The US Air Force is testing synthetic fuel on a B-52 in a bid to reduce reliance on imported petroleum. Success will mean the fuel could be in service by 2008
Shortly after sunrise on a cool September morning in California’s Mojave Desert, a US Air Force Boeing B-52H rolled down the main runway at Edwards AFB on a historic first flight.
Three of the four twin-engine pods under the bomber’s wing belched the black smoke that is characteristic of this 1950s-era designed aircraft. Engines 7 and 8, in the outboard pod on the right wing, produced only half the smoke of the other engines. These two were burning a 50-50 blend of standard JP8 jet fuel and a synthetic Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) fuel. The other six engines were using standard JP8. It was the first time that a synthetic fuel had been flight tested in a US military aircraft and the latest step in a programme begun by the USAF earlier this year with the objective of a test flight before the end of September.
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