The B-52's and KC-135 tankers I worked on in the Air Force used water injection for increased takeoff power. It allowed much higher rates of fuel flow without burning holes in the burner cans of the jet engines. One incident I recall was an air show on Armed Forces day at Bunker Hill AFB (Later named for Gus Grissom). A B-58 Hustler was supposed to do a low-level Mach 1 pass by the reviewing stand as the high point of the show. A KC was airborne at about 10,000 feet on a routine training mission, and the pilot had made a long takeoff run and didn't use his water injection. As the B-58 rolled in to make his low level pass, the tanker driver put his plane in a steep dive, firewalled the throttles, and hit water. As the B-58 passed the reviewing stand the tanker PASSED THE B-58! BTW, in case the military designation doesn't ring any bells, that's the same airframe as a Boeing 707! The pilot got grounded for overspeeding the plane, and the plane stayed grounded for several weeks for stress inspections! Water injection makes a plane scoot, for sure!
We used to mix water in with the alcohol/hydrogen peroxide fuel mix in the flathead Ford powered dirt track racer Dad ran back in the early 1950's. One 6-ounce Coke bottle into an 8-gallon beer keg fuel tank on a humid day, two on a normal day, or three on a dry day! It kept the highly corrosive oxygen-bearing peroxide from burning little wormholes in the pistons.
Jerry
