I was curious about the J-57 and how limited the engine was in attaining Mach 2 or better. Many people have talked about it. The F-101 @M1.75 was the fastest combat loaded J-57 user, but many claim the later F-100 was fully capable of Mach 2. (The F-8 made it’s M1.85 run clean.) I find the claim to be dubious and think people were confusing the J57 with the J75.
per outlaw162 elsewhere:
“The Guard did pull the retired F-102 J57-23 afterburner sections out of the boneyard and replaced their J-57-21 afterburners on the Hun with them.
A Master Sergeant with the Tucson Guard made some big bucks with that suggestion.
The -21 AB nozzle was a nightmare of a multitude rollers, actuators and iris petals and was prone to hanging up under repeated short interval use (heat expansion) or under “G”, and the Hun’s -21 AB system did not require the eyelids to open (though they were scheduled first) before the hot streak ignition functioned.
If the nozzle hung up, there was a distinctive “whine” you could hear just before the AB lit and blew the iris nozzle open with a bang and visible flame out the intake. Smart money pulled the throttle inboard when you heard the “whine”. Then you’d wait a few seconds, make sure you were “unloaded” and try again.
The F-102 -23 burner had something like only 8 petals and actuators and was a pleasure to operate in the Hun, anytime, anywhere, no problem.”
Another nice read on J57: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/military/read.main/51049/
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