Never saw this posted before but amazing drone scale model and what fun it would be to fly this like these guys ....
OT: Any fans of the SR-71 Blackbird here...
- Thread starter bwifan
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would of liked to have this to handle a certain banner flying over the stadium a few years ago...
The Air and Space Museum at Dulles has an SR-71. This aircraft set the speed record for a West Coast to East Coast flight when it was flown out to be put on display. Interesting that they had to fly over Atlantic City to meet the requirements for the flight and then had to take an in-flight refueling in order to get it over to Dulles airport.
The Enola Gay is also at this museum...well worth a drive down. Here is a link:
https://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center/
The Enola Gay is also at this museum...well worth a drive down. Here is a link:
https://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center/
A
anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
I live in Loudoun County, VA and went for the first time this past weekend with family visiting from PA. Some really cool stuff there, though nothing tops seeing a space shuttle up close - that was amazing. I will say the Blackbird was smaller than I imagined.
That's really cool. The SR-71 is such a cool aircraft. I live about 15 minutes away from the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum by Dulles Airport in Northern VA and they have an SR-71 on display in the museum. I'm in awe of it every time I see it. I've got some really cool pics of it that I would post if I knew how to do that. Anyway if you ever get the chance to visit Udvar-Hazy, I highly recommend it. They have every kind of aircraft you can imagine on display there.
Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson AZ (next to Davis Monthan Air Force Base) also had an SR-71 on display the last time I was there along with a ton over other very cool and historic aircraft. Great museum if you have never been.
I have been to the Kennedy Space Center a number of times and been through the space shuttle tour and it is very impressive. I also saw an SR-71 Blackbird at an air base in Georgia many years ago and I was truly taken aback by what a stream-lined and sleek air plane it was. Way ahead of its times. I have no clue why they decommissioned this airplane so soon.
Did you know the titanium in the plane was produced in the Soviet Union? Not enough producers in the US, so Lockheed set up a dummy company in one of the Scandinavian countries to purchase it from the largest producer in the world, the former Soviet Union.
Man, could I have fun scaring the crap outta people with that. Imagine seeing that zoom overhead unexpectedly. But in the wrong hands, that could be very deadly.
I remember watching them when I was a kid in Okinawa in the 70s. When they came back from missions, you would hear the sonic booms and then see them make big turns around the island to slow down. I used to think they looked like darts in the sky. The Okinawans called them Habu after a deadly viper local to the island.
It was more because it was a spy plane, designed primarily to monitor the Soviet Union, and once satellites took over that responsibility, it was decommissioned. The stories of its speed and missions are things of legend. It's still the fastest air-induction aircraft ever built. It was so fast that when the Soviets scrambled their Migs to intercept it, it was too late to catch the Blackbirds, not only because it was so fast, but because it routinely flew at an altitude of 70k+ feet.
In the rare event that the Soviets had interceptors (Migs) in the air when we were doing a flyover, when the Blackbird pilots' system warned that they were locked onto by the Migs' missiles, they didn't do evasive maneuvers--they simply gunned both engines and outran the missiles. The sonic booms they rained down upon the Soviets during the Cold War were legendary, and mocked the pilots and political leaders (Kruschev, et al) on the ground, who could do nothing. By the time they heard/felt the booms, it was way too late to do anything about it.
In addition to the museums already mentioned ITT at which the Blackbird resides, there is also one in NYC on the deck of the USS Intrepid Museum. It is visible while driving on the West Side Highway and looking up at the Intrepid (a decommissioned aircraft carrier), and the sight of those two signature engines is awesome.
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I remember the first daylight flight of the SR-71 in Okinawa...they at first only flew at night to keep the shutterbugs from getting any clear pictures of them. Years later, I met at another Marine at a professional development class who showed me pictures he had taken (surreptitiously and undoubtedly illegally) during a takeoff one day. He was airwing, maintenance I believe, and got some pretty awesome low-level shots of the taxi and takeoff. Very cool plane.
If you went to the Kadena runway after hearing the booms, you could watch them land. They were still fast when they came in, and needed a 'chute to slow down. They would always taxi directly into the hanger without stopping. It was the same way for takeoff. They would roll out of the hanger and onto the runway without stopping. I always heard it was because they leaked so much at ground level. The plane sealed up as it heated during flight.
By the way, watching the B-52s come and go was also a sight to see.
it is around 50 years old, but i agree it is one helluva a plane. have lunch in New York and breakfast in L.A>
FYI... Here's a cool website about the Habu's in Kadena
One of the stories in that site talks about how they would rotate planes to California every 6 months (roughly). What they would do is fly the planes out of Kadena at the same time that the replacements left from California, and they would pass each other somewhere over the Pacific. With each plane at Mach 3+, the closing speed was over Mach 6!
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/kadena2.html
One of the stories in that site talks about how they would rotate planes to California every 6 months (roughly). What they would do is fly the planes out of Kadena at the same time that the replacements left from California, and they would pass each other somewhere over the Pacific. With each plane at Mach 3+, the closing speed was over Mach 6!
