Posted on 02/07/2015 10:23:21 AM PST by rey
Built and designed in the 1960s after the A-12 Oxcart, the SR-71 Blackbird is still the fastest, most vanguardist air-breathing airplane in the history of aviation. These once classified photos reveal how Lockheed built both birds in secret, in California. They look taken at the Rebel base in Hoth.
"Everything had to be invented"
The A-12 and the SR-71 were a completely different design from anything else before itand everything after, as time has demonstrated. At the time, many of the technologies needed to make these airplanes were considered "impossible." And yet, thanks to Kelly Johnson and the amazing team at engineers and scientists at Lockheed's Skunk Works, they were invented from scratchin twenty months.
(Excerpt) Read more at sploid.gizmodo.com ...
#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
Some serious courage and commitment, that,
Thanks, that is exactly the same interview I remember tho I had forgotten a lot.
That must have been an incredible ride.
Here is a webpage with more info on that and the program, and his experience and career before and after
That would be great !
***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.
**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.
And Walker AFB only had B-52s and Kc-135s. They used to have B-47s.
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.
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.
Most vanguardist?
I saw one at the Dayton Air Force Museum in Ohio back in the late 80s.
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.
Thanks for the link
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.
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.
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