Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

April 4, 2000

Ladies & Gentlemen:

The North American Eagle team has had a very busy week. It started out a week ago Sunday when the team flew to San Francisco to give a speech to the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Convention.  The one hour presentation on "Challenging the World Land Speed Record" was well received.  An added bonus was the Bonneville Streamliner of Jack Costella was on hand for ACS attendees could view.

Following the presentation the team hopped into the rental car and headed south for Mojave, CA.  The next day we stopped by Xcor Aerospace for a test firing of one of their developmental rocket engines. The test was a success as Xcor engineers stopped and restarted the engine several times.  Xcor is developing a 2000 version of the LR-11 rocket engine that once powered the Bell X-1 and the X-15 rocket plane.  The NAE team is considering using the engine for added boost during the acceleration phase of the landspeed record attempt.

Following the test firing we visited our old friends at BAE Systems. One of their top engine mechanics Bo, helped us on our Tonight Show debut a few years ago. Every time we are in town, we like to stop by and say hello.

After Mojave, we headed south to Edwards AFB where we were treated to an OUTSTANDING tour by Tony Landis at the NASA Dryden. By the way, we again must thank Tony for sending us yet another picture from the Air Force archives of 56-763 landing at Edwards with the X-15 Rocket plane.  Ed Shadle, Ron Norman and myself had a rare opportunity to sit in a number of F-18s: The NASA 747 used to transport the Space Shuttle: A number of X-Planes and the highlight of the trip, sit in the cockpit of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.

NAE Status
In spite of all the traveling we did manage to get some work done on the Eagle. We had a great turnout of volunteers last Saturday at the Wings West hanger. The replacement skin program is going well. On the downside, our March 31st paint date has come and gone. Our plans now are to try to have the major skin damage replaced by the middle of the month. Some noteworthy accomplishments were the fitting of the aft, center and forward canopies. All new replacement glass has been installed. Newly rebuilt body frames are nearly complete, with some of the fastening already taken place. With a little more hardwork, we should have some of the major replacement skins sealed and riveted this weekend. Another goal for the upcoming week is to install the vertical stabilizer.

Again we would like to thank our sponsors, Phil Morris at Morris Motorsports Printing for supplying us our new business cards (We passed out litteraly thousands on our trip this past week). The hospitality of the American Chemical Society and our good friends at Edwards Air Force Base Flight Test Center.

We invite you to add a comment, or remark, about our program or the site.

[Privacy Policy]