Blackbird tribute...

[Jbb]

Blackbird (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1veEc50Fso)
1. Prototypes were flying as early as 1962.
2. It cruises at Mach 3. On afterburner. Really. ItÂ’s designed to do that all the time. This thing is the Real Ultimate Power of planes.
3. ItÂ’s skin is titanium, purchased from Russia, to spy on Russians. Pwned!
4. The pilots wear pressurized space suits. This is a good idea given its operational ceiling is higher than 80,000 feet.
5. Thousands of missiles have been fired at it. None have ever caught it. Pilots watching enemy missiles drop away behind them describe the experience as “very gratifying.”
6. The SR-71 is one of the first stealth planes. Based on its ginormous size (over 100 feet long), it should have a RADAR print the size of a barn. Instead, because of features such as its inward-canting stabilizers and hard chines, it has the RADAR print of a door.

[JB in so cal]

Very nice.

[Jbb]

This ones pretty good too...
Absolute Destruction.. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5qjJmZfyX0)

[andy01]

This ones pretty good too...
Absolute Destruction.. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5qjJmZfyX0)
I wonder how far out the bomb is felt, like when we dropped the big one. How far out did it destory take lifes I wonder.

[LAFD]

would definitly not wanna be one the receiving end of any of those. does anyone know of any vids or pics of the aftermath of the one bomb test with all the decomissioned ship around?

[vmjtc3]

My Dad was an engineer for Lockheed from the late 60's through the late 80's.
I saw my first sr71 in the late 70's when I was 8 or 9. It was in a hanger somewhere at the Burbank plant. They were having some kind of open house I dont really remember. All I remember was standing there looking at this massive aircraft. It was one of those thing's you never forget. After I was older we were talking and my Dad asked me if I rememberd the time he snuck me back to see the sr71. I said I rememberd the plane but not that it was an sr71.
Right now, or at least within the last 8 years or so there was at least 8 or ten of them on the flight line at the NATO base in Keflavik Iceland.
Have not thought about it for a while now,
Thanks for the post, Jc

[vmjtc3]

would definitly not wanna be one the receiving end of any of those. does anyone know of any vids or pics of the aftermath of the one bomb test with all the decomissioned ship around?
This test?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-585716941089093304

[vmjtc3]

If that is not it just search goole vid's you will find it

[soupersonic]

I heard it leaks fuel sitting on the ground,until it gets up to speed,gets warm enough to seal itself up.Bad azz plane then and now:)

[HBjet]

I heard it leaks fuel sitting on the ground,until it gets up to speed,gets warm enough to seal itself up.Bad azz plane then and now:)
Yup! And after take off the plane needs to be refueled. When being refueled, the SR needs to travel at it's slowest speed while the tanker needs to travel at it's fastest speed in order to connect in the air for fueling.
HBjet

[HocusPocus]

I was stationed at Beale AFB for 2 years (82-84) with the SR-71 and U-2 working the flightline. It was always fun watching them take off.

[Desert Rat]

They no longer fly, all are retired. Last ones were flown at the Edwards air show a few years back by NASA. Sad day, I was on the flight line Saturday and we were next to it, Sunday was to be it's last flight and it had a massive fuel leak so it didn't fly.:( We have one out front on display.

[axkiker]

Id be willing to bet that if the going ever got rough thoes bad boys would be pulled back into service pretty quick. Cant help but send out a plane that nothing can catch.

[Desert Rat]

Don't think it will or could ever happen. The Air Force has gotten rid of all the parts to us (NASA) and we have since surplused it all out. When we were flying them in the end I was told that it was approx. 1 mil a flight. :jawdrop:
More pictures http://www1.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/SR-71/Small/index.html
http://www1.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/SR-71/Small/EC93-03092-5.jpg

[SmokinLowriderSS]

