Photo Du Jour
Beauty=Function
(Another avatar? We’re pirates now? You’ve been into the Rum Ration?)
Posted by Oink
02/14/2006 at 06:19 PM
You haven’t lived until you have had one of these things fly over your head.....
About 10 years ago there was an air show at Boeing field in Everett Wa, and they had one on display, the monday after I was there on a sales call.
I was getting my briefcase out of the car, and the ground started to shake, I stood up, and whoosh, a bit louder then that of course, Little black line coming at me, it flew DIRECTLY over my head, and then disapeared into a little black line on the horizon.
It was an incredible sensation, and an incredible sight....
Man, what a photo! I was at McClellan AFB in the early 80’s when the Blackbird flew in. I was in shock. It was next best to having the Starship Enterprise show up. Security was hilarious: “you did not see what you just saw!” I was a civilian building a new Commissary and everyone on the project let their jaws hit their feet. It was truly inspiring. No amount of ass-kissing could get me anywhere near it. I was crushed.
Some years ago I called Beale AFB to ask about seeing the plane and was told, “sure, come on up. We have a plane w/o the engine that you can even climb around on. It just wasn’t the same and I never went up to see it.
Posted by markmc
02/14/2006 at 08:00 PM
BTW Skip, your link should say, the official home of the SR-71’s on the web.
The link leads to a rock group called the SR-71’s....
The link should be http://www.sr-71.org/
*SIGH!* THAT is one of three aircraft I want to ride on before I die ............................... the other two are backseat of a Cobra gunship, and an F4U Corsair {Pappy Boyington’s bird} .............................
Posted by Diamond Mair
02/14/2006 at 09:58 PM
DM, sad to say, I doubt we’ll ever see a Blackbird fly again unless Warren Buffett buys one. I recall reading about the time of its retirement that it cost about $8,000,000 per mission to fly it. But on the bright side, I’ve see a Corsair flying with a back seat for hire at air shows, and a press pass with a commitment to do a story about the bird/pilot/unit might get you a ride in a Cobra. You get the gunner’s front seat though; back seat is for the pilot. Go for it!!
Dick, I knew about the Cobra’s back seat actually being the front seat - while stationed at MCAS(H)New River, my “buds” made sure I knew ......................... the Blackbirds are SO lethally pretty, though .......................
Posted by Diamond Mair
02/14/2006 at 11:20 PM
I was surprised when they retired the SR-71s. I always assumed that it was because they had something better to replace it. I suppose I never considered the other factors: cost and politics.
And to think, this aircraft was designed and first flown in the early 1960s. Twenty five years prior to that era, the C-47 / DC-3 was cutting edge aircraft technology, and thirty six years prior to the DC-3, the Wright Brothers were flying what basically amounted to the first manned and powered box kite.
Now, it is over forty years beyond the SR71 / YF12A’s debut, one can only imagine what is going on behind closed doors at the “Skunk Works”..
*whines cause the SR71, her favorite all time plane, isn’t flying anymore* Thanks for the pic and story, Skipper. That pic is now my desktop background.
Rat Patrol - Tell me about it. When I saw a Stealth fighter on STATIC display at a NAS Oceana air show a few years ago, I was the same way....’Holy shit if that thing is HERE *points to it* and the bomber just flew over our heads THAT way *points overhead* what the hell are they working on NOW?
Stinkerr - I was surprised too when they retired this pretty bird. I know NASA was using them for a while, researchwise. I assume that’s stopped now too? Dammit.
That’s one of the 4 planes I want to ride in, the other 3 being the B-29, P-51, and the P-38. The Lightning is a helluva beautiful plane.
I saw a ‘71 at Cannon AFB, I think out in Orange County CA, about 16 years ago. They had a whole bunch of classic warplanes there: B-52 (the Buff’), B-36 (the Peacemaker; they certainly weren’t thinking about the noise output of 4 turbojets and 6 turbo push-props...), and a load of others. I was surprised at the time that the skin of the ‘71 is not smooth; it’s scalloped like the inside layers of corrugated cardboard. It gets so hot at cruising speed that it stretches out and becomes smooth. And the lubricating oil used is nearly solid at room temperature. Certainly one of the most amazing aerospace developments of all time. Sad to see them languish.
