of 500-pound bombs from high altitude.
This particular airplane was one of 193 G-models built at Boeing's Wichita plant and spent its entire life in-service with Strategic Air Command until placed on long-term loan with the Museum. The plane is powered by eight PW J57-P-43WB engines and had accumulated 15,305 hours of flight time by retirement. This airplane was one of 110 G-model B-52s which saw combat duty during the Vietnam War as part of Operation Bullet Shot and Linebacker II.
This aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Boeing B-52G Stratofortress
The U.S. Air Force initially deployed the Boeing B-52 in 1955. Some forecasts indicate it may remain in use until 2040. At the beginnings of the Cold War, Air Force leaders believed the best way to attack hostile countries would be with nuclear weapons from high altitude at high speed. Boeing engineers originally designed the B-52 for that mission. When the Air Force used the B-52 in combat in the Vietnam War, however, individual aircraft typically dropped dozens and dozens of 500-pound bombs from high altitude.
This particular airplane was one of 193 G-models built at Boeing's Wichita plant and spent its entire life in-service with Strategic Air Command until placed on long-term loan with the Museum. The plane is powered by eight PW J57-P-43WB engines and had accumulated 15,305 hours of flight time by retirement. This airplane was one of 110 G-model B-52s which saw combat duty during the Vietnam War as part of Operation Bullet Shot and Linebacker II.
This aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
LexJet eSatin