To his dying day, Kelly Johnson (the genious of Lockheeds Skunk-Works fame) swore that the wrong plane was built, and that the YF-12A interceptor SHOULD have been the one built. I saw an interview with him some time back.
I have a really cool book by one of the pilots, it is called "Sled Driver", since they were called sled's when they weren't being called "Habu's" (an Okinawan snake it is said they resembled).
Air refuel was VERY touchy as the Blackbird fueled up, it got heavier, and slowed, requiring more throttle. With the KC-135 screaming along at full throttle, before the 'bird was fully fueled, it would be at full non-afterburrning throttle, and start to loose speed on the tanker, forcing a very touchy maneuver. The pilot would slip ONE of the engines into first stage afterburner, which would send the plane charging back toward the tanker, fight the yaw with a boot-full of rudder, and back off the other throttle to manage the speed.
Coolest plane I have ever known. :D :D :D :D

[vmjtc3]

On a side note check out the a12 blackbird, cia's version. Earlier plane than the sr71, almost same size and shape but just a tad faster. Flown by cia pilot's. I bet they would have some stories to tell, if they could.

[RitcheyRch]

The SR-71 is still way ahead of its time.
My Mom did the wiring in the cockpit on that and numerous other Skunk Work planes. She retired from Lockheed when they moved out of Burbank.
I currently work at the Palmdale Facility.

[Riomouse911]

Lots of the video shot was at the NTS, which is close to Vegas. As a kid there, I recall lots of ground shaking in the early 70's from explosions...
Go to Google Earth, put the pointer on the dry lake bad at :
36 Deg 57'01.63"N and 116 Deg 01'46.14"W. This is the Southern end of the site. Zoom in and scroll North, and you'll see literally hundreds of craters from underground tests, one full of water and over 350 feet deep. Across the North side of the valley you can see the big circles that surrounded the above-ground tests, including the destroyed bulidings, train cars etc. from the clips. Scary stuff when you see how close it was to town.

[vmjtc3]

The SR-71 is still way ahead of its time.
My Mom did the wiring in the cockpit on that and numerous other Skunk Work planes. She retired from Lockheed when they moved out of Burbank.
I currently work at the Palmdale Facility.
My Dad was at plant 42 for a while. Between 42 and working in New Mexico and nevada. My stepmom was there for a while as well. He also Did a stink at Burbank.

[BajaMike]

A little more info from the March Air Force Base Museum web site.....
:idea:
Created by Kelly Johnson, the SR-71 Blackbird set the world speed record in July 1976 of 2193.167 MPH and has held it ever since. In the same flight it also set the altitude record of 85,068.997 feet. One SR-71, serial number 61-7972, was donated to the Smithsonian Institute and in a farewell flight, flew from Los Angeles to Washington DC in 64 minutes.
The SR-71 was designed as a high-speed high altitude aircraft, providing pre-attack and post-attack reconnaissance. SR-71 aircraft flew most of their operational missions from Detachment 1, Kadena Air base, Okinawa. Between 1968 and its deactivation in 1990, the SR-71 fleet flew 2,410 sorties.
No SR-71 was ever shot down or hit by enemy fire, and they are known to have outrun over 4000 missiles. It could fly 1 mile in under 2 seconds.
It was at Okinawa that the Blackbird earned the nickname Habu after a native deadly snake. When the SR-71 flew, the Okinawans thought it looked like a Habu snake in flight. Sortie marks were tallied on the aircraft as small white habus.
Constructed of 93% titanium alloy and composites, it produces original stealth technology. A special paint is applied giving it a higher thermal emissivity when cruising at high Mach and contains tiny iron balls that dissipates electromagnetic radiation. The paint alone adds over 60 lbs to the jet.
The complex Pratt and Whitney J58 engines are very unique. Inlet temperatures can reach 1100 degrees C. and require astralloy discs in the turbine sections to withstand the heat. The combustion exhaust temperature reaches 2000 degrees F. The blast created by the SR71 stretches for 3000 feet and the turbulent air sizzles at over 200 degrees.
The SR71 cruises in afterburner so it incorporates an Air Inlet Control System (spikes) and a bleed by-pass system, which increases or decreases airflow into the engine, when flying between subsonic and supersonic speeds. The largest engines ever built for an aircraft, they produce 160,000 horse power giving the blackbird a thrust to weight ratio of 5.2 to 1.
Designed as a combination turbo-ramjet engine, after attaining desired altitude and speed, the engines are throttled back and speed is maintained by the airflow passing through the engine, thus requiring less thrust from exhaust, consuming less fuel.
Heat generated during flight can reach over 1000 degrees F. temperatures that cause the fuselage to expand in flight. After landing, ground crews cannot go near the aircraft for over 30 minutes. Once the plane has cooled, it literally seeps fuel on the ground until it flies again. The flight crew wears special self- contained space suits to protect them during flight and to ensure survival during a high altitude ejection.
Temperatures inside the cockpit reach 200 degrees and 550 degrees on the windscreen. To heat their food they simply held it against the windscreen. A pair of complete suits cost approximately $185,000.
The SR-71 uses a special JP-7 high-temperature jet fuel. It can carry 12,219 gallons and, at top speed, needs refueling every 45 minutes. It consumes fuel at about 8000 gallons per hour. The fuel doesn't burn easily and it requires a chemical ignition system to start the engines. Tri-ethyl borane (TEB) is injected into the engines at start-up, re-start and when going into afterburner.
The fuel system is also used to cool the aircraft environmental, hydraulic, oil, TEB systems, and associated lines.
The SR-71 has 6 main BF Goodrich 32-ply tires, each filled with 415 PSI of nitrogen. Impregnated with aluminum powder to reduce heat, they cost $2,300.00 each and are serviceable for approximately 15 landings.
Cameras in the SR-71 can map 100,000 square miles per hour in which selected targets could be enlarged 20 times for analysis.
The SR-71 proved itself to be a valuable asset to the United States and a technological masterpiece. It was a thoroughbred; however, the $30,000 per hour price tag became too expensive to operate and the SR-71 program was canceled in 1990.
In 1995 the SR-71's talents were needed once again and the program re-activated. Two blackbirds were returned to active duty at Beale AFB, simply to once again be chopped on the defense budget and canceled again. The aircraft were retired again in 1997.

