Posted on 06/18/2003 11:22:39 PM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig
A group of speed-crazed men from Pierce County wants to break the world land-speed record with a jet plane-turned-three-wheeled-vehicle they are building in a hangar in Spanaway.
The vehicle has elements of a potential world record-holder: It's a former Air Force plane re-engineered for subsonic speed, with a jet engine that generates 39,000 horsepower and solid aluminum wheels machined for desert surface.
"The British have held the record for 20 years," said Ed Shadle, a retired IBM computer technician who lives in Spanaway. He's co-owner and driver of the vehicle. "It's about time that a couple of boys from Pierce County bring it back to America."
Shadle, 61, and the other co-owner of the vehicle, Keith Zanghi, 48, The Boeing Co. plant manager at Frederickson, already have spent $100,000 to make their dream come true: They want to surpass the world record of 763 miles per hour and reach the 800-mph milestone, well beyond the speed of sound.
Their team, North American Eagle, plans to install the test engine in a Spanaway hangar this September and carry out low-speed tests at an old B-52 runway in Moses Lake in November.
Only a few groups around the world are pursuing the land-speed record. The British record-holder, Andy Green, recently retired his vehicle. Now it seems to be up to two teams in America: past record-holder Spirit of America, based in Rio Vista, Calif., and the Pierce County team of about a dozen men.
Shadle, a Bonneville Flats drag racer, and Zanghi, an Eatonville resident, said their project might be the first to go after the world record by using the fuselage of an airplane with a rich history.
Their Lockheed F-104A Starfighter flew as a chase plane in the X-15 project, launched by the Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1954 for manned spaceflight. A list of Starfighter pilots reads like a who's who of aviation history, including Scott Crossfield, the first man to fly more than twice the speed of sound, Shadle said.
National media have featured the Pierce County duo's project: An article has appeared in Air & Space magazine published by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and the team received television coverage from the National Geographic Channel.
"This is going to be so big we'll be turning down interviews," Zanghi said.
The team
Around 10:30 p.m. every Saturday or Sunday, members of North American Eagle begin gathering in the hangar at the end of the taxiways of Shady Acres Airport in Spanaway.
A 56-foot vehicle, a 39,000-horsepower engine, tools, a box of doughnuts and an ice-chest full of beer and soft drinks await them.
Marty Schenck allows members of the volunteer team to use his hangar next to his house as the project's garage.
"I learned to fly with Ed," he said of Shadle. "When I bought the house, I didn't have an airplane and he had this project."
Like Schenck, other members of the group stumbled onto this project as well. But in the end, the team collectively offers a substantial set of resumes.
Bill Eckberg, a Boeing jet engine mechanic, came to the hangar one day because the team wanted to paint eagles on the vehicle with a paint that glows in the dark, which Eckberg sells as a side business.
"When I saw the engine, I went, 'J-79,'" Eckberg said.
He's a big man with a beard and long hair over his shoulders. He sports a flannel shirt over a Harley-Davidson T-shirt. Eckberg used to work on that type of jet engine, as well as other jet engines used for F-16s, F-15s and others fighters. Now he helps the team.
"I think this is a worthwhile project," Eckberg said as he took a gulp of beer in the hangar. "I wouldn't be here if didn't believe they could do it."
On the other side of the vehicle, Ed Drumheller, in a T-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes, sat in a chair and examined the material of parachutes, which will be deployed to slow down the vehicle.
He's an ejection-seat specialist who worked on NASA programs including the Gemini, Mercury and Apollo space projects. He came across the display of the North American Eagle team while strolling at the Puyallup Fair last year.
Several other team members offer their expertise. They include a computer technician, a former B-52 mechanic, an auto body specialist, a machinist, an engineer and so on.
Members are all volunteers from Pierce and King counties.
"Maybe one day (Shadle) gets a sponsor and we get paid," Drumheller said and laughed. "If we are lucky, we'll be part of history."
The project and the vehicle
Shadle and Zanghi, partners from an earlier superfast-vehicle project, got an idea in 1997 as they were wondering what they needed to break the world record: a fighter jet.
