Heroic drivers set to race F-104 flown by heroic pilots

http://www.avpress.com/n/04/0604_s14.hts ^ | June 4, 2006. | MARISSA WIDDISON

[BenLurkin]

PALMDALE - A crowd of men, women and children spent Saturday afternoon admiring what might soon be the fastest racing car on Earth. The glossy red "North American Eagle" used to be an F-104 jet fighter that was flown at Edwards Air Force Base by test pilots Pete Knight, Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield and Joe Engle.

"It looks like a real jet," 8-year-old Michael Mayes said. He was admiring the sleek beauty with his grandfather, Everett Mayes, who volunteers at the Plant 42 Heritage Airpark where the Eagle was on display Saturday.

This week the North American Eagle team will head out to El Mirage Dry Lake for what they describe as "low-speed tests" of 400 mph.

Eventually they hope to zoom past the land speed record by racing the vehicle to 800 mph. The current world record is 763 mph - Mach 1.02

"We're confident we can break it," said Keith Zanghi, who co-owns the vehicle with Ed Schadle, as he gave a handful of residents a tour.

Zanghi pointed out the aluminum wheels that use magnetic eddy currents to brake and the parachute that will help slow the vehicle.

The 13,000-pound racer has five wheels and is powered by the same kind of jet engine that originally powered the F-104s. The General Electric Turbojet has a 42,500 horsepower stock engine for low-speed testing and a 52,000 horsepower enhanced engine for record runs.

A team of volunteers has been working on the project for nearly 10 years, Zanghi explained. They found the fuselage in Maine, where it was being sold as military surplus.

Only after cleaning the battered aircraft did they uncover the serial numbers: 56-0763. Those digits revealed that the aircraft was built in Burbank and used as a chase plane for the X-15 at Edwards.

[Rummyfan]

This week the North American Eagle team will head out to El Mirage Dry Lake for what they describe as "low-speed tests" of 400 mph.

Holy Sh*t Batman!

[The Shrew]

While participating in Operation Northern Wedding in 1978 I was the forward lookout on FF-1082 - USS Elmer Montgomery. I saw a dot on the horizon and before I could say, "Bridge. Forward lookout." A West German F-104 was on top of us and proceeded to climb immediately over our ship and hit the afterburner launching him straight up at what must have been well over Mach. Meanwhile, I was hurtled to the deck by the force of his afterburner kick in at the same time getting an earful from the OOD about 'paying closer attention'.

"Ummmm. Yes. Sir."

That was the fastest plane I ever saw.

Semper Fi,

TS

[coconutt2000]

Now, what would happen if you had maglev tracks and jet powered trains... and long straight or nearly straight corridors for these trains to run in at full speed?

NY to LA in less than 4.5 hours, for less than the cost of a plane ticket?

[Grut]

Has anyone seen a picture of this thing? Lots of threads, no pix.... Hmmm.

[BenLurkin]

http://www.edwards.af.mil/archive/2005/2005-archive-f104_landspeed.html

[BenLurkin]

[SunkenCiv]

For me to travel from NY to LA, I'd have to start in one or the other -- no thanks. :')

Using magnetic rail guns to hurl self-stabilizing darts by the thousands will someday alter air warfare, and ground warfare as well.

[SunkenCiv]

Wow, FR's gone through over 2000 topics in three days.

Jet team hopes to break land speed record
http://www.avpress.com/n/01/0601_s12.hts | Thursday, June 1, 2006 | ALLISON GATLIN
Posted on 06/01/2006 2:16:01 PM EDT by BenLurkin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1641866/posts

[Grut]

Thanks!