Fascinating photos reveal how they built the SR-71 Blackbird

SPLOID Gizmodo.com ^ | 7 Feb 2015 | Jesus Diaz

[minnesota_bound]

#14 The Thrill of Flying the SR-71 Blackbird
http://sploid.gizmodo.com/5511236/the-thrill-of-flying-the-sr-71-blackbird

Excerpts: On the morning of April 15, I rocketed past the line at 2,125 mph.

Walter informed me that he was receiving missile launch signals. I quickly increased our speed.

‘You might want to pull it back,’ Walter suggested. It was then that I noticed I still had the throttles full forward. The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit.

---

60 secs x 60 min = 3600 seconds x 1.6 = 5,760 mph

[aposiopetic]

The takeoff was aborted when a wheel assembly failed. Capt. James A. Kogler was ordered to eject, but pilot Maj. Gabriel Kardong elected to stay with the aircraft.

Some serious courage and commitment, that,

[yarddog]

Thanks, that is exactly the same interview I remember tho I had forgotten a lot.

That must have been an incredible ride.

[Ben Ficklin]

As your list shows, the first A12 to crash was flown by Col Collins.

Here is a webpage with more info on that and the program, and his experience and career before and after

[jttpwalsh]

That would be great !

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***The SR-71 flew for 17 straight years (1972-1989) without a loss of plane or crew.***

I saw one crash at Beale AFB back in 1968 or 1969. Coming in for a landing, it went behind some trees, saw a big puff of smoke and the fire trucks went by with all lights and sirens on.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

**This aircraft was lost on 17 June 1970 following a post-tanking collision with the KC-135Q**

Bet this KC135-Queer was from Little Rock AFB TDY to Beale.

I worked on them from 1967-1969. They were specially modified so the tanks could be filled with both JP-4 for the tanker, and other tanks of JP-7 for the SR-71.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

And Walker AFB only had B-52s and Kc-135s. They used to have B-47s.

[LaRueLaDue]

My wife’s father was one of the initial group of SR-71 pilots. Never met the man, as he died before my wife and I met, but my mother-in-law has some interesting stories and photos. It was an incredible flying machine, and the pilots were the elites of pilots, nearly like astronauts.

[Old Forester]

Wonderful photos! Thanks for the post - this has always been my favorite aircraft. I was privileged to work on it back in ‘72 and always love to see more pictures of it.

[MasterGunner01]

The M-21 drone carrier was a variant of the Lockheed A-12, predecessor of the SR-71. The D-21B drone, looked like a small, pilotless version of the parent aircraft, but had only a single Marquardt ramjet engine. Operational use was less than successful and eventually stopped. Several drones from the program have survived and are on display at air museums. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_D-21.

[Henry Hnyellar]

Most vanguardist?

[Pontiac]

One’s on loan to a British air museum. Wright-Patterson, of course. Smithsonian’s Dulles Annex. Probably a couple each at Langley and Edwards.

I saw one at the Dayton Air Force Museum in Ohio back in the late 80s.

[TalBlack]

They have one on the Intrepid in NY that I walked up to and looked over. It seemed small to me compared to the impression films that I have seen left.Have pics of it somewhere. Later on watching some cable show the SR 71 was described as 100 feet long. That one on the deck of Intrepid didn’t seem anywhere near that length.

[Don W]

I did a bit of quick looking, and it turns out the organization I referred to is now called the "Commemorative Air Force".

[nuconvert]

Thanks for the link

[T-Bone Texan]

"...You can walk right up to, and underneath, them...

In Virginia is a big aerospace museum. The Enola Gay is there, as well as a Concorde.

I hopped the velvet rope so as to put my hand on the SR-71, only for a second.

I was truly honored.

The country that made the SR-71 no longer exists, and there is nothing we can do about that, except take names so as to punish those responsible and see to it that it never happens again.

[Hebrews 11:6]

I was truly honored.

I agree with you that it's inspiring to see those black birds up close, appreciating the spirit which produced them.

see to it that it never happens again

As to the direction of this country and this world: a fair reading of all of Bible prophecy, considered with world events of the past seven decades, strongly suggests that the end times are indeed rapidly approaching. That implies that the changes you lament, far from being rectifiable or even slowable, are instead likely not only to continue and but even to accelerate--even as we sense them accelerating now before our very eyes.

So, as God brings this age to a close, He will increase the pressure exponentially on humans, to force each of them to choose finally; because some resolute holdouts will repent only under the greatest tribulation, He will provide it, so as not to miss even one of those who ultimately decide they do wish to enjoy His presence eternally.