52 replies to this topic

[WPT]

An interesting article on the SR-71 that appeared in the 18 May, 1981 edition of 'Aviation Week & Space Technology'.     http://aviationweek....a/PDF/SR-71.pdf  WPT

[GreenMachine]

Thanks!  An interesting read.

[M2000-5]

Thanks!

 

Mat

[Greg Locock]

and don't forget this http://www.sr-71.org...kbird/manual/6/

[46700]

I was employed at the Skunk works in the early 70"s on mod"s& rectification on SR71"s. 2 things that have never seemed to have left my thought process on this bird, are the evil intent/looks when viewed from certain angles ( at night in a hazard only lit hanger I & others who worked there all said/thought the same, where ever you walked in the hanger in front of the aircraft you had an over whelming impression it (the plane) was watching your every move ) Creepy, along with the plop, plop, drips of fuel. & also after a flight/ mission the cooling creaks / clicks etc almost gave the impression it was a living thing. I never had that feeling on any other aircraft I worked on civil or otherwise not even the U2. Way out ahead of anything of its time & more than likely would still hold it"s own with most if not all present kit.

[MatsNorway]

There is a lot of cool documentaries on Youtube on it. One was about sonic booming foreing goverments heads of state. To remind them that they where doing something not ok with the US goverment.

[bigleagueslider]

If you go to the air & space museum in Balboa Park in San Diego, there is an SR-71 displayed on a pedestal out front. It's a bit sad to look at since the airframe is in a rather poor state. The skin panels are all wrinkled and the dark paint is faded and peeling. In this condition it doesn't look quite so menacing as it once did.

[GreenMachine]

If you haven't been here, it is worth a look: http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/sr-71/ 

[saudoso]

The Intrepid in NY also had one last time I visited. The Enterprise was there too.

Edited by saudoso, 12 September 2014 - 09:58.

[blkirk]

The Museum of Flight in Seattle has an SR-71 on display.  It's inside the building, so it's protected from the weather and is in very good condition.  They even have the canopy open so you can sit in the cockpit.

[indigoid]

17962 at Duxford looks to be in excellent condition also. I really enjoyed taking my time staring at all the little details. Beautiful aircraft.

 

This morning when F and I were out getting breakfast, I noticed that the cafe in question had a poster up saying they'd sponsored some local sports team, specifically the University of Sydney AFL Bombers. The team's logo had an SR-71 in it. I wonder how many people have noticed that their "Bombers" logo was not actually capable of dropping bombs?  Their website doesn't seem to use that logo anymore, sadly.

[KWSN - DSM]

Awesome airplane, iconic, special and a reminder of the abilities and knowledge we are not using even though it is now 50 years    since it flew the first time.

 

 

 

Edit - had to look it up, 22 December 1964.

Edited by KWSN - DSM, 06 October 2014 - 13:46.

[404KF2]

The Museum of Flight in Seattle has an SR-71 on display.  It's inside the building, so it's protected from the weather and is in very good condition.  They even have the canopy open so you can sit in the cockpit.

Yeah, I sat in that one!  Very cool; pretty spartan cockpit...

[275 GTB-4]

The Intrepid in NY also had one last time I visited. The Enterprise was there too.

Wow! Which model Enterprise? NCC-1701? One of the NCC-1701-A thru NCC-1701-J?

[bigleagueslider]

The U2 was put in service before the SR-71, and is still being used. The U2 is not as fast or pretty as the SR-71, but it still gets the job done.

[saudoso]

Wow! Which model Enterprise? NCC-1701? One of the NCC-1701-A thru NCC-1701-J?

The OV-101.

[427MkIV]

They used Buick and later Chevrolet big block-powered starter carts to start the engines.

 

The SR-71 is one of the greatest things (machine or structure) ever built. It's amazing what we could do 50 years ago that is too expensive to do today.

[MatsNorway]

http://www.reddit.co..._commander_ama/

[Marc Sproule]

my brother was in the air force in the '50s and '60s...strategic air command...and i remember him telling about this outrageous new spy plane the air force had.

 

he knew some of the pilots and said they would take off from beale afb near sacramento, ca. and when they got to cruising altitude, they would request landing clearance at the base where they were headed on the east coast.

 

most impressive.

 

my dad was a corporate pilot and i flew with him frequently. one day we were taking off somewhere in southern cal...can't remember where....and dad pointed out the left side of the plane.

 

on a parallel runway a u-2 was beginning to roll too.

 

"he'll be fifteen thousand feet by the time he gets to the end of the runway", dad said with a smile.

 

i reckon it was pretty close to it if not that high.

 

that was an amazing sight.

[Henri Greuter]

They used Buick and later Chevrolet big block-powered starter carts to start the engines.

