Abandoned Russain Aircraft & Shuttle

[APG85]

Found this on the net...

[vernicator]

...and this is not a B-29.

PeterA

...and in the same way that this isn't a C-47.

[retroaviation]

Could be wrong, and probably am......but I was told that the Russians didn't have the funding to develop ceramic tiles to put on the bottom of their Shuttle, like ours has, so they used oak blocks. Other than the weight penalty, they claim that the oak just smolders in the intense heat of re-entry. If they'd have only used hickory, it would smell good too.

Gary

[TimAPNY]

Could be wrong, and probably am......but I was told that the Russians didn't have the funding to develop ceramic tiles to put on the bottom of their Shuttle, like ours has, so they used oak blocks. Other than the weight penalty, they claim that the oak just smolders in the intense heat of re-entry. If they'd have only used hickory, it would smell good too.

Gary

Insert BBQ Bear joke here?

Tim

[mustangdriver]

Legend has it that when the Russians built the Tu-4, they copied the B-29 so exactly that they included the flak damage patches. It may be apocryphal, but it makes a good story...


SN

They did to the point that the rudder pedasl say Boeing!

[APG85]

Could be wrong, and probably am......but I was told that the Russians didn't have the funding to develop ceramic tiles to put on the bottom of their Shuttle, like ours has, so they used oak blocks. Other than the weight penalty, they claim that the oak just smolders in the intense heat of re-entry. If they'd have only used hickory, it would smell good too.

Gary

Sounds like a myth. The shuttle tiles face heat as high as 3,000 degrees F on re-entry. I don't think oak block wouyld last to long... Descriptions of the Buran Shuttles show ceramic tiles. Maybe "inferior" materials were used in less critical areas?

[retroaviation]

You could very well be right about the myth theory. I was told that story several years ago by some General Dynamics engineer that supposedly went to Russia to look at one of their surviving Shuttles (the one that was in a playground or became a restaraunt or something). He said they were there on "official business" to look at obtaining the Shuttle for "further studies" (whatever that meant). So, even though it came from a fairly reliable source, it could definitely just be a good story.

Gary

[bdk]

Cork has been used as an insulating material on some American made ICBMs/launch vehicles for many years. Not to protect against reentry however, in the "engine compartment."