Lightning blue glow in intake

[Luka]

I have noticed this effect in several pics and YT clips. Unfortunately, due to a lack of BAe Lightnings here -NL- I have never seen it live; I had to make do with howling Starfighters flying over the house.
To the point, I have as of yet not found an answer to this; what's that blueish glow in the intake around the nose cone during takeoff? Is that some form of Cherenkov effect with air molecules speeding past the active radar or something? Just speculating at this point, my physics knowledge is limited on this subject. But I do wonder what creates that effect.

Piccie on the interweb:
https://vistapointe.net/images/english-electric-lightning-6.jpg

Edited October 23, 2019 by Luka
Link instead of pic

[bentwaters81tfw]

40 minutes ago, Luka said:

I have noticed this effect in several pics and YT clips. Unfortunately, due to a lack of BAe Lightnings here -NL- I have never seen it live; I had to make do with howling Starfighters flying over the house.
To the point, I have as of yet not found an answer to this; what's that blueish glow in the intake around the nose cone during takeoff? Is that some form of Cherenkov effect with air molecules speeding past the active radar or something? Just speculating at this point, my physics knowledge is limited on this subject. But I do wonder what creates that effect.

Piccie from the interweb:

 

1. Do not post piccies from Airliners.net They will sue., Use a link only.

2. It is moisture condensing in the intake duct. Someone will be along shortly with the technical term

[Luka]

7 hours ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

1. Do not post piccies from Airliners.net They will sue., Use a link only.

2. It is moisture condensing in the intake duct. Someone will be along shortly with the technical term

1. Replaced pic with link. Sorry 'bout that.
2. It's also visible in this vid, it looks very blue here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTr2UvLqfkQ

 

[bentwaters81tfw]

Lucky enough to have seen Lightnings throughout their service lives. That is certainly water vapour, a well known phenomena of the Lightning. I have seen models posed in take off scenarios, where people have used thinned out cotton wool to replicate the vapour.

[Rob G]

Caused, I imagine, by the pressure change (drop?) as the airflow moves around the intake bullet.

[Luka]

14 hours ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

Lucky enough to have seen Lightnings throughout their service lives. That is certainly water vapour, a well known phenomena of the Lightning. I have seen models posed in take off scenarios, where people have used thinned out cotton wool to replicate the vapour.

Thanks for the explanation. Upon further investigation I discovered that this ring of vapour in fact does not 'glow' as I thought. There was also a clip of this effect filmed during dusk (or dawn) and there the vapour was only slightly noticable, but certainly no blueish glow.
The fact that I percieved it that way is probably due to a trick of the light, the film/camera used, or my imagination going wild after viewing too much of HBO's Chernobyl. Possibly a combination of the three.

[Rob G]

14 hours ago, Luka said:

 

.

[spruecutter96]

Talking about strange stuff on fighter aircraft....

 

According to one reliable source (DACO Publications), whilst it was in operation, the F-104 Starfighter had a part of its engine made out of a mildly-radioactive material. The issue occurred when the engine had been running for some time. as the radiation emissions from this part increased significantly. If you look around half-way along the 104's fuselage, there are a few small radiation warning symbols painted near the offending section. I don't know how the ground-crews or pilots viewed this issue, but it had to be a cause for concern, surely?

 

Also, I remember reading the book about the history of the Air Tattoo. written by the old show director. He relates how he was once allowed to walk underneath a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. He writes that it felt like you were underneath a living animal and seemed to have a weird energy about it. Reverse-engineered. alien technology. perhaps?  

 

Chris.  

[bentwaters81tfw]

Yes, the NMUSAF came over to the UK this year and examined all the loan airframes for radiation, and 2 or 3 engines have been shipped back Stateside as a result. There is a gearbox on the J-79 that is made of some alloy that will give off radiation. Julien will tell you what it is.

[Rich B]

The compressor casings and a gearbox housing are made with a thorium-magnesium alloy on many of the J-79 series of engines. Thorium is the radioactive element and makes up 2-4% of the alloy. It was also used on ram-jet missile engines (D-21 , Bomarc)  and air frame components (F-105 and B-58) and on NASA spacecraft (Gemini) and satellites. 

 

Cheers,

Rich