 

The SR-71 is one of the greatest things (machine or structure) ever built. It's amazing what we could do 50 years ago that is too expensive to do today.

 

 

I still wonder what they are flying nowadays that enabled them to park the Blackbird because of being obsolete......   (Aurora yes or no????)

 

As for your last comment, definitely ture. it is sometimes absolutely stunning to see what kind of technology came out of the USA in the sixties and what America achieved at that time. The Space program being the best example of that.

But automobile wise, I am sometimes still in shock about how Detroit keeps to be unable to keep up with European, Jjapanese and Korean manufacturers if it comes to modernizing.

 

But something like that also happened in racing. When you think about it, isn't it bizarre that even as late as 1980 you still could find cars in the indy 500 that used an engine of which the origins could be traced back in a straight line back to 1935 and thereabout?????

 

 

Henri

Edited by Henri Greuter, 05 November 2014 - 08:12.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I still wonder what they are flying nowadays that enabled them to park the Blackbird because of being obsolete......   (Aurora yes or no????)

 

 

Sats, drones, etc*

 

 

 

*

[275 GTB-4]

Interview with a Blackbird pilot.

http://gizmodo.com/5...sr 71-blackbird

[275 GTB-4]

Some may get a kick out of this oldie but goodie:

“ASPEN 20” – SR-71 – Groundspeed Check

Author: Unknown

There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71 Blackbird (The Air Force/NASA super fast, highest flying reconnaissance jet, nicknamed, "The Sled"), but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane - intense, maybe, even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment.

It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat.

There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him.

The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot who asked Center for a read-out of his ground speed. Center replied: “November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground.”

Now the thing to understand about Center controllers was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the "Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios. Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed in Beech. “I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed.”

Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. “Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check.” Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a read-out? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: “Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground.”

And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it - the click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: “Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?” There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. “Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground.”

I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: “Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money.” For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A. came back with, “Roger that Aspen. Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one.”

It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there.

[JacnGille]

^ Great read!

[MarkWRX]

I was stationed in Misawa AFB (Northern Japan) in the late 70's.  I was a Navy Cryptologic Technician primarily concerned with communications intelligence on Soviet Pacific Fleet activities. The Operations Center was (and is) a huge building, housing Army, Navy (and Marine Corp), and Air Force units.  I dated an Air Force woman for a while and, when our schedules allowed, I would sometimes go see her at work on my coffee or meal breaks.  On one visit I saw that she and most of the rest of her group were gathered around the 'fishbowl', This was a plexiglass structure that tracked intelligence collection flights such as USAF Burning Wind flights. 

 

I had seen the 'fishbowl' being used before but never with as many people standing around and watching.  Inside the fishbowl were at least three people.  One person marking the chart, one person updating the position and speed of the aircraft.  It became apparent to me that the aircraft was an SR-71 due to the speed readings he would call out.  The track on the chart started in about the middile of the Sea of Japan, heading east.  I was wondering what the third person was doing - he was just sitting in front of some receivers, turning dials, but not saying anything.

 

As I watched, the track approached North Korea and then, a few seconds later. crossed the border.  When the track got to about halfway through North Korea, the other guy started to call out numbers and then I realized his role.  He was listening to North Korean air-defense tracking and reporting their updates.  They were way behind, placing the aircraft over the coast when it was, in fact, in the middle of the country.  Then it was through North Korea and making a big wide turn in China before crossing over North Korea again, further south.

 

It was fascinating to watch as they struggled to keep track of the SR-71.  Their track never caught up with the actual position.  After a while, ti was back over the Sea of Japan and it was time for me to go back to work. 

 

Being able to see that was a real highpoint of my service. 

[427MkIV]

Article and rare photos

[Marc Sproule]

Article and rare photos

 

thanks for this. interesting read.

 

 it helped refresh my memory. in my post above i couldn't remember where we were when a u-2 took off next to us.

 

it was burbank. the pic of the blackbird flying over reminded me.

Edited by Marc Sproule, 13 December 2014 - 04:40.

[A3]

The Intrepid in NY also had one last time I visited.

That's actually an A-12, not an SR-71.

[saudoso]

Silly me.

 

Going to DC on vacations, guess I'll get to see the SR-71 there.

[bigleagueslider]

If you get to DC, I'd highly recommend setting aside an entire afternoon to spend visiting the Smithsonian Air & Space museum. It's incredible, and you'll see things there that you can't see anywhere else.

[275 GTB-4]

Udvar-Hazy to be precise which is away from what most people think of when going to see the Smithsonian...Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, VA

http://airandspace.s...sm_A19920072000

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 15 December 2014 - 05:55.

[saudoso]

If you get to DC, I'd highly recommend setting aside an entire afternoon to spend visiting the Smithsonian Air & Space museum. It's incredible, and you'll see things there that you can't see anywhere else.