[RitcheyRch]

Seems a lot of people have worked for Lockheed. Many years ago I worked at the old facility in Ontario but that was a short term gig.
My Mom shows me pictures of the old Burbank Facility all the time.
On one of the projects worked on here my boss was a SR-71 pilot. He didnt talk much about it though for obvious reasons.
My Dad was at plant 42 for a while. Between 42 and working in New Mexico and nevada. My stepmom was there for a while as well. He also Did a stink at Burbank.

[LUVNLIFE]

Seems a lot of people have worked for Lockheed. Many years ago I worked at the old facility in Ontario but that was a short term gig.
My Mom shows me pictures of the old Burbank Facility all the time.
On one of the projects worked on here my boss was a SR-71 pilot. He didnt talk much about it though for obvious reasons.
What's his name. PM me if you want. I grew up in the AV and went to school with three people who's dads were pilots. That thing was awesome. It would take off at all crazy hours. When the plane was fully loaded with fuel it would barley clear Sierra Hwy. My dad was a fireman in the area and rolled on a response where a little girl went into convulsions because the plane went over the car. That thing was loud.

[vmjtc3]

Seems a lot of people have worked for Lockheed. Many years ago I worked at the old facility in Ontario but that was a short term gig.
My Mom shows me pictures of the old Burbank Facility all the time.
On one of the projects worked on here my boss was a SR-71 pilot. He didnt talk much about it though for obvious reasons.
I think all of the A.V. used to work there, or so it seemed. I used to get the standard answer from my Dad when I asked him what he did at work."Engineer stuff". I can tell you one thing though. That place was like a money tree. My Dad would do flight test's on the weekend's for the comercial side of the company. They would make double time on saturday's, tripple time on Sunday's plus flight insurance pay plus hazzard pay. I am not sure what an Engineer made between the late 60's and the late 80's but I can tell you we never hurt for cash when I was a kid.
The other thing I thought was funny was everyone had some kinda nickname, Yolkum, the fat kid, blind babby, just to name a few.

