Tales of the Blackbird (SR-71)

[squeezer]

Where are you from? Referring to it as "University" is very European sounding....

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

Born at March AFB...
Live in Portland

 

[j21black]

Not to kill any of the magic, but the B2 drops its loads from mid to high altitudes, so yeah you won't hear it till after the ordinance impacts. It doesn't have to sneak along the ground since it is all but invisible to RADAR and the human eye for that matter.

They buried the engines in the fuselage and have huge diffusers that mask both sound and more importantly, IR signatures. The F117 had earlier similar technology for the same reason.

I get the high altitude deal, makes sense....

But the times I saw and heard it, it didn't have the advantage of high altitude in a race track flyover. I bet it was 30 seconds minimum after it passed before you heard the engines....It was nuts and something I will never forget...

 

[HCP3]

I get the high altitude deal, makes sense....

But the times I saw and heard it, it didn't have the advantage of high altitude in a race track flyover. I bet it was 30 seconds minimum after it passed before you heard the engines....It was nuts and something I will never forget...

I experienced the same thing at March ARB Air Show 2018. I was surprised how loud it was as he ascended and headed back to home base (Whiteman?).

 

[BajaMike]

 

[j21black]

Alright. You guys twisted my arm. Showed up today.

Hope it’s a good read.

On a side note. This thread got me talking to my 13 year old about the SR71. He been watching YouTube videos on it and wants to see the one in DC.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WhatExit?]

 

[4Waters]

That plane is just incredible, I just watched the video with my son and I was telling him how loud those engines are, I had the opportunity to witness a flyby at the Point Magu Airshow in the mid 80's. That was awesome, thanks.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Just watched it with my boys too! We saw the one March Field has, but it was neat to see a more mobile view and explanations.

Then my older boy went to his room, and got his book, "Secret Airplanes Developed At Area 51". He proceeds to show me a pic of the Aurora prototype refueling...dated 1989.

What do the boys have now?!

 

[Kachina26]

Not sure if this got posted, but great story.

 

[rivrrts429]

 

[rivrrts429]

 

[Hallett Dave]

I grew up at Edwards AFB. I used to baby sit the children of Col Bob (Fox Stevens) a test pilot for the SR-71.
All of he pilots had a Mach 3+ patch on their flight suits. And yes it was true.
In fact the speeds were well over Mach 3 and the altitudes they flew are still somewhat classified.

There is an SR-71 and I think a YF-12 on static display at Plant 42 in Palmdale CA.
Check it out.

 

[rivrrts429]

I grew up at Edwards AFB. I used to baby sit the children of Col Bob (Fox Stevens) a test pilot for the SR-71.
All of he pilots had a Mach 3+ patch on their flight suits. And yes it was true.
In fact the speeds were well over Mach 3 and the altitudes they flew are still somewhat classified.

There is an SR-71 and I think a YF-12 on static display at Plant 42 in Palmdale CA.
Check it out.

Very cool Dave! Thank You for sharing! I have to find those Mach 3 patches.

 

[rivrrts429]

Such an amazing plane. This is a great interview with a pilot.

 

[rivrrts429]

America... fuck yeah

 

[highvoltagehands]

Found another OXCART story to add to the most interesting and fascinating thread in RDP history...IMO

A CIA spyplane crashed outside Area 51 a half-century ago. This explorer found it. — Popular Science

In January 1967, an A-12, then a secret CIA spyplane, crashed in the Nevada desert outside Area 51. Decades later, one amateur explorer made it his mission to find it.

apple.news

 

[4Waters]

Found another OXCART story to add to the most interesting and fascinating thread in RDP history...IMO

A CIA spyplane crashed outside Area 51 a half-century ago. This explorer found it. — Popular Science

In January 1967, an A-12, then a secret CIA spyplane, crashed in the Nevada desert outside Area 51. Decades later, one amateur explorer made it his mission to find it.

apple.news

Great read, thanks for posting

 

[highvoltagehands]

Great read, thanks for posting

I frequent a few different forum sites, but I think this thread covering the storied history of A-12/SR-71 has fascinated and interested me like none other.......Thanks for firing this one up Rivrrts429.

 

[QC22]

Found another OXCART story to add to the most interesting and fascinating thread in RDP history...IMO

A CIA spyplane crashed outside Area 51 a half-century ago. This explorer found it. — Popular Science

In January 1967, an A-12, then a secret CIA spyplane, crashed in the Nevada desert outside Area 51. Decades later, one amateur explorer made it his mission to find it.

apple.news

Loved this. Makes me want to drive around in the desert looking for shit.

 

[rivrrts429]

I frequent a few different forum sites, but I think this thread covering the storied history of A-12/SR-71 has fascinated and interested me like none other.......Thanks for firing this one up Rivrrts429. [emoji106]

Thanks bud. It’s an incredible story and plane(s). Fun to pick a page in this thread and find cool stuff.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

Fantastic, I love history like this.

