Wind tunnel reopened to test planes

The wind tunnel was used to test military planes in use today.
DAYTON (AP) -- A big, 56-year-old wind tunnel mothballed 10 years ago because of a budget squeeze has been brought back to life to test military planes.
The reopening of the tunnel at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was propelled by a new push for long-range bombers and other advanced aircraft.
To celebrate completion of the $2.8 million project, managers at the Air Force Research Lab cut a ribbon Monday on its refurbished laboratory that houses the wind tunnel, giant motors to generate airflow and other equipment.
Built in 1950, the building-sized tunnel can circulate air over a test model at up to three times the speed of sound.
Scientists use it to learn how fast-moving air affects parts of the aircraft -- engine inlets, weapons and bomb-bay doors, for example -- in high-speed flight.
Years of tests there helped develop the supersonic bombers and fighter jets flying today, lab officials said.
The wind tunnel shut down in 1996 "when our aeronautical research funding was pretty much in a free-fall," said Col. Michael Leahy, director of the lab's Wright Research Site.
Challenge
Bringing the tunnel out of storage and reactivating it was a challenge.
The tunnel is a giant piece of plumbing. The compressor, ducts and other equipment needed to make and recirculate the powerful airstream is more than two stories high, or deep -- most of it is below ground inside a squat, concrete building.
The building itself was a health hazard by modern standards.
Civil engineers had to remove tons of asbestos, lead-based paint, mercury from old pressure sensors and other hazardous chemicals. Then the tunnel was restored with new equipment and control facilities.
However, Leahy said building a new wind tunnel from scratch would have been 10 times more expensive than the $2.8 million cost of restoring it.