Is the Lockheed Black Bird still in use?, page 6

I've heard that cool fact before Zaphod58.

Here's some other neat ones

At maximum output the fuel flow rate in the J58 is about 8,000 gallons per hour and the exhaust-gas temperature is around 3,400 degrees. The J58 required the use of a special AG330 engine starter cart to spool the engines up to the proper rotational speed for starting. The cart was powered by two unmuffled Buick Wildcat V-8 racing car engines which delivered a combined 600 horsepower through a common gear box to the starter drive shaft of the aircraft engines. The J58s had to be spun up to about 3,200 RPM for starting.
Source

I cant believe they needed a twin V8 600hp start cart

From the same source as above about the heat encountered during mach 3+ flight! I've heard some stories about ground crew personnel lighting cigarettes off the skin of the SR71 when it landed after sustained high speed flight.

At the speeds the SR-71 operated, surface temperatures were extremely high due to aerodynamic heating: 800 degrees at the nose, 1,200 degrees on the engine cowlings, 620 degrees on the cockpit windshield. Because of the operating altitudes, speeds, and temperatures, Lockheed designers were forced to work at the cutting edge of existing aerospace technology, and well beyond in many cases. Many features and systems simply had to be invented as they were needed, since conventional technology was inadequate to the task. New oils, hydraulic fluids, sealants, and insulations were created to cope with the ultra-high temperatures the craft would encounter. A new type of aviation fuel, JP-7, was invented that would not "cook off" at high operating temperatures, having such a low volatility and high flash point that it required the use of triethylborane as a chemical ignitor in order for combustion to take place. The fuel itself was rendered inert by the infusion of nitrogen and then circulated around various components within the airframe as a coolant before being routed into the J58 engines for burning.
Source

Now this is pretty cool about how the specially formulated JP7 fuel is used as both a coolant, and hydraulic fluid before being burned as a fuel

It burns an extremely low vapor pressure fuel called JP-7, which was formulated specially for the SR-71. You can put a cigerette out in a dish of JP-7. The fuel is designed to be hard to light because the airframe skin in the vicinity of the fuel tank is 500 - 600 degrees F at cruise. Even worse, the fuel is actually used as the hydraulic fluid in the engine actuators! The idea is, a steady supply of "cool" fluid arrives from the fuel tanks and gets used in hydraulic devices around the engine. Hydraulic fluid in a closed system would soon get as hot as the parts through which it ran - - but this special fluid gets used as fuel before it gets too hot! Afterburner ignition is spectacular, when an ultra-hot flash of Tetra-Ethyl Borane ("TEB") is squirted into the flame holders.Source

[edit on 5-7-2006 by warpboost]