 

[RogerThat99]

Skunk Works by Ben Rich is a good read for lore of the Blackbird.

That was a great book. I read it about a year ago.

Interesting how it was originally designated the RS-71.

Sent From Tapatalk

 

[Mcob25rg]

Great post. I’ve followed this tread from first to now - AWESOME READ - these were true patriots

 

[Sleek-Jet]

That was a great book. I read it about a year ago.

Interesting how it was originally designated the RS-71.

Sent From Tapatalk

There is something slightly sinister about the "strategic" part of the name.

I wish I could find the quote, I think it was in an edition of the Smithsonian magazine. One of the planned uses for the airframe was as a kind of forward controller. The flights were to be sent in shortly after the first wave of missile strikes to survey the damage and accuracy of the attack. The crew could then call a second strike. Crews were given eye patches to wear over one eye to save their vision to use on the hoped for flight home.

 

[highvoltagehands]

There is something slightly sinister about the "strategic" part of the name.

I wish I could find the quote, I think it was in an edition of the Smithsonian magazine. One of the planned uses for the airframe was as a kind of forward controller. The flights were to be sent in shortly after the first wave of missile strikes to survey the damage and accuracy of the attack. The crew could then call a second strike. Crews were given eye patches to wear over one eye to save their vision to use on the hoped for flight home.

If true, That is absolutely Badass! I wonder if the patch was in case they got flashed from first round of strikes or in case they got flashed from second wave of strikes they called in themselves?
As fast and as high as the BBird flew, the story sounds embellished for the benefit of us readers? Lol.

 

[rivrrts429]

 

[monkeyswrench]

Took this last week at the Pima Air and Space Museum. Figured it fit the theme here. Complete with "Mini-Me" drone. At March Field they have a Blackbird as well. This makes 2 I have now seen and touched. History of true American Badass!

 

[rivrrts429]

View attachment 986826
Took this last week at the Pima Air and Space Museum. Figured it fit the theme here. Complete with "Mini-Me" drone. At March Field they have a Blackbird as well. This makes 2 I have now seen and touched. History of true American Badass!

I don’t live far from March. I’m going to have my next sales meeting there. Stay tuned for pictures

 

[monkeyswrench]

I don’t live far from March. I’m going to have my next sales meeting there. Stay tuned for pictures

I was at March a few years back...Crap! Probably 10 now that I think about it! I took my boys, even though they were too young to appreciate it, I thought. They surely remembered it though when we went to Pima. At March, it was behind ropes. I asked the docent on hand if I could touch it. He looked around, and said yes. To me it was like touching a dream. My grandfather, who passed before I was born, worked on some of the landing gear and actuator assemblies...just a lowly machinist, but still a part of something "big". Luckily, my Grandmother lived to be 86, so I was able to hear about him starting off working a lathe in Burbank during the war, and retiring from FMC in 72...with Vard, Rocketdyne, and Aerojet/General in between.

My great uncle, who passed two years ago, was an engineer. What is odd though, he graduated from college in 1948, in the Air Force until '51...but didn't start working for the County of Los Angeles until the late 60's...about the time he got married. No other "work history". He still subscribed to several aerospace magazines until he died, and lots of cold war era memorabilia. I'll always wonder who employed him for those years that will remain a mystery.

 

[rivrrts429]

Bad ass pilot putting a show on for the spectators...

 

[4Waters]

Bad ass pilot putting a show on for the spectators...

Years ago we were at the Point Magu Air Show and the Blackbird made a flyby just like that. About 100' off the deck to the end of the runway, pulled up to About a 60° angle, throttled up to just shy of Mach and disappeared. Those engines are deafening loud.

 

[CLdrinker]

Crazy to think what we have probably built now that we have no idea about.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

View attachment 986820

That looks like it might be an A-12, can't make out the rear cockpit windows.

 

[rivrrts429]

That looks like it might be an A-12, can't make out the rear cockpit windows.

I saw that to but then read the description and this is one of the last Blackbird planes and this was it’s last flight. No idea how true that is.

 

[raysmuffler]

Loved this. Makes me want to drive around in the desert looking for shit.

Here are a few pics of the Walter Ray Memorial where they found him and his ejection seat with the parachute that didn't open from 40,000 ft. Its quite an adventure to find where this is located. Drove our RZR's within a couple hundred yards of the memorial and had to hike the rest of the way. About a year before we found the crash site where his plane landed that is approximately 9 miles from where they found him. All the big pieces of the plane were hauled off by the military back in 1967 but there was a ton of small parts scattered all over the crash site. Most of the pieces we found were titanium or parts of the skin that had what I think was radar absorbing material covering them.