[Jbb]

Tom Browns nickname is ......Pinto.....:D

[Sleek-Jet]

On a side note check out the a12 blackbird, cia's version. Earlier plane than the sr71, almost same size and shape but just a tad faster. Flown by cia pilot's. I bet they would have some stories to tell, if they could.
The SR-71 is the USAF's version of the A12... :D
The AF got it's panties in a bunch over the CIA having it's very own Airforce and took over the project. The A12 was a purely photo platform, with a big camera sitting in the bay behind the pilot, after all it was designed to replace the U2 for photo overflights of the Soviet Union. It was lighter so it flew faster and higher than the SR-71. The AF wanted to do electronic survelance as well as photographic, and so had the airframe modified for the electronics officer and deleted the large camera.
It's also interesting to note that the Russians developed a nuclear tipped Surface to Air missile to knock down the SR-71...
Kelly Johnson and the Skunk Works guys never could find a fuel tank sealant that would work at room temperature and survive the inflight skin temps, thus the airplane leaked fuel while sitting on the ground.
Check out www.habu.org for pictures and history of all the A12 and SR-71 varients... Also read the book "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich... lots of good information on the still born varients of the SR-71/Oxcart project.
The Airforce has also leaked that there is a replacement for the SR-71 flying now... and has been somewhat operational for nearly a decade... I'll see if I can find the blurb on it.

[vmjtc3]

The SR-71 is the USAF's version of the A12... :D
The AF got it's panties in a bunch over the CIA having it's very own Airforce and took over the project. The A12 was a purely photo platform, with a big camera sitting in the bay behind the pilot, after all it was designed to replace the U2 for photo overflights of the Soviet Union. It was lighter so it flew faster and higher than the SR-71. The AF wanted to do electronic survelance as well as photographic, and so had the airframe modified for the electronics officer and deleted the large camera.
It's also interesting to note that the Russians developed a nuclear tipped Surface to Air missile to knock down the SR-71...
Kelly Johnson and the Skunk Works guys never could find a fuel tank sealant that would work at room temperature and survive the inflight skin temps, thus the airplane leaked fuel while sitting on the ground.
Check out www.habu.org for pictures and history of all the A12 and SR-71 varients... Also read the book "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich... lots of good information on the still born varients of the SR-71/Oxcart project.
The Airforce has also leaked that there is a replacement for the SR-71 flying now... and has been somewhat operational for nearly a decade... I'll see if I can find the blurb on it.
Very cool web site there is a list of all the pilot's who flew sr71's. I never knew Chuck Yeager flew a sr71. Of course I dont know much about airplane/airplane history. But you mostly hear about him being a test pilot.
Lot's in intersting stuff on that site for sure.:)

[vmjtc3]

I got a trivia question for all you Lockheed insider's. What is Lockheed's nickname for Groom lake/area 51 nevada? :)

[Sleek-Jet]

The Ranch???

[vmjtc3]

The Ranch???
Bingo.
Some how you must be connected first hand. Most people would not know that. Some people might come up with paradise ranch but not "the ranch".

[vmjtc3]

I overheard that name a hundred times in phone convo's never knew what it was when I was a kid. Alway's thought it was funny that my dad worked for an aircraft company yet heard him say he way "flying to the ranch".
Funny how your brain works when you are a kid........:D

[Sleek-Jet]

I'm just a student of Lockheed and the Skunk Works in general... you should see my library at the house... :D

[vmjtc3]

I'm just a student of Lockheed and the Skunk Works in general... you should see my library at the house... :D
That's cool I would like to see that library. I have not thought about this stuff for a lot of year's but It would be cool to read up on some of the stuff they did. Cant get shit out of my dad except. "I worked on planes". Funny how serious they are about all that stuff. You would think after 20+ years it would be no big deal but to this day that is the answer I get when I ask him about it.
Do you fly?

[Sleek-Jet]

Do you fly?
I've been known to commit aviation... :D
I've always been fascinated with the Skunk Works not only because of the cool airplanes, but how they went about designing and producing them... wish I could work for a company like that...

[vmjtc3]

I've been known to commit aviation... :D
I've always been fascinated with the Skunk Works not only because of the cool airplanes, but how they went about designing and producing them... wish I could work for a company like that...
:eek: That's funny. I just got started flying but I am not sure I want to go through the whole deal. It makes for an expensive hobby. Any I already have a few of them. :(

[SmokinLowriderSS]

Funniest thing that always struck me was the name. "Project Oxcart" created the fastest, highest flying, most untouchable aircraft the world ever saw, Oxcart. :)

[SMFRiverRat]

Read the book "SKUNK WORKS" about Ben Rich , Kelly Johnson and Lockheed.
Killer book. Talkes about Kelly doing the math for the "chine" on the blackbird with a slide rule. Friggin brilliant!

