If you have heard of the Museum of Flight in Washington state, or have been there you might know this fact. It is currently pretty famous because they have one of the Concorde's parked there on permanent loan from British Airways. Anyways, they also have a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. I was at the museum being given a tour, and I noticed two engines sitting on a big wheeled cart with a bunch of other stuff, underneath the SR-71. I asked what they were for. The guide told me that they are used to warm up the planes J-58 engines before it takes off. He said the engines were coupled together and make 300 horsepower each and were both Buick Wildcat engines. He said they have no sort of sound suppressing on them so when the fire up the engines, it sounds like thunder. I thought that was pretty neat random use for a retired cars' engine.
I've seen people post this basic info before but I wonder if there are buick nailhead parts still available for them through the AMDEF system.... If we could get some numbers off of the power unit or maybe find a TM for it I bet one of our active duty member could look and see... regards