Then there is the purported “Aurora” followup: (I think the picture was borrowed from Popular Science)
This photo gallery from Russia has all sorts of interesting aircraft (and other) photos:
Kudos to you, Red 5. The P-38 was always my fave too.
Skipper, I heard a rumor years ago that the SR-71 can still outperform and out-stealth all other stealth bombers/fighters even though it predates them by 20+ years. I also heard that when the Air Force was designing stealth bombers/fighters it wasn’t allowed to “borrow” the Blackbird’s designs because the Blackbird was, is, and always will be the CIA’s bird. Is there any truth to this at all?
I am a huge SR-71 fan and have many books on it. I have studyed that plane alot. There is also an A-12 (SR-71 prototype) at the Boeing Museum of Flight in Seattle I have been there many times and spent hours looking at it from every angle. They also have a cockpit from a crashed SR that you can sit in and work the controls.
In my opinion its the ultimate hot rod vehicle ever designed by the hand of man.
Then 2 years ago I read online that the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnvlle Oregon was getting SR-71 tail number 971 and had taken in all apart at Edwards Airforce Basw in CA. I emmailed the person in charge of the museum restoration department and told him I was an expert Porsche mechanic with lots of knowledge of the SR and wanted to volunteer to help assemble the plane.
After a few emails he agreed and I drove down and spent a week there helping put the plane together. It was a dream come true for me. A crew of about 15 people used a large crane to bolt the wings, engine nacelles, tails, engine spikes etc etc. I bolted many parts on that plane helping with the tails, engine nacelles, and dozens of titanium panels covering the upper and lower wing surfaces. I took about 15 rolls of film, many photos are of the structural members that nobody ever sees when the plane is all assembled.
It is an incredible all titanium beast The titanium is of course perfectly machined and designed by geniuses (like Kelly Johnson) of the likes we may never see again.
I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to work on (and get to know) that plane.
I was given a small left over titanium part (that could not be reattached) afterwards.
Posted by Paul "No Fear" Weir
02/15/2006 at 11:36 AM
Here is the site for the SR-71 and drone at the Museum of Flight, as mentioned by No Fear.
http://www.museumofflight.org/Collection/Aircraft.asp?RecordKey=28077E43-0F70-40AB-B4B3-AA2AF8E6BB00
To me, one of the greatest parts of the story of the SR-71, was how they got all that titanium. At the time, the world’s most abundant titanium source was in the Soviet Union. The CIA knew full well that if they wanted to buy the stuff, they couldn’t just go to the Soviets and say, hey how much per ton? So they set up several front companies and funneled the money through several channels (sometimes refered to as money laundering <wink wink>) to those front companies. Who then bought the titanium from the Soviets, and promptly sold it down the chain back to the CIA.
Man, I love it when a plan comes together.
And yes, since I was about 12 years old, I’ve had pictures and posters of the Blackbird on my wall. Beautiful machine.
OK, all you flyboy hot-shots, someone please tell me where they got the Tri-Lithium?
Posted by Oink
02/15/2006 at 07:43 PM
Oink, it’s very hush-hush still, but - Rumor Control says it was traded for beaucoup amounts of quadro-trittikalene - sans tribbles .....................
Live long and prosper
Sammenhold
Semper Fi’Posted by Diamond Mair
02/15/2006 at 08:11 PM
Peace and long life to you, T’Pau.
Posted by Oink
02/15/2006 at 08:19 PM
Thanks Ricvid for the link. Yes the Blackbird plane at Seattle is actually an A-12 modified into an MD-21 for “Mother” the plane and “Daughter” for the ram jet drone (D-21)(also matching titanium)that fires off the top of the fusalage at mach 3.2 and flys a photo mission on its own over China, then self destructs after ejecting its camera pod mid air which is caught by an airborn plane. Its really a “Buck Rodgers” setup. The 50 or so drones mostly still survive and were incredibly classified items for many years locked up at Daivs-Monahan air base. Then a year or so ago I was driving by Evergreen Aviation Museum and they had gotten one to go with their SR-71. I happened to show up while it was all taken apart so I got to take some incredibly rare photos of the inner workings of it as well!
Posted by Paul "No Fear" Weir
02/15/2006 at 10:18 PM