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/kadena2.html
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I can just imagine the powers-that-be informing a test pilot of their next mission.
"Listen, we want you to test this new airplane that flies at 70,000+ feet at speeds over 2,225 mph. Oh, and by the way, prior to takeoff, the bird will leak highly flammable fuel like a sieve until you get up to speed. Then, the friction will be so great and cause so much heat it will cause the metals to expand at which point the gaps will be filled and the leaks will stop. But as soon as you slow down, it will leak again. Good luck!"
I have seen several TV shows on the blackbird with interviews of pilots and people who worked on that plance. The most amazing person to me was Kelly Johnson who designed many of the features on the blackbird at the skunkworks. That guy to me was 1 of the greatest if not greatest engineers the world has ever known. He could think it up and design and build it. Thank god he was on our side otherwise we would probably be speaking a different language by now... 
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
That was great to read - thanks for sharing! As a Marine brat in Japan, I spent my summers playing baseball on fields located not far from air strips. Awesome to see Harriers, Intruders, Hornets, and the occasional F-16 Eagle land in the distance. It was a regular occurrence growing up and one you don't appreciate until much later in life.
As to the Habu, I remember it for another reason - in Japan, they make a sake with a coiled Habu in it - 'Habusake'. Not quite the same as a worm in your tequila...
http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/a-12s.html
if you like the SR71 you'll love the story of an even better, albeit lesser-known craft: A-12 Oxcart
if you like the SR71 you'll love the story of an even better, albeit lesser-known craft: A-12 Oxcart
Planes, planes and more planes --
Air and Space Museum -- on the Mall, Wash DC
Air and Space #2 -- Dulles Airport
Kennedy Space Center -- FL
Wright Brothers workshop -- Dayton, OH
Wright Patterson Air Force Base -- Dayton, OH (all Air Force One's)
The 'Spruce Goose' -- McMinnville, OR (truly amazing inside the cabin)
US Naval Air Station -- Pensacola, FL (home of the Blue Angels)
Been there, done that ...and all are fantastic.
A must to see planes from the beginning of aviation -- bi planes, fighters, bombers, spy planes, commercial (the Concorde), space capsules, and space 'planes', even our enemies planes -- so much of aviation history to see, touch and hear about !!
Air and Space Museum -- on the Mall, Wash DC
Air and Space #2 -- Dulles Airport
Kennedy Space Center -- FL
Wright Brothers workshop -- Dayton, OH
Wright Patterson Air Force Base -- Dayton, OH (all Air Force One's)
The 'Spruce Goose' -- McMinnville, OR (truly amazing inside the cabin)
US Naval Air Station -- Pensacola, FL (home of the Blue Angels)
Been there, done that ...and all are fantastic.
A must to see planes from the beginning of aviation -- bi planes, fighters, bombers, spy planes, commercial (the Concorde), space capsules, and space 'planes', even our enemies planes -- so much of aviation history to see, touch and hear about !!
In Ben Rich's book about the Skunk Works, he mentions how PSU's excellent department of petroleum research (I presume he meant the school of petroleum engineering) provided the special oil needed for the engines of the SR-71. You can find mention of it the article linked below.
http://inflight.squarespace.com/aviation-ancestry/2012/10/31/aviation-ancestry-november-2012.html
http://inflight.squarespace.com/aviation-ancestry/2012/10/31/aviation-ancestry-november-2012.html
I have seen several TV shows on the blackbird with interviews of pilots and people who worked on that plance. The most amazing person to me was Kelly Johnson who designed many of the features on the blackbird at the skunkworks. That guy to me was 1 of the greatest if not greatest engineers the world has ever known. He could think it up and design and build it. Thank god he was on our side otherwise we would probably be speaking a different language by now...
Ben E. Rich, who succeeded Johnson as head of the Skunkworks, was the lead designer on that plane. He wrote a book about his time there, and one of the chapters was the blackbird. Very interesting stuff.
Kelly Johnson was livid the A12 wasn't put in to production. He said they made the wrong choice on which plane to build.
That is AWESOME!!! I like how there are red LED lights in the aft end of the turbine exhaust that makes it look like afterburners.
Very cool.
Yes. The fuselage panels did not fit tight at normal temperatures. At speed the heat generated would cause the fuselage to expand up to 2" and would close the gaps in the fuselage thus closing the leaks.
Watched several shows on skunk works and what an incredible place. Loved how all these people commuted via passenger jet everyday from LA to the skunk works...many spouses thought their husbands were accountants etc....
Great point, bwifan.
No matter if it's military or civilian: I can't imagine working in a profession where you can't commensurate with or describe your job to anyone. I can't imagine not being able to vent to my wife or friends about certain stories, people, etc. from my professional life.
ask yourself how all of the A-12 and the initial delivery of SR-71's could be manufactured under everyone's nose in Burbank CA without anyone ever noticing.... then read the attached obviously they could not fly these top secret goblins out of Burbank CA... good stuff! http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.html
obviously they could not fly these top secret goblins out of Burbank CA... good stuff! http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.html
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