 

 

Udvar-Hazy to be precise which is away from what most people think of when going to see the Smithsonian...Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, VA

http://airandspace.s...sm_A19920072000

I'll do that, both the central and the away sites, the one with the big birds.

 

Wife's not that much into museums, so all the indoor museum time will be devoted to the Air & Space duo.

Edited by saudoso, 15 December 2014 - 15:00.

[427MkIV]

Too cool

 

 

The music fades out and you get ambient sounds around the :50 mark.

Edited by 427MkIV, 15 December 2014 - 17:17.

[275 GTB-4]

I'll do that, both the central and the away sites, the one with the big birds.[/size]
 
Wife's not that much into museums, so all the indoor museum time will be devoted to the Air & Space duo.[/size]

Hah! so long as you realise that means 3-4 days of visits!

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 15 December 2014 - 21:56.

[saudoso]

Let's see how much I time can hog.

[blkirk]

Here's another incredible SR-71 story that I hadn't seen before.  Maybe it will be new for some of you, too.

 

It's the story of how Bill Weaver lost his SR-71 at Mach 3 and lived to tell the tale.

 

http://www.roadrunne...ner_blog/?p=188

Edited by blkirk, 17 December 2014 - 13:57.

[Greg Locock]

That's great.

[JacnGille]

Whew, what a ride!

[BlinkyMcSquinty]

I served in the Canadian Air Force as an aero engine tech, so the engines and anything technical is what really turns my crank. I have devoured anything published about the A-12 and it's developments (the "A" stood for Archangel, somehow very appropriate). What Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team created was insanely genius, and decades ahead of it's time.

 

I could go over many features, but what blows my mind is that at speed and cruising altitude, the engine itself contributes only ten percent of total thrust, the inlets and exhaust are responsible for the other 90%.

 

What a beautiful aircraft, what a sexy beast.

[WPT]

Posted before on a different topic:   http://www.enginehis...Work8-19-13.pdf         WPT

[bigleagueslider]

Blinky-

 

In the US, the "A" designation usually signifies an attack type aircraft. But as with most classified military aircraft projects, the initial model designation may not have reflected its true purpose. A good example was the F-117, which was never intended to be a fighter.

 

Being a Canadian AF technician, did you ever work on the Lockheed F-104? Its performance was almost as impressive as the SR-71s.

[BlinkyMcSquinty]

I tried bigleagueslider, it was operational during my military career. On completion of my training I indicated on my posting preferences nothing but F-104 squadrons, but lost out. It hurt, because I finished head of my class, and at least two guys in the class ahead did score F-104's. But I guess that when my name came up, there were no openings at that time. I met a few guys who did work on the F-104 and it was a hard one to work on. Since so much was tightly squeezed in, parts were very difficult to remove, such as the control actuators.

 

The F-117's technically correct designation should have been A-117 and U-2 the R-2.

 

There are more aberrations, the X-35 became the F-35 when it should have followed the next available F- series number (24).

 

Back to the SR71, built almost completely out of titanium. That metal was covertly purchased from ... Russia. To this day I wonder what pretense was used .. golf clubs, tennis rackets, fancy wrist watches, gas stove burners?

[bigleagueslider]

Blinky-

 

I recall seeing an F-104 on display, and the thing that impressed me the most was just how small and thin the wings were.

 

Regarding the F-35, why is the USMC STOVL version called the F-35B when its predecessor was designated the AV-8? Shouldn't it be designated the AV-9?

[275 GTB-4]

IF the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo was a supersonic jet fighter which served the United States Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force...excuse my ignorance, but...what was the 105 known as?

 

[got up close and personal with a voodoo at Travis in 1987]

[JtP2]

105 = Thud

[JacnGille]

Back to the SR71, built almost completely out of titanium. That metal was covertly purchased from ... Russia. To this day I wonder what pretense was used .. golf clubs, tennis rackets, fancy wrist watches, gas stove burners?

Possibly purchased by a "third party", leaving the US military out of any speculation?

[JacnGille]

Blinky-

 

I recall seeing an F-104 on display, and the thing that impressed me the most was just how small and thin the wings were.

I seem to remember that protective guards were placed on the edges of the wings while on the ground to protect those around it.

[KWSN - DSM]

I seem to remember that protective guards were placed on the edges of the wings while on the ground to protect those around it.

 

In Danish they called it "Den flyvende ligkiste" = "The flying coffin"

 

[swintex]

In Danish they called it "Den flyvende ligkiste" = "The flying coffin"

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia....he_Starfighters

[GreenMachine]

105 = Thud

Officially, 'Thunderchief'

Interesting example, as although designated 'F', it was designed as a fighter-bomber to deliver a nuke, and used in Vietnam as ground attack.