"In reality, it makes a very sound platform," Zanghi said. "The goal is to break the record with the best available efficiency."
The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was engineered for sustained Mach 2, twice the speed of sound.
The plane North American Eagle owns was used at Edwards Air Force Base in California from 1958 to 1964 in the J-79 testing program. From 1964 to 1968, it flew side-by-side with the rocket-powered X-15.
Shadle and Zanghi paid $25,000 for the junked F-104, which was sitting in a surplus aircraft dealer's hangar in Belfast, Maine, and an additional $3,000 for shipping.
In fall 2004, the team wants to try for a land-speed record at Black Rock Desert north of Reno, Nev., or at Cold Lake in Alberta, Canada, where a frozen lake would provide a similar surface with less dust.
Despite the progress the team has made, large obstacles loom.
The group still needs $500,000 to finish the vehicle and another $500,000 to hold the record-breaking session, which would require a camp for a 30-member crew for a month.
So far, the team has found smaller sponsors who have provided parts or services.
A shop at Fort St. John in British Columbia is working on an engine that will be used for the attempt to break the record. Another shop, in Abbotsford, B.C., machined the aluminum wheels. A shop in Port Angeles is building a magnetic braking system for the vehicle.
The vehicle's major parts bear big names, such as General Electric and Lockheed, but no monetary support has come from major corporations.
"If we had 10 minutes with any CEO, we can sell this thing," Zanghi said. "It's getting to those people that we've found difficult."
On its Web site, the team asks for potential sponsors to provide everything from on-board computers to portable toilets and toilet paper.
Until big sponsors step forward, the team will continue working on collecting parts through networking and putting in volunteer hours to finish the vehicle.
And some team members will continue working on their spouses or significant others so that they can pursue their dream.
"She got her horses," Zanghi said of his girlfriend. "As long as I keep supplying her horses, I get to do this."
Asked how he justifies his hobby to his girlfriend, Zanghi grinned and said: "She has 60 pairs of shoes."
Eijiro Kawada: 253-597-8633 eijiro.kawada@mail.tribnet.com
North American Eagle vehicle facts
Length: 56 feet
Weight: 13,000 pounds
Engine: General Electric J79-15 Turbojet, 39,000 horsepower
Chassis: F-104A Starfighter jet airplane
Wheels: Solid Billet Aluminum
For more information on North American Eagle, visit the group's Web site at: www.landspeed.com.
World land-speed milestones:
•Dec. 18, 1898 - 39 mph by French Gaston Chasseloup-Laubat (first world record; he drove an electric-powered car)
•August 5, 1902 - 76 mph by American William Vanderbilt (first American record-holder; internal combustion engines take over)
•July 21, 1904 - 103 mph by French Louis Rigolly (broke 100-mph wall)
•March 29, 1927 - 203 mph by British Henry Segrave (broke 200-mph wall)
•Sept. 3, 1935 - 301 mph by British Malcolm Campbell (broke 300-mph wall)
•August 5, 1963 - 407 mph by American Craig Breedlove (jet engines take over, surpassing 400-mph milestone; this record is not recognized by European authorities)
•Oct. 15, 1964 - 526 mph by American Craig Breedlove (broke 500-mph wall)
•Nov. 15, 1965 - 600 mph by American Craig Breedlove (broke 600-mph wall)
•Oct. 15, 1997 - 763 mph by British Andy Green (broke sound barrier; speed of sound, which varies according to weather and altitude, was calculated at 748 mph on this day)
Source: North American Eagle, Thrust Team and Spirit of America
Figures.
Bring that record home!
As much as I'd like to see Craig come back I don't think it's gonna happen. His last couple of trys have been kinda funky, and the website : www.spiritofamerica.com hasn't been updated for over a year.
What thrills in that wonderful Fall a few years back when SOA and Thrust were going at it head to head! Almost every day there was an attempt with the teams exchanging the lead several times!
I question the tri-cycle layout, but it does seem to work. Here's Good Luck to the team. Hope they bring the record back to the USA!
prisoner6
Get it full-auto <8^O
never mind
CB and SOA
prisoner6
In the early days of the program that was true but once improved catapults became available an upward ejecting seat was used.
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