Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!ukc!warwick!arg
From: arg@warwick.UUCP (A Ruaraidh Gillies)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: SR71 to be retired October 1st, rumors regarding SR-71
Message-ID: <1663@ubu.warwick.UUCP>
Date: 20 Mar 89 16:37:39 GMT
References: <524@gonzo.UUCP> <1475@petsd.UUCP> <13987@elroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> <976@nbife.NBI.COM> <1993NU052179@NDSUVM1>
Sender: news@warwick.UUCP
Reply-To: arg@diamond.UUCP (Ruaraidh Gillies)
Organization: Loud Shirts Wearers Anonymous, Warwick University
Lines: 36

In article <1993NU052179@NDSUVM1> NU052179@NDSUVM1.BITNET writes:
>ron@nbife.NBI.COM (Ron Schweikert) writes:
>You'll like this one.  I heard that the skin of the aircraft was designed
>to allow for the expansion caused by fricion heating.  Therefor the gap
>left between each panel was such that fuel would leak out while the
>"Bird" was on the ground.  The plane had to be fueled and gotten into
>the air and up to speed to heat the skin and close the leaks!  WOW!
>     I would have ignored this one if I hadn't heard it from more than
>one "knowledgable" source.  It sounds a bit dangerous ;-)

Well it would be wouldn't be? But then again, they don't use regular Four star
(or whatever the usual name for high grade petrol is in the States). I realise
that the guy who asked for rumours will have replied to you before this
article gets to you, but then, there'll probably be a whole host of people
following-up to you telling you that
        THIS IS PERFECTLY TRUE!

My memory tells me that they use JP-5 low-flashpoint fuel - you can drop a
lit match in a pool of the stuff and the match goes out.

And I don't work at Mildenhall (the USAF airbase in England where a Blackbird
flies from)

(Maybe the question for rumours was put out just to see how much *true* stuff
about the Blackbird was disbelieved? :-)

Question unrelated to the fuel issue: Why is this conversation in
sci.space.shuttle? Sure, I like it, but why was it put in here in the first
place?
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Contact me on:     | Ruaraidh Gillies   | "Many men have tried."
 arg@uk.ac.warwick | 2nd year Comp Sci  | "They tried and failed?"
  or               | Warwick University | "They tried and died."
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                   | Great Britain      |  Paul Atreides -- Dune)
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