De-icing Tests on B-25

=De-icing tests=

In 1942, two B-25Cs were converted to test aircraft in order to investigate de-icing and anti-icing equipment; these planes were redesignated XB-25E and XB-25F. The XB-25E (nicknamed "Flamin' Maimie") used engine exhaust gases circulated through chambers in the wing to melt ice. The XB-25F used insulated electrical coils to heat the metal surfaces. Both were tested extensively until 1944; the XB-25E system was extremely reliable and more practical than the XB-25F system.

While the results of the tests on the XB-25E were promising, no aircraft during World War II was built to utilize that system, although it is commonly used today. Most propeller-driven planes used by the United States Air Force use so-called "piccolo tubes" that run along the leading edges of the wings. Hot air bled from the engines is blown through these tubes, and melts away any ice formations on the wings.

The further history of the XB-25F is unknown, but the sole XB-25E ("42-32281") was crashed in a test program to develop fire extinguishing systems for aircraft. "Flaming Mamie" got her name from the fact that an engine caught fire every time they started it up. The nose art of the plane showed a mechanic in a winter flight jacket running away from a fire with an extinguisher in his hand.

:cquote2|quotetext=I flew in "Flaming Mamie" on many Flight Icing Research missions from The Cleveland NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion Lab. between January 1947-50.:I sat in the Navigator's seat to take photos in flight. The system used hot gases for heating the leading edges of the wings and tail sections. This method was invented by Lewis Rodert who won the Collier Trophy for this work. I was on her when we lost the starboard engine on takeoff and was safely brought down by pilots Howard Lilly and Joe Walker, both later killed in flights in NACA/NASA planes at Muroc AFB; Lilly in the Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak and Walker in a F-104 chase plane. Walker went into orbit with the X-15 on one of his flights.

:"Flaming Mamie" :After the Flight Icing Research program which the B-25 shared with a B-24 Liberator, "Flaming Mamie" was turned over to NASA Lewis Cleveland for use in the Full Scale Aircraft Crash Fire Program at the Ravenna Ohio Arsenal and was among 57 planes used in the seven-year program. The aircraft was scrapped but not in the conventional way but "died" in the furtherance of air safety. These two aircraft were the most were "de-iceable" planes in the world. On two separate occasions, both planes experienced the gathering of seven inches of ice in 70 seconds and lost 70 miles per hour and got down on the ground with the ice still clinging to the aircraft after making runs testing the amount of ice that could be accumulated. All aircraft, military and airlines, use the anti-icing or de-icing systems today from the program started in the early 1940s ending in 1957. It is said that no aircraft has ever been lost using the equipment if the equipment is turned on. The B-24 was returned to the Air Force and scrapped in the conventional way. It is too bad that one of these historic planes, so important to aviation air safety was not preserved in the Air Force Museum WPAFB where two other Lewis Lab planes are housed today. Icing photos are available through NASA Glenn Research Center (formerly Lewis) in Cleveland. I was one of two flight photographers working in the program. |personquoted=Wynne, William A., April 2007|quotesource= [Wynne, William A. "50 Year History of the Lewis Flight Propulsion Lab". Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1990. (ISBN required)]

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