Crash Tests: Aircraft Fire Research ~ 1950 NACA Lewis Flight Research Center Technical Film 26

more at http://quickfound.net/

Originally a public domain film from the NACA, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930087934.pdf

NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS RESEARCH MEMORANDUM FACILITIES AND METHODS USED IN FULL-SCALE AIRPLANE CRASH -FIRE INVESTIGATION

By Dugald O. Black

SUMMARY The facilities and the techniques employed in the conduct of full scale airplane crash-fire studies currently being conducted at the NACA Lewis laboratory are discussed herein. This investigation is part of a comprehensive study of the airplane crash-fire problem. The crash configuration chosen, the general physical layout of the crash site, the test methods, the instrumentation, the data-recording systems, and the post-crash examination procedure are described.

INTRODUCTION

A comprehensive study of the airplane crash-fire problem has been undertaken at the NACA Lewis laboratory. Research of this type was necessary because a detailed study of civilian records of crash fires (reference 1) failed to provide a clear picture of the mechanism of the crash fire and, in addition, the complexity of the problem did not lend itself to an analytical approach. Military records of airplane crash fire accidents were scanned but the information was inconclusive. Described herein are the crash configuration chosen, the general physical layout of the crash site, the test methods, the instrumentation, the data-recording systems, and the post-crash examination procedure.

TYPE OF CRASH SIMULATED

The crashes were designed to simulate a take-off accident in which the airplane fails to become air borne; strikes an embankment, shearing off the propellers and the landing gear; strikes trees or poles, rupturing the fuel tanks; then slides along the ground to a standstill. In this type of crash, fuel and oil lines within the engine nacelles of the test airplanes are often disrupted causing extensive exposure of the inflammable materials; that is, gasoline) oil) and hydraulic fluids. The airplanes were caused to strike a barricade at take-off power with a ll airplane systems functioning; therefore, the maximum array of potential ignition sources was present . The type of test selected thus contained the elements of a very severe fire hazard although the test was considered to be survivable f or a majority of the occupants from the standpoint of impact . The NACA full-scale crash-fire investigation was conducted on C- 46 and C-S2 airplanes of the type shown in figure 1. The United States Air Force provided valuable assistance in conducting the investigation by supplying the war-weary and obsolete test airplanes...