Don't complain about your Ferrari oil leaks...

What else would you use to keep a Tomcat clean?

That's okay, I've seen F-15s with the same problem but we used "diapers".

http://www.newpig.com/en_US/main.jhtml?productId=MAT426&ppanalysis=I-2LHBPIGWHITEOILONLYMATPADSROLLS&page=browse/pp.jhtml

 

Actually I think the SR-71 Blackbird had the worst oil leak so Im not worrying about my F car

 

In the case of the SR-71, it was designed that way! Because of the terrific heat generated at Mach 3, the parts all expanded tremendously at speed. As the aircraft cooled off on the ground, everything contracted, and soon the airplane would leak like a sieve!

F-14s did not generally leak excessively, though they were rather high-maintenance aircraft, particularly late in life. So this scene became rather more common in recent years, which led to the decision to retire the Tomcat fleet, perhaps a little sooner than had originally been planned.

 

I have a friend who ownes a WWII Corsair(Navy fighter Plane) that is completely restored, new everything. I have never seen anything leak oil like that thing not even and old Harley, of course this thing holds, IIRC, 30 gals of oil. So I suppose a quart or three is a low percentage of the total. HaHaHa Regards, Vern

 

What a great airplane...18 cylinder, 2800 cubic inch, two stage supercharged, 2000 horsepower radial engine...turning a 13 foot diameter prop (that's the distance from the floor to the top of a basketball backboard)...all in that wicked bent wing airframe!

 

In fact the Blackbird leaked fuel not oil, engines only have a few gallons of oil capacilty and it is kept in a sealed tank.

 

yep

and not to split hairs, but shouldn't this thread be in "Cars, Motorcycles, Boats, & Planes"?

 

I was about 8 or so and at an airshow with my father. As we walked by the CAF's B-24 I pointed out the amount of oil dripping from all the engines. The 60 year old bomber pilot who was standing next to the plane overheard my comments and led me around by the hand to just underneath one of the engines. He pointed up to it and said "When I was flying these over Germany the only time we got worried was when they DIDN'T leak oil. That meant it was empty!" I'll never forget that.

 

Agreed cool airplane. My friend thinks its great fun to do multiple G rolls with me in the jump seat that they installed behind the pilot. My lunch is usually shoved down to my toes but, hey I guess I have the experiance to have flown in that airplane. Regards, Vern

 

Oil leak? I think you'll find that's the rust protection system.

 

Rolls-Royce SPEY engines leak worse

 

I was just at the local airshow over the weekend in Van Nuys.

I didn't take that many pic's but here are a couple I liked.
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I am envious...a very tough ride to find!

 

In regards to the P-51 pictured above, now THAT was a V-12. The British Merlin engine, also built by Packard under license during WWII, was 1649 cubic inches, two stage supercharged, four valves per cylinder, 1200 horsepower. Notice the beautiful two stage crank driven (through step-up gearing) supercharger in the photo below. This magnificent engine certainly has it's own distinctive and beautiful sound.

 

F-14s leaked copious amounts of EVERYTHING - fuel, oil, hydraulic fluid. I've never seen a clean or dry one. You ever get a good look at the tarmac on a Navy base, or carrier flight deck?
I've driven just about every high performance machine on 4 wheels, but NOTHING compares to that Mach 2 rocket ship. I've seen the world from a Tomcat cockpit, and it always brought me home safely. We should all hope for that kind of reliability and performance from our F-cars.

Dexter

 

Always loved the looks of this little hot rod...F-104 Starfighter:

 

Ahh yes, but IIRC most military aircraft recieve about 14 hours of maintainance for each hour of flight. Probably about the same as our Ferrari's, lol.

Regarding R-2800 Pratt and Whitneys and the amount of oil they consume, my Father flight crewed and wrenched on a few in WW2. Back then a new engine would start out burning 4 quarts of oil per hour, per engine. He said they ran really good when they were using about 8 or 10, and they pulled them for overhaul at 18 quarts per hour. Each engine had a dry sump reservoir that held about 50 gallons. Enough to make the next fuel stop.

Mostly it was because of piston ring technology. Today those engines dont use hardly any oil. Many times what oil does leak out is from the bottom cylinders where oil runs past the rings. This is why they have to be turned over by hand a few times so as to clear the cylinders so they dont hydraulic lock.