"Viperdoc" wrote in
:

I don't know whether nitrogen alone versus plain old air would make
that much difference in supporting a fire. As I recall, the heavies
have blow out plugs in case of a hot brake, so the plug melts and lets
the air (nitrogen) out before the tire blows.

That's right. they do, but they can and do catch fire as well.

On our base they fill the KC-135 tires in a big steel mesh cage- kind
of a reminder of what could happen if it let go.

Reminds me of the time a line guy in a local airport filled the air
bottle for a Vendenyev engine (they use an air start and not an
electrical starter) with oxygen rather than compressed air. The
resulting fire burned up the whole plane. The initial start-up must
have been something to watch- ignition on, engage starter, two blades,
.... then kaboom!


wow!


At least it was in a Wilga, and not an aerobatic plane. It was the
aviation equivalent of Darwinism- ridding the world of ugly airplanes.


So, the O2 fueled an already existing fire or caused it?


Bertie