[Sleek-Jet]

The Airforce has also leaked that there is a replacement for the SR-71 flying now... and has been somewhat operational for nearly a decade... I'll see if I can find the blurb on it.
I know it's bad for to quote one's self...
But I finally found the AV Week article...
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=news/030606p1.xml
Also note that 16 years pretty much coincides with the SR-71's being parked...

[centerhill condor]

http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=24784&stc=1&d=1172285321
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=24785&stc=1&d=1172285473
super plane and awesome sportbike. Did supercruise at about 115. that bike was as good on one wheel as most on two...
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=24786&stc=1&d=1172285622

[Misogynist]

The Airforce has also leaked that there is a replacement for the SR-71 flying now... and has been somewhat operational for nearly a decade... I'll see if I can find the blurb on it.
I believe that project is code named "Aurora".... but like a lot of super secret stuff... you only hear the name... but not the details. :devil:

[BajaMike]

I believe that project is code named "Aurora".... but like a lot of super secret stuff... you only hear the name... but not the details. :devil:
http://www.aviationweek.com/media/images/news/030606p1.jpg
:idea:

[Flyinbowtie]

Parking that aircraft was a mistake. Putting all of our intel eggs in the orbital resource basket, and counting on unproven vulnerable drones to fill in behind the sats wasn't wise, either. I used to think we would have only parked it if we had something better, but I am not so sure of that, anymore.
I'm not convinced The Jet is completely beyond recovering from mothballed museum status. Maybe it is just that I hope it isn't.
I think the day will come when we wish we had it again.
I suspect that the improved powerplant technology available today, the kind of stuff you hear associated ramjets and scramjets, etc. could perhaps propel it into Mach 5 or even Mach 6 territory.
Wouldn't that be fun? Looking at The Jet and realizing it was built by guys with slide rules before anybody ever heard of a CPU or CAD makes you respect them and their incredible airplane even more.
I'm afraid that there will never be men like that doing things like that again.

[MikeF]

My best friends father was an electrical engineer on the Blackbird right up until they decomissioned them. He then worked on the NASA U2's here as well as abroad. :cool:
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/505/SR-71_001_1.jpg

[BajaMike]

Wouldn't that be fun? Looking at The Jet and realizing it was built by guys with slide rules before anybody ever heard of a CPU or CAD makes you respect them and their incredible airplane even more.
I'm afraid that there will never be men like that doing things like that again.
:confused:
My guess is, if they don't have something better and faster, they still have some of these planes available....why wouldn't you??
Kelly Johnson was one of the greatest aviation designers in the history of our known universe.........imagine taking free hand drawn plans to create the fastest, highest flying plane in the world (in 1962, and still in 2007), from drawing board (and slide rule) to a flying prototype mach three airplane, in about 1 year, in 1962....:idea:
And it's still the fastest, highest flying plane on earth (as far as we know) 47 years later.
Kelly Johnson, super-genius. SR-71, one of the top 2 or 3 airplanes ever built (as far as we know). Today, our super computers and our micro-manager bureaucrats would make a project like this take 5 to 10 years and then maybe fail. It's my understanding that Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works buddies drew out the plans for this replacement for the U2 (which Kelly Johnson also designed) in 2 weeks of brain-storming sessions.
:D
PS.....nice to know RD's dad and so many ***boaters family members had a hand in the SR-71 (we all know many of us are at way ahead or our times.)

[centerhill condor]

Kelly Johnson also created the P-38. Another record breaker

[bonesfab]

The black bird is a bad a$$ plane. Saw the one on display at the smithsonian uzdar hanger in d.c. friggin huge. And like has been said they were built and flown before they even thought of what computers were. The other is the p-51 mustang. built and flew the prototype in something like 3 months with all manual machines and slide rules. The engineers of today don't got shit on any of the real men of yester year.;)

[Phat Matt]

Blackbird (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1veEc50Fso)
This video has been removed due to terms of use violation. :confused: