f-104starfighter

[f-104starfighter]

The North American X-15 is no ordinary aircraft; it is the fastest manned aircraft ever flown. Tearing across the sky at Mach 6.7, the only way to go faster than this is to dream. Unlike traditional jet-powered planes, the X-15 is powered by a rocket motor. The main difference between a rocket motor and a jet engine has to do with air intake and compression. A jet will use spinning blades to compress air, mix it with fuel, and ignite the mixture, expanding it out the back of the engine. It needs constant airflow because, without it, there is no compression and thus no expansion, which is why jet engines cannot be used in space. A rocket has no mechanism to compress air because its fuel and air are already compressed. Rockets have two fuel tanks, a liquid fuel tank and a liquid oxidizer tank. both of these liquids are pumped into the combustion chamber, where they are ignited and expand out of the nozzle of the engine. Rockets can generate magnitudes more thrust and travel much faster than a traditional jet, but they are far less fuel efficient. Because of this inefficiency, the X-15 did not take off on its own power, instead, it was launched from a B-52 Stratofortress, similarly to a parasite fighter. The X-15 would only experience powered flight for the first two minutes of flight, and the rest of the flight would be an unpowered glide down to the surface. The X-15 had a landing speed far too fast for an ordinary runway or landing gear; it required a dry lake bed to be used as a landing strip. The X-15 was created so that NACA (later NASA) could research space flight and and how controls surfaces would react at hypersonic speeds. Because the X-15 flew in both high and low density environments, it needed 2 different control methods. In the dense lower atmosphere, it used conventional control systems to orient itself, but in the less dense upper atmosphere, it used tiny rockets mounted on the nose and wings to control the aircraft. Two control surfaces were needed because in the upper atmosphere, there is less air moving over the control surfaces, which means the aircraft cannot be controlled. Unlike traditional aircraft made out of steel and aluminum, the X-15 had to be coated in a special heat-resistant alloy because the air resistance at high speeds creates so much friction on the skin that it would melt traditional materials. The Information collected during the X-15 program would contribute to the development of the Gemini, Mercury, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs. One of the 3 X-15s was recently renovated at the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar and will be on display in the National Air and Space Museum in 2026 once renovations are complete.

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Have you ever seen a pancake and wondered if it could fly? Charles Zimmerman did! The Vought V-173 is essentially one large airfoil with two propellers on the sides. The reason the propellers were on the sides and not the front has to do with drag. As air passes over the edge of a wing, it creates turbulence, which creates drag and slows down the airplane. Charles Zimmerman realized that if he put the propellers on the sides of the plane, there would be no turbulence as there is no wingtip. The V-173 was a small-scale proof-of-concept vehicle, but the Navy was so impressed with its STOL capabilities that it immediately ordered production of the full-scale XF5U-1. Test pilots Boone Guyton and Charles Lindbergh reported that the aircraft had remarkable low-speed performance and that it was almost impossible to stall. In the area in Connecticut where it was tested, there was a rise in UFO reports from the public.

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/vought-v-173-flying-pancake/nasm_A19610120000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_V-173#Operational_history

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Did the soviets just duct tape jet engines onto a biplane? YES THEY DID! This is the I-153 DM, a prototype aircraft used to test the possibility of jet fighters in soviet aviation. It was equipped 2 with gasoline-burning DM2 ramjet engines which increased the top speed by 30 KMH, They were later swapped for the more powerful DM4 engines, which increased the top speed by 50 KMH. The reason the jets added so little to the top speed has to do with the type of engines. Unlike a turbofan, ramjets do not have a compressor. This means that they rely on the speed the aircraft is going to compresses the air, so they are not efficient when an aircraft travels slowly. Biplanes are known for travelling very slowly, so they do not mix very well with ramjets. Even though the aircraft was never put into service, It succeeded in paving the way for early jet research in the Soviet Union.

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Have you ever seen this aircraft? I doubt you have because it has never taken to the skies. The PZL-230 Skorpion was a proposed low cost attack aircraft for the polish air force. The design originally called for 2 turboprop engines, but after an increase in the payload requirement the design team switched to turbofan engines instead. It would have been armed with a 25mm gun pod and a payload of 2000kg. While you may think it is a stealth aircraft because of its similarity to the SR-71, it is purely a coincidence because this aircraft was built for low altitude ground attack operations. Ultimately the plane was never built after funding ran out in 1994, and the only surviving remnants are the mockups made to test the design.

[f-104starfighter]

Aircraft engine types ✈️

✈️Turbo-Shaft: Used in helicopters and some fixed-wing aircraft, it features a compressor, combustion chamber, and turbine. The turbine drives a power shaft via a free (power) turbine, which powers the rotor or propeller through a gearbox, rather than producing direct thrust. Exhaust gases are expelled separately.

✈️Turbo-Prop: Similar to a turbo-shaft, it powers a propeller via a gearbox. Air is compressed, mixed with fuel, and burned in the combustion chamber. The turbine extracts energy to drive the propeller, with some exhaust thrust. It’s efficient for low-speed, short-range flights.

✈️Turbo-Fan: Common in commercial jets, it has a large fan at the front, high- and low-pressure compressors, a combustion chamber, and turbines. The fan accelerates air around the core (bypass air) for thrust, while the core produces additional thrust via exhaust. It’s efficient for high-speed, long-range flights.

✈️Turbo-Jet: An older design, it compresses air, burns fuel in the combustion chamber, and expels exhaust through a nozzle for thrust. It lacks a bypass fan, making it less efficient but capable of high speeds. Used in early jet fighters and some supersonic aircraft.

✈️Ram-Jet: Operates at high speeds (Mach > 1), using forward motion to compress air in the inlet. Fuel is injected and burned in the combustion chamber, and the exhaust is expelled through a nozzle for thrust. It has no moving parts but only works at high speeds.

✈️Scramjet: A supersonic combustion ramjet, designed for hypersonic speeds (Mach > 5). Air enters at supersonic speeds, is compressed, mixed with fuel, and burned in a combustion chamber, with exhaust expelled for thrust. It’s used in experimental hypersonic vehicles.

✈️Rocket: Uses stored propellants (fuel and oxidizer) in a pressure vessel. Propellants are burned in a combustion chamber, and the high-pressure exhaust is expelled through a nozzle for thrust. It operates in space since it doesn’t rely on atmospheric oxygen.

✈️Gas Turbine: Similar to a turbo-shaft, it’s used for power generation or auxiliary power units. Air is compressed, burned with fuel, and the exhaust drives a power turbine, which can power generators or other systems. Bleed valves and discharge ports manage airflow and pressure.

Each engine type is optimized for specific applications, balancing efficiency, speed, and operational environment.

@Airmainengineer via X

[f-104starfighter]

Did you know the F-104 was used to test space shuttle thermal tiles? In 1988, NASA needed to test the thermal tiles' elemental resistance to determine the weather the space shuttle could fly under. They applied thermal tiles to the F-104 and flew it through clouds at increasing speeds. What they found is that the tiles would crack and scar, severely deteriorating their ability to absorb heat. If not for this aircraft, Several astronauts would have died a horrible, agonizing death, burning up upon reentry. Thank you F-104!

Meyer, R. R., & Barneburg, J. (1988). In-Flight Rain Damage Tests of the Shuttle Thermal Protection System . Nasa Technical Memorandum, 100438.