 

[rivrrts429]

Here are a few pics of the Walter Ray Memorial where they found him and his ejection seat with the parachute that didn't open from 40,000 ft. Its quite an adventure to find where this is located. Drove our RZR's within a couple hundred yards of the memorial and had to hike the rest of the way. About a year before we found the crash site where his plane landed that is approximately 9 miles from where they found him. All the big pieces of the plane were hauled off by the military back in 1967 but there was a ton of small parts scattered all over the crash site. Most of the pieces we found were titanium or parts of the skin that had what I think was radar absorbing material covering them. View attachment 1011220 View attachment 1011221 View attachment 1011222

Wow, that’s unbelievable and truly humbling. Thank You for sharing.

 

[highvoltagehands]

Got this one out of Popular Mechanics yesterday. Hopefully it opens OK.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a36548281/sr-71-blackbird-history/

 

[mothershipper]

Here are a few pics of the Walter Ray Memorial where they found him and his ejection seat with the parachute that didn't open from 40,000 ft. Its quite an adventure to find where this is located. Drove our RZR's within a couple hundred yards of the memorial and had to hike the rest of the way. About a year before we found the crash site where his plane landed that is approximately 9 miles from where they found him. All the big pieces of the plane were hauled off by the military back in 1967 but there was a ton of small parts scattered all over the crash site. Most of the pieces we found were titanium or parts of the skin that had what I think was radar absorbing material covering them. View attachment 1011220 View attachment 1011221 View attachment 1011222

I have been up and down Kane springs road countless times for offroad races and had no clue how close this was. I need to go and check this out one day. Used to race at a ranch just north of the turn off to the crash site.

 

[mothershipper]

Got this one out of Popular Mechanics yesterday. Hopefully it opens OK.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a36548281/sr-71-blackbird-history/

t
Thanks, very good reading. Like the part where they figured out to use distilled water. PS - click on the PDF file and not the link

 

[rivrrts429]

Got this one out of Popular Mechanics yesterday. Hopefully it opens OK.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a36548281/sr-71-blackbird-history/

Downloading the PDF worked. That was a great read!

 

[raysmuffler]

I have been up and down Kane springs road countless times for offroad races and had no clue how close this was. I need to go and check this out one day. Used to race at a ranch just north of the turn off to the crash site.

From Kane Springs Road you were about 5-6 miles from the crash site and approximately 14 miles from the location where Walter Ray landed in his ejection seat (as the crow flies). That's the location of the memorial I posted pictures of earlier. I you ever have a day or two to kill it makes for a fun adventure trying to find both of these sites.

 

[LC925]

Well, looks like we can now see what they’ve been working-on/hiding for the last few decades. Skunks Works at it again… love reading this thread and stories. I recall reading a skunk works engineer being quoted somewhere along the lines of “wait a few decades to see what we’ve been working on now!” Looks like it’s finally out to the public?!?

Lockheed Exec Refuses To Comment On Video Exposing Mystery Aviation Technology On Secret Testing Base

Lockheed Martin Senior Executive Refuses To Comment On Odd-Shaped Aircraft That Surfaced In TikTok Video At Apparent Skunk Works Facility

dailycaller.com

 

[Bowtiepower00]

Great thread, thanks for the read. Grew up on an AFB and Navy base, and was totally geeked out on the SR-71 as a kid. Good stuff.

 

[4Waters]

 

[monkeyswrench]

Yes, a not so modern marvel, revered by other countries, even in one of their museums...
I never saw one fly, but to me every bit as epic as the shuttle program. In some ways, maybe even more.

Thanks for the new vid!

 

[rivrrts429]

Awesome find dude! I have t seen this one before. Thanks for sharing

 

[4Waters]

Yes, a not so modern marvel, revered by other countries, even in one of their museums...
I never saw one fly, but to me every bit as epic as the shuttle program. In some ways, maybe even more.

Thanks for the new vid!

I saw one make a flyby in the late 80's at the Magu airshow, indescribable is how I would describe it

 

[Javajoe]

I built a facility for the U2 and SR back in the day. Crazy planes. When my friends wife’s dad died years ago they released a ton of info to her and that’s when she found out he was one of the test pilots for the Blackbird. Really interesting articles they gave her. One was a low night run up the 395 that made a lot of newspapers

 

[rivrrts429]

Incredible video...

 

[Roosky01]

Skunk Works by Ben Rich is a good read for lore of the Blackbird.

There is one at the Pima museum. They've put it up on pedestals now, but when it was first moved inside to the new hangar you could walk right up and touch the skin. It felt and sounded "cheap", thin and tinny, not substantial like you would imagine, a by product of the titanium.

One awesome piece of machinery.

Skunk Works is a great audio book if you guys need to pass some time while traveling or just need to tune out the wife unit for a while.