Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Jonathan A Bishop)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: SR-71 Blackbird question
Message-ID: <1990Oct4.012439.11707@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 4 Oct 90 01:24:39 GMT
References: <1990Sep27.031756.7889@cbnews.att.com> <1990Sep29.155314.7821@cbnews.att.com> <1990Oct2.235358.23938@cbnews.att.com>
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From: jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Jonathan A Bishop)
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:

[talking about Blackbird fuel]
>(A better word would be "non-flammable"; for historical reasons "inflammable"
>and "flammable" are synonyms.)  The stuff is supposed to be pretty tame
>compared to normal kerosene, since it has to behave itself in hot tanks.
>Again, the specific claim sounds a bit exaggerated, but it could be true.

     It's true.  The flashpoint of JP-7 (the SR-71's fuel) is higher than
the temperature of a burning match.  The fuel is ignited with Tri Ethyl
Borane.  The fuel is also used to cool critical systems, such as the landing
gear, which utilizes aluminum-impregnated tires inflated with nitrogen.
-- 
jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu

"Ground Control to Major Tom: Your circuit's dead; there's something wrong.
Can you hear me, Major Tom?" -- David Bowie