Message posted by Magoo on April 10, 2000 at 18:03:41 EST:

It wouldn't surprise me at all. Don't forget, the Brits designed the jet engine, and Rolls Royce still builds the best and most bullet proof engines around.

That's actually the case with most western high performance jets - the airframe will usually give out long before the engines do. This was the case with the SR-71 - pilots actually had to reign the thing in at times, as it's airspeed would be too fast for the airframe and things would start to melt or separate.

The F-111 has the same problem - it is a really 'slippery' shape, and will just keep accelerating if you let it. A friend of mine once landed with a deformed (melted!) radome after he had seen Mach 2.7 at altitude on an engine test, and the engines were fine.
For years, the Russians didn't have the metalurgy technology to make blades and engine cores strong enough for sustained high speed flight, and they would frequently trash engines after only a couple of flights (e.g. early MiG-25s). Only in the last 15 years or so have they started to match the west in engine design.

Magoo

In Reply to: Re: Big Boys Toys. posted by Al on April 10, 2000 at 13:46:04 EST:

Replies:

• Re: Big Boys Toys. Richard 4/12/2000, 09:54:59 EST (2)
  • Re: Big Boys Toys. Magoo 4/12/2000, 19:18:50 EST (0)
  • Re: Big Boys Toys. Al 4/12/2000, 13:37:45 EST (0)