How cool is this! SR71 assembly at Skunk Works c. 1965. It looks like a scene out of Star Wars in the Rebel Alliance X-Wing fighter Bay.
Posted on 12/28/2016 8:20:44 PM PST by BulletBobCo
Roger that submareemer! Been there and done that.
How cool is this! SR71 assembly at Skunk Works c. 1965. It looks like a scene out of Star Wars in the Rebel Alliance X-Wing fighter Bay.
True or not, I enjoyed the story.
At 68 years on this planet I do occasionally ask myself about regrets over things I might have done, but didn’t. I admire all pilots, have great envy and hold them all in very high regard.
In 1970 I started with flying lessons in Seattle, but I ran out of money and good weather and my then career began to shoot upward, so I didn’t have time anymore.
I have had a blessed life, all considered, but I will always wish I had gone the aviation route. I married a pilots daughter over 45 years ago....that will have to do. ;>)
You pilots are so very fortunate......God bless you all.
Thanks for the link. Great story. (2nd one)
I am green with envy! And I thot I hitched a few remarkable rides.
Way cool personal story!!
another good one:
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-sr-71-blackbirds-most-spectacular-flyover-was-also-1719654907
More like 45 years.
it’s probably BS.
It is the word of the actual pilot and copilot of the SR-71. You would have to believe they both lied, and authorized putting it into a book based on their experience, to accept it as BS.
Military aircraft like this fly above class A airspace so civilian Air Traffic Controllers have no responsibility over them.
Correct. The tower was only reporting the groundspeed as measured on their radar equipment in response to a REQUEST FROM the SR-71 crew.
In addition, performance capabilities are classified info.
Yes, but there are things that you cannot hide. Like altitude and groundspeed measured by civilian radar. The pilots responding with their 'more accurate' speed revealed nothing that was not already known. That was proven by the tower response that he knew the SR-71's 'equipment' was more accurate. Most of that was due to the fact that not all airports had the most advanced radar equipment recently installed (because that is an impractical and almost impossible thing to do/expect). It gave away information that could only prove that the tower's equipment gave a different speed than the SR-71's, and any idiot could figure out that the SR-71 had more accurate equipment.
FWIW, I worked as historian on the X-30, which was being designed to go Mach 25. Since we had no wind tunnels capable of testing even a model at that speed, the aircraft was to be the test instrument itself.
At General Dynamics they put me (NOT a pilot) in the sim.
I have the distinction of crashing the Aerospace Plane 3 times at only 10,000 mph in less than five minutes.
“The Space Shuttle was faster than a SR-71,”
The space shuttle did not have engines. ;-)
“nasa may have one or two for whatever reason,”
The CIA has several very specialized models of the SR-71 which fly regularly but they do not talk about them.
Even a neater story!!
well, not the kind that breath air, at any rate.
The Space Shuttle did have engines. It had to turn backwards and fire them to reduce speed and fall out of orbit. These engines were nothing compared to the two solid rocket boosters with 1 million pounds of propellant or the Main Booster with over a half million gallons of liquid propellant.
“The Space Shuttle did have engines.”
Of course, you are correct. Please let me rephrase:
The space shuttle did not have air-breathing engines that could operate in the atmosphere. ;-)
“How cool is this! “ Over the top.
BTW in San Diego at the Air Museum at Balboa Park there is a 71 mounted on a pedestal out front.
Another good one...
Lufthansa pilot: (in german) “Lufthansa flight xyz, requesting approach heading for frankfurt.”
Frankfurt Air Traffic: “In English, please.”
Lufthansa pilot: (in english) “I am a German pilot, in a German plane, flying into a German airport. Why must I speak in english?”
British Airways pilot on same frequency: “because you lost the bloody war, mate! “
CC
If I remember correctly, there is one at the air museum at March Air Reserve Base near Perris, CA and east of Riverside, CA. The museum is on the east side of Hwy 215.
Was just watching a vid on Youtube about the SR71. I comeback to F and here is this thread.
;-)
Not much of a story but Bill mentioned that in all its glory the 71 would hiccup once in a while - rarely - but when it did happened (one engine missing a beat) the airframe would move sideways violently and ones head would slam into the side of the cabin. It was then that they also appreciated their space helmets shock absorber design and capabilities.
Also the ladies would do most anything to get the pilots to take a pair of their panties aloft so they could boast mac 3+ (fastest panties on earth) status. I do not know the specifics of their leverage for compliance but it must have been fun.
From “Skunk Works” by Ben Rich there is a whole chapter on the SR71(Habu) this is one of my favorites...
Lt. Colonel William Burk Jr. (Air Force pilot) In the fall of ’82, I flew from Mildenhall on a mission over Lebanon in response to the Marine barracks bombing. President Reagan ordered photo coverage of all the terrorist bases in the region. The French refused to allow us to overfly, so our mission profile was to refuel off the south coast of England, a Mach 3 cruise leg down the coast of Portugal and Spain, left turn through the Straits of Gibraltar, refuel in the western Mediterranean, pull a supersonic leg along the coast of Greece and Turkey, right turn into Lebanon and fly right down main street Beirut, exit along the southern Mediterranean with another refueling over Malta, supersonic back out the straits, and return to England. Because Syria had a Soviet SA-5 missile system just west of Damascus that we would be penetrating (we were unsure of Syria’s intentions in this conflict), we programmed to fly above eighty thousand feet and at Mach 3 plus to be on the safe side, knowing that this advanced missile had the range and speed to nail us. And as we entered Lebanon’s airspace my Recon Systems Officer in the rear cockpit informed me that our defensive systems display showed we were being tracked by that SA-5. About fifteen seconds later we got a warning of active guidance signals from the SA-5 site. We couldn’t tell whether there was an actual launch or the missile was still on the rails, but they were actively tracking us. We didn’t waste any time wondering, but climbed and pushed that throttle, and said a couple of “Hail Kellys.” We completed our pass over Beirut and turned toward Malta, when I got a warning low-oil-pressure light on my right engine. Even though the engine was running fine I slowed down and lowered our altitude and made a direct line for England. We decided to cross France without clearance instead of going the roundabout way. We made it almost across, when I looked out the left window and saw a French Mirage III sitting ten feet off my left wing. He came up on our frequency and asked us for our Diplomatic Clearance Number. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I told him to stand by. I asked my backseater, who said, “Don’t worry about it. I just gave it to him.” What he had given him was “the bird” with his middle finger. I lit the afterburners and left that Mirage standing still. Two minutes later, we were crossing the Channel.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.