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Ladies and Gentlemen:

Well the world is running a little slower now since Team North American Eagle™ completed a successful afterburner test! With the 56 foot long Eagle securely chained to the Earth, there is no doubt the it had an effect on the earth's rotation! With the new 4-line afterburner installed from S&S Turbine Services Ltd, the town of Shelton, Washington, was awakened with the loud roar of the 45,500 hp turbojet engine!

A large contingent of team members were present including Rob Martinson, Jon Higley, Corey Dawson, Dave Selby, Larry Martinson, Chris Greene, Dustin Martinson, Steve and Libby Wallace, Levi Swet, Chris Hughes, Cam, Rachel and Alex Shadle, Tom Tiede and his son Tom, Bill Eckberg, Vance Flippin, Steve Green, Keith Zanghi and Ed Shadle.

As soon as the car was unloaded the team went to work tying the Eagle down to three 1800 lb buried concrete blocks. Meanwhile another group filled the Eagle with a fresh supply of Jet A fuel from Small & Sons Oil Distributing in Auburn WA.

Ed hopped into the car for the first test. The car started right up with the Optima Batteries from Interstate Batteries. At about 40% engine rpm Rich shut the air flow on the American Valley Aviation M32-60B start cart and the Eagle climbed to an idle. Ed then moved the throttles to 100% and the chains became taut. As he moved it into afterburner the car lurched forward about 2 feet as the slack was removed from the tie down chains. Wives and girlfriends who were witnessing an afterburner test for the first time went scurrying in fear as the sound from new 4-line afterburner echoed across the county. The sound decibels were so deafening that a top fuel dragster engine sounds like a sewing machine motor in comparison!

After Ed shut down the engine and everyone stopped patting themselves on the back, Ed asked Bill Eckberg, our crew chief, to climb into the cockpit so he could observe the AB test. He hadn't run a J-79 from the cockpit since his days in the Air Force as an engine mechanic on F-4 Phantoms, so he was very eager to give it a go. After Bill took it through a few more burner runs we shut it down and called it a day.

Thanks go out to the whole team. We had 22 team members on-site, including Canadian Steve Green from Eagle Machine, Inc. We had a few new faces on hand also. Dustin Martinson, whose dad is Larry, came out to help. Tom Tiede brought his son Tom. Vance Flippin a young man who came out to see us last weekend rode along with Ed and Steve Green. Even eight year old Alex Shadle came out with dad and mom to help out grandpa!

Two friends of Cam at Boeing, Stan and Will flew down to see the Eagle in action. A special thanks to our host John Dobson, executive director of the Port of Shelton. We had a great place to conduct runs with no interference or unwanted spectators. Sanderson Field in Shelton is a perfect place to do our testing.

Next weekend the team will unload the Eagle and get ready for a summer appointment with the sound barrier! We can't wait to unload the Eagle in our Milestone Building & Design structure and breaking the world land speed record for automobiles!

Photos taken by our team photographer Rachel Shadle.

On the Newsstands

If you own a Falcon Business Jet, then you have seen the North American Eagle in the latest issue of Falconer Magazine, Issue 36 / 2010. If you're not lucky enough to own a multi-million dollar business jet, the you can read The Quest To Be The Fastest Car On Earth written by Grant Kielczewski, Managing Editor on line. It features extraordinary photos of our July 2009 test session at The Black Rock Desert, and tells the story of tenacity and resourcefulness as our team challenges the 763 mph world land speed record.

Intel Solid State Drive Videos

If  you haven't seen them yet now would be a good time to watch the videos we did with Intel promoting their indestructible Solid State Drives.

For All you F-104 Scale Model Builders

Tony Landis from NASA Dryden sent us this information. Rocketeer Decal, a manufacturer of scale model decals now offer a decal sheet that includes turning your 1/72 F-104 model with the livery of 56-0763. Cool huh?

We know a lot of our fans are on facebook.  Now the North American Eagle™ is on facebook!   In fact many of our team members are also!  Tell your friends! It's fun!

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