SR-71 and A10 Warthog. Two amazing aircraft.
See inside the SR-71 cockpit; learn about the U-2, former reconnaissance satellites and more during ‘Secrets Revealed’ event March 7-8 at National Museum USAF
Thank you for posting this!
No Blackbird has ever been lost or damaged due to hostile action: in fact, even though according to Airman Magazine over 4,000 missiles have been fired at the SR-71 during its service life, none of them hit.
https://theaviationgeekclub.com/sr-71-rso-tells-the-story-of-the-first-time-the-blackbird-was-shot-at-by-a-missile/
Johnson revealing highly classified information to the world for personal gain is treason. He should have been impeached and thrown in prison.
Saw them do flybys at the local air show many times. Loudest engines by far from any other aircraft.
”SR stands for ‘spy rocket.’”
I was shown a film while on active duty in the USAF probably in about 1965, not before Aug 1964. It was being called the YF-12 at the time. The aircraft is the one shown here-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YF-12 .
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.
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!
I think this leads to an SR-71 pilot’s story - Brian Shul.
One of Mrs. JimRed’s cousins was a Blackbird pilot. Retired USAF Colonel now.