More SR-71 trivia

One of the best parts of owning an aviation theme hotel is getting to
meet folks who worked in the aerospace industry during the heyday of
American military aircraft development.

Today we met a fellow who worked for Pratt & Whitney on the SR-71
Blackbird's engines. He's here for a wedding, and is mad as hell at
his brother for reserving the "Blackbird Suite" ahead of him!

This morning he was talking about how difficult it was to get oil pumps
to work on those huge engines, given the incredible range of
temperatures and pressures they had to endure. In the end they had to
dilute the oil before every flight (Marvel Mystery Oil? :-) so that it
would flow at the (relatively) cold temperatures at start-up.

Later, in flight, the dilutents would boil off, leaving only "pure"
(and very viscous) oil. Thus, not only would they have to re-fuel the
Blackbird before each flight, but they would have to change the oil,
too.

The secrecy involved with the program was truly amazing. When this
gentlemen traveled to California to work with Lockheed, he would always
travel as a representative of the "American Can Company" -- NEVER Pratt
& Whitney -- and would always stay at hotels far from Lockheed's
plants. And they NEVER went in the front door at Lockheed, but would
always be secreted around to a concealed entrance.

Even his BOSS at P&W didn't know where he was going, or what he was
doing. Everything was strictly on a "need to know" basis -- and they
were all absolutely stunned when President Lyndon Johnson announced the
existence of the program on TV (and butchered the name of the RS-71 to
"SR-71").

It's amazing to me how many of these guys I've met since we opened.
They're all gray headed and stoop-shouldered now, but once they were
young bucks doing unheard of things with little more than slide rules
and imagination.

Well, and almost unlimited funding!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"