Ben Rich and Ted Merkle

The names of Ben Rich and Ted Merkle are not exactly household names. In the world of Aviation Engineering Ben Rich is a superstar and Ted Merkle is virtually unknown. Both worked on Mach 3 capable Ramjet engines in the late 50's to mid 60's in the Bay Area just 30 miles from each other. Merkle worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Ben Rich worked at NASA's Ames Research Center. A comparison of their two story's reveals that Ben Rich must be lying about how the Blackbird's Ramjet inlets were developed.

The similarities between the two engines are uncanny. Both were Mach 3 plus, produced more than 34,000 pounds of thrust, and had operating temperatures in excess of 2000 degrees. The similarities imply that they were the same engine.

Ben Rich's story makes no sense. Here are the reasons why:
(1) The wind tunnels of Ames Research Center are not capable of Mach 3. So, he is lying on this point. If they had been capable of Mach 3 Ted Merkle's Project Pluto would not have had to construct their special facility at Jackass Flats. He would have just used the facilities at Ames.


(2) The testing of air frames at Mach 3 speeds required building something radically different from your common wind tunnel. 25 miles of oil well casing was required to simulate Mach 3 speeds.

*I find the resemblance between Ben Rich and Ted Merkle to be as uncanny as the similarities between the two engines. Another striking parallel is they both died from cancer. I think that they were the same man.

Ben Rich's Mach 3 Ramjet Development Story
I logged hundreds of hours testing inlet shapes and cone models at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in Northern California, a giant complex of high speed wind tunnels. That became my second home, where I spent weeks at a time using their largest, most-powerful supersonic wind tunnel, a twenty foot long, ten foot by ten foot rectangular chamber powered by a gigantic compressor capable of driving an ocean liner, and a three-story cooling tower holding tens of thousands of gallons of water. Running Mach 3 pressures for several hours at a time drained so much electricity needed by local industry that we were forced to test only late at night, working usually until dawn. (Rich 210).

Ted Merkle's Mach 3 Ramjet Development Story
On January 1, 1957, the U.S. Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission selected the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) predecessor, the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory to study the feasibility of applying heat from nuclear reactors to ramjet engines.
This research became known as "Project Pluto" and was moved from Livermore, California to new facilities constructed for $1.2 million on eight square miles of Jackass Flats at the Nevada Test Site (NTS).

The complex consisted of six miles of roads, critical assembly building, control building, assembly and shop buildings, and utilities. Also required for the construction was 25 miles of oil well casing which was necessary to store the million pounds of pressurized air used to simulate ramjet flight conditions for Pluto.

The work was directed by Dr. T.C. Merkle, leader of the laboratory's R-Division.
The principle behind the ramjet was relatively simple: air was drawn in at the front of the vehicle under ram (under great force) pressure, heated to make it expand, and then exhausted out the back, providing thrust.

The notion of using a nuclear reactor to heat the air was fundamentally new. Unlike commercial reactors, which are surrounded by concrete, the Pluto reactor had to be small and compact enough to fly, but durable enough to survive a 7,000 mile trip to a potential target.

The success of this project would depend upon a series of technological advances in metallurgy and materials science. Pneumatic motors necessary to control the reactor in flight had to operate while red-hot and in the presence of intense radioactivity. The need to maintain supersonic speed at low altitude and in all kinds of weather meant the reactor, code named "Tory", had to survive temperatures of 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, and conditions that would melt the metals used in most jet and rocket engines.


On May 14, 1961, the world's first nuclear ramjet engine, "Tory-IIA," mounted on a railroad car, roared to life for just a few seconds. Despite other successful tests the Pentagon, sponsor of the "Pluto project," had second thoughts. On July 1, 1964, seven years and six months after it was born, "Project Pluto" was canceled.

