Nailheads in Air Force history (declassified)

Back when I was in the Air Force, I heard about the original start carts they used for the SR-71 blackbird. That aircraft needed to use an external mechanical starting device, so the Air Force connected a pair of fire-breathing Nailhead Buicks to turn a central splined shaft that turned over the big J-58's until they got enough rotation to put fuel on. I guess these things running & starting an SR-71 was an event to say the least.

http://www.456fis.org/STARTER_CARTS.htm

 

Interesting bit of history and very cool pics...........thanks for posting!!

 

Very cool.

 

I like it! SR-71 and Buicks, Cool!

 

nailheads rule!!!! thanks for the thread!

 

That is freakin awesome! Thanks for learning me something new today!

 

Blackbird and Nailheads, it dosent get much cooler than that!

 

Neat trivia, but it has been posted a few times. I guess it's that time of the year again.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=283128

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186586

 

Aparently folks do not realize there is a search funtion here.......................

 

I did a search with "nailhead start cart" nada.

 

"Blackbird" found me 5 threads on the same topic.

 

Really? That got me Lee Martin's thread. Hmmm...

 

A guy I grew up with was a mech on the SR-71. I was impressed to learn they cleaned the engines with powdered walnut shells. I guess they were hard enough to rermove the crud but not abrasive enought to damage anything.
5 western states to do a 180 at speed.
Thats allmost as fast as my Galaxie folks.

 

"SR71" got me 3 threads

 

I stand corrected. Thanks for keeping me in line

 

Had a SR-71 fly over me once (sub sonic) at an al***ude of about
750 ft. Shook the whole forrest.
Bill.

 

My point is that this place is so large and comprehensive almost EVERYTHING can be found in the archives. This is a pretty impressive group when it comes to planes/trains/automobiles. Odds are you can find the info if you look.

 

I came across this website a few months ago while browsing for info on prewar Buick cars, apparently Buick was making Pratt & Whitney radial engines for B24s during WWII.

http://www.prewarbuick.com/cars/267/1942-Buick-B24-powered-by-Buickbuilt-radial-engines

http://www.prewarbuick.com/cars/266/1942-Buick-Liberator-Song

http://www.prewarbuick.com/cars/265/1942-Buick-Engine-in-B24-Liberator

And M18 Hellcats, complete with Dyanflow transmissions:

http://www.prewarbuick.com/cars/264/1942-Buick-M18-Hellcat-tank

 

why would someone possibly come to the hamb and search these phrases if they did not already know about this? Give the guy a break.


Thanks for posting, I haven't seen this yet.

 

Easy, you are on a baord filled with hotrodders and vintage plane freaks. You think you are so special to be the only person talking about NAILHEADS being used to start airborn hotrods?

Like I said, if you find something you think might be of interest to like minded folks it has probably been covered. Like the Hellcat pulled from lake Michigan or the German tank pulled from a lake etc...........

 

It's real easy, just because you thought it was neat doesn't mean that one of the other 99,000 hasn't beat you to it. So search to see if it already has been posted, then maybe bump an existing thread if it has. Bandwidth costs money. Then you turn around and join the Alliance so that it helps foot the bill.

 

thank you for posting this. I found it very interesting and love the photos.

thank God you didn't find it when you searched, otherwise you may not have posted it and then I wouldn't have seen it.

I suppose we should start a social group called "Bandwidth Police"

 

We have a "Blackbird" in our collection, parked next to the only "B-2" on display, anywhere in the world. I helped put the SR in uncl***ified condition , so it could be displayed to the public. We got the start carts with it [spare nailheads too] along with some other equipment. The carts were built by Kurtis-Kraft Corp for the USAF. Frank Kurtis built start carts, bomb carriers, and other aircraft related equipment while he was in business. He once told me that he enjoyed builing race cars but he also had to pay the bills. Kurtis was areally sharp guy.

 

Since I'm also paying my bills right now, I might as well pay the HAMB too. Do I put it in c/o zman?

 

<table id="payment-details" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr bgcolor="#eeeeee"><td width="50%">Transaction ID: 84B35519CT582380C</td> <td align="right" width="50%">Placed on Jan 22, 2010</td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2"><table cl***="dataTable" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td cl***="header">Payment For</td> <td cl***="header" width="10%">Quan***y</td> <td cl***="headerMoneyColumn" width="15%">Price</td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td>The H.A.M.B. Alliance Subscription
Item #e3e8c01ff2ff8bf0ae965694176f7cfe</td> <td>1</td> <td cl***="moneyColumn">$50.00 USD</td> </tr> <tr cl***="summary"> <td colspan="2">Subtotal:</td> <td cl***="moneyColumn">$50.00 USD</td> </tr> <tr cl***="summary"> <td colspan="2">Sales Tax:</td> <td cl***="moneyColumn">$0.00 USD</td> </tr> <tr><td cl***="spacer" colspan="3">
</td></tr> <tr cl***="summary"> <td cl***="smallEmphasis" colspan="2">Total Amount:</td> <td cl***="moneyColumnEmphasis">$50.00 USD</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>

 

there ya go tjet! $50 bucks buys alot of bandwidth! The discounts on the Alliance membership are the best.

 

Kool - today's repeat topics on me!

 

I have worked for the Air Force for 30 years, never seen a nailhead here but have worked with and for plenty of d**kheads and pinheads during that time. Thanks for the post, very interesting!

 

Best thread in a long time! Steven.

 

No, the proper thing to do would have been adding his info to an existing thread making a bigger resource for all. Much better than a half dozen threads on the same thing, some with duplication and some with additional info.

Look at all the effort Flat Ernie put into cataloging T5 threads. Would be easier to read if it wasn't ****tered in 20 threads.

And we are all guilty of it. I did it with a vintage camper thread last year. Mea Culpa, after that I made a point to intensify my searches on various subject.