The World’s Biggest Catchers Mit

Having worked in the aerospace industry for 5 years I got to see some pretty cool military related stuff. One of the cool places my job took me was to a trisonic wind tunnel out in El Segundo, CA. There are several different types of wind tunnels, and the one I went to was referred to as a ‘blow-down’ tunnel. Basically they have 2 of the biggest turbos (same concept as automotive turbos) that pump up 6 20′ diameter spheres. Once the spheres all have 120PSI they open up a giant hydraulic valve and release the pressurized air down the tunnel. This particular wind tunnel is capable of speeds over Mach 3 (~2200mph).

Once the air is released down the tunnel, they can modify the cross-sectional area which allows different air speeds to be achieved. The cross section of the tunnel is around 16′ and I would guess it at around 150 yards long. Its deceiving to your eye when you look down the tunnel just how big things are until you walk up to them.

Thats the case with the picture above. The end of the tunnel has to vent all the air coming from the tanks at the other end. All this air passes through a big ‘catchers mit’ in case something broke loose during test that it’s not shot into the atmosphere. As you look down the tunnel at the catchers mit you would guess it at a couple of feet in diameter. When you make it to the end of the tunnel the catchers mit is made from 1 inch steel and is about 20′ in diameter. What’s crazy is that there were several holes in the 1′ steel where different wind tunnel models had flown down and were caught before leaving the scene.

Notice the person spread eagle in the center of the mit