http://airindustriesresearch.com/siram/pluto.htm
http://www.amug.us/downloads/Pluto-Phoenix%20Facility%20at%20the%20NTS.pdf
NASA'S AMES RESEARCH CENTER'S WIND TUNNEL INFORMATION
 11-by 11-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel
Mach Number: 0.20 to 1.45
• Rn = 0.30 to 9.6 million per foot
• Stagnation Pressure, PSIA: 3.0 to 32.0
• Maximum stagnation temperature = 150°F. Typical Temperature variation over the course of a test = 20°F
• Closed circuit, single return, variable density, continuous flow wind tunnel
• Interchangeability of models between Unitary test sections allows testing across a wide range of conditions
• Internal strain-gage sting mount, model component and floor balances are used for measuring forces and moments. Ames and Langley inventories typically available
• Full support of DTC PSI module capability
• Support strut has simultaneously variable pitch and yaw capability (plus or minus 15°)
• There are two controllable 3000 psi auxiliary air systems capable of flow rates up to 40 lb/sec each. One line can be controlled up to 80 degrees F and the other up to 400 degrees F
• User interaction will be X-terminal based
• Full internal and external network capability. PCs and Macs available to customers as needed
• Typical two weeks of model build up and instrument preparation is included in the facility occupancy charge
http://www.windtunnels.arc.nasa.gov/ATP_Ames_UPWT_11Foot.pdf
http://www.windtunnels.arc.nasa.gov/
9-by 7-foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel
• Mach Range = 1.55 to 2.55
• Rn = 0.50 to 5.7 million per foot
• Pt = 2.8 to 29.5 psia
• Maximum stagnation temperature: 600°R
• Closed circuit, single return, variable density, continuous flow wind tunnel
• Interchangeability of models between Unitary test sections allows testing across a wide range of conditions
• Internal strain-gage sting mount, model component balances are used for measuring forces and moments. Ames and Langley inventories typically available
• Full support of DTC PSI module capability
• Fully automated control of tunnel conditions and simultaneously variable pitch and yaw positions
• Capability for measuring multiple fluctuating pressures
• There are two controllable 3000 psi auxiliary air systems capable of flow rates up to 40 lb/sec each. One line can be controlled up to 80 degrees F and the other up to 400 degrees F
• Full data system support capability included (Unix system with extra X-terminals available)
• Full internal and external network capability. PCs and Macs available to customers as needed
• Typical two weeks of model build up and instrument preparation is included in the facility occupancy charge
http://www.windtunnels.arc.nasa.gov/ATP_Ames_UPWT_9x7.pdf
http://www.windtunnels.arc.nasa.gov/9x7ft1.html

NOTE:

Two Mach 3 plus vehicles the Blackbird and the Project Pluto are being developed at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. The place where nuclear experiments are performed. The research and design of the Blackbird and Project Pluto take place in the same locations. The Nevada Test Site and UC Berkeley. 

Developing this air-inlet control system was the most exhausting, difficult, and nerve-racking work of my professional life. The design phase took more than a year. I borrowed a few people from the main plant, but my little team and I did most of the work. In fact the entire Skunk Works design group for the Blackbird totaled seventy-five, which was amazing. Nowadays, there would be more than twice that number just pushing papers around on any typical aerospace project.

Janos, Leo; Rich, Ben R.. Skunk Works (p. 193). Little, Brown and Company. 

Over the next few weeks I was living a boyhood fantasy and traveling around the country pretending to be a secret agent, using my Skunk Works alias of “Ben Dover,” in the best traditions of trench-coated operatives. Kelly had warned me not to reveal that I worked at the Skunk Works to anyone I visited.

Janos, Leo; Rich, Ben R.. Skunk Works (pp. 157-158). Little, Brown and Company. 

My fact finding took me into the dark and gloomy basement of the chemistry building at Berkeley, where Nobel Laureate William Giauque held forth from a reinforced basement bunker doing his prize-winning experiments on low temperature research. I couldn’t help noticing some holes punched in the walls, courtesy of errant handling of small teacup amounts of liquid hydrogen by student lab assistants. “Handle with extreme care, Mr. Dover,” Professor Giauque warned me. “That’s why they keep me stashed away in this dungeon.” When I told him that I wanted to learn how to make liquid hydrogen and store it in the hundreds of gallons, the professor shook his head solemnly. “With all due respect, sir, I think you’ve got a screw loose.”

Janos, Leo; Rich, Ben R.. Skunk Works (pp. 158-159). Little, Brown and Company.