Posted on 01/20/2023 3:43:38 AM PST by Libloather
There are an unending number of interesting facts about the SR-71 Blackbird, probably the coolest aircraft ever produced by any Air Force, anywhere in the world. It’s the only airframe that’s made of 85% titanium, titanium that was purchased by the CIA from the Soviet Union – the country the aircraft was built to spy on. It’s capable of cruising at more than three times the speed of sound at 85,000 feet – and that speed and altitude are its only defenses.
**SNIP**
It’s also the only Air Force aircraft ever made with the “SR” designation. The reason for that is actually a mistake made at the White House in 1964.
If one were to go back in time and look at the press conferences, manuals and other material related to the SR-71 Blackbird and the revelation of its existence, they might not notice anything was ever flubbed by the President of the United States. A deeper look into the speeches made by the president that year shows that Johnson may have made a slip-up, but his loyal military officers simply changed the name of the bird to suit the president’s flub.
**SNIP**
On July 25, 1964, President Johnson gave a speech to the American people to tell them about this state-of-the-art spy plane the United States had been using against the Soviet Union. The White House stenographer, apparently confused by earlier references to the RS-70 Valkyrie, wrote “RS-71” in the White House transcript. President Johnson’s speech itself, however, called it the SR-71. The fact that the program was declassified that day makes it even hard to go back and get a definitive ruling on its intended designation.
(Excerpt) Read more at wearethemighty.com ...
HA!
“Truly a bucket list museum. Just about everything that ever flew is there.”
It is a blessing to me that I was born and raised 50 minutes away in Cincinnati. I’ve visited there since I was a kid. To, the most fascinating planes to see are the B-29 “Bock’s Car” that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and the 707 Air Force One (SAM 26000) that transported JFK’s body to Andrews AFB from Love Field (chilling to stand in the back door where they removed the casket).
LBJ is why, he misread the name of the plane, so Air Force changed RS to SR in order not to embarrass the President.
Wonder how many anti-2A types would believe it if I told them the SR-71 is outfitted with AR-15’s on each wing. That AR stands for Airplane Rifle. Yeah, the Airplane Rifles are on the wing, and the TR’s, the Tank Rifles, face down to hit tanks on the ground....
Spent 3 years in the early 80s servicing the SR-71 in the air on the KC-135Q model tankers all over the planet. We would be going placard airspeed during aerial refueling and they were going as slow as they could to maintain flight. When they would start to get heavy the pilot would always let you know he was lighting an afterburner (especially at night) so he could maintain flight. Really cool to see that purple cone of fire shooting out the back of the engine. Since the aircraft didn’t have fuel bladders you could tell he was getting full when fuel was running down the back of the aircraft. Once refueling was complete the tankers would make an immediate left-hand turn to get out of the SR-71s way as they were cleared to 60,000 ft to go on their supersonic portion of the mission.
I clicked on the link. The photo shows an object between the vertical stabilizers. I then did a search for images. A couple showed an object between the two vertical stabilizers that is different than the one in the article.
Anyone have a idea what purpose of those objects?
The oil refinery where I worked made JP7. JP7 is what the SR-71 used and I believe it was the only use of this fuel. At the time, I was of the understanding that this refinery was the sole producer of JP7. The only thing we knew was that it was a special military jet fuel and all the specifications needed to produce the fuel.
Skunkworks! Great read.
Lockeed’s secret facility where the SR-71 was built.
Wonder what the story is about the red pin stripe.
It is probably a drone, I think called a D-21. It could only operate at supersonic speeds. Not all SR-71s could use them.
LOL
So the top secret program was unclassified to help an election, yep, that's a good reason.
Bkmk
Not the only time LJB's cadre of lackeys covered for his sorry ...S!
during ‘Secrets Revealed’ event March 7-8, 2020 at National Museum USAF
Sounds like something that stooge would say.
Totally agree and two of my three favorite planes, the other being the Corsair used in WW2.
I’ve got the book “Sled Driver” in PDF form online on one of my online drives. I need to actually finish reading that. It’s by Brian Shul, who was in fact a pilot of an SR-71. Some great stories.
The drone was quickly abandoned according to stories since in the second test flight it collided with the mother ship.
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