Tales of the Blackbird (SR-71)

[Roosky01]

I can't even imagine the size of the balls on Mr. Weaver...

 

[4Waters]

THE STORY BEHIND THIS FAMED SR-71 BLACKBIRD SUPER LOW KNIFE-EDGE PASS - The Aviation Geek Club

THE STORY BEHIND THIS FAMED SR-71 BLACKBIRD SUPER LOW KNIFE-EDGE PASS

www.google.com

 

[4Waters]

 

[Echo Lodge]

Uncle has this in his man cave.

 

[JB in so cal]

The J 79 crew!

 

[rivrrts429]

Call sign “Vader.”

@iceman_fox1 on Instagram: "Call sign "Vader", this SR-71 Blackbird heads towards the stratosphere. #sr71 #blackbird #archangel #a12 #ufo #spaceship #stratosphere #airforce #navy #dcs #dcsworld #warthunder #warbirds #eagles #avgeek #military #aviati

57K likes, 321 comments - iceman_fox1 on February 1, 2023: "Call sign "Vader", this SR-71 Blackbird heads towards the stratosphere. #sr71 #blackbird #archangel #a12 #ufo #spaceship #stratosphere #airforce #navy #dcs #dcsworld #warthunder #warbirds #eagles #avgeek #military #aviation...

www.instagram.com

 

[4Waters]

 

[Javajoe]

On the news last night they showed a pic of that first balloon taken by a U2. The wing was in the pic. Didn’t know they really use it anymore

 

[4Waters]

On the news last night they showed a pic of that first balloon taken by a U2. The wing was in the pic. Didn’t know they really use it anymore

Yup, a little over a year ago I watched one take off from Palmdale

 

[stephenkatsea]

Thru the years we’ve made some very amazing stuff. And it’s still the best. I can only hope, we can currently continue to concentrate and remain doing just that. Although, some of today’s popular movements and directions seem very contrary to that.

 

[stephenkatsea]

Don’t know if it amazes or saddens me when I see that SR.-71 Blackbird sitting on the deck of our naval carrier Intrepid, permanently tied alongside the dock in NYC.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

The fun starts at the 2 minute mark. Gawd what a machine.

 

[4Waters]

The fun starts at the 2 minute mark. Gawd what a machine.

I posted that a couple of pages back but it's worth having it on the newest page. There’s no vin's in this thread

 

[stephenkatsea]

Thanks to all contributing and involved in the project. Job very well done.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Thanks to all contributing and involved in the project. Job very well done.

The fact that we still talk about it, and are in awe of it today, shows it's lasting impression. We have companies 3D printing alloy rocket engines, and cars with more computers than all of the combined aerospace engineers of the 60's...but nothing seems to be as much of a leap as it was.

 

[4Waters]

The fact that we still talk about it, and are in awe of it today, shows it's lasting impression. We have companies 3D printing alloy rocket engines, and cars with more computers than all of the combined aerospace engineers of the 60's...but nothing seems to be as much of a leap as it was.

What's impressive is our phones could run an entire Apollo mission, rocket, capsule, moon lander and mission control with the computing power of 1 phone. Mission controls computer was at a minimum the size of an average house in the 60's

 

[WhatExit?]

Maybe there's an SR-72?

Lockheed Hints Again At The Existence Of A Secret High Speed Jet

Celebrating Top Gun: Maverick's six Oscar nominations, Lockheed once again alluded to the existence of a jet faster than the SR-71 Blackbird.

www.thedrive.com

 

[monkeyswrench]

Maybe there's an SR-72?

Lockheed Hints Again At The Existence Of A Secret High Speed Jet

Celebrating Top Gun: Maverick's six Oscar nominations, Lockheed once again alluded to the existence of a jet faster than the SR-71 Blackbird.

www.thedrive.com

For years, probably since the retirement of the SR71, there have been rumors of contrails that could only be made by a "pulse" or "scramjet" configuration.
Always made me wonder.

 

[hallett21]

For years, probably since the retirement of the SR71, there have been rumors of contrails that could only be made by a "pulse" or "scramjet" configuration.
Always made me wonder.

What would those look like?

 

[RogerThat99]

For years, probably since the retirement of the SR71, there have been rumors of contrails that could only be made by a "pulse" or "scramjet" configuration.
Always made me wonder.

We have to have a scramjet plane by now. We have been hearing the phrase for 20 years. If you haven't seen Top Gun Maverick, he test flies a plane that is supposed to be a scramjet. I they are portraying it in movies, we are probably on to a newer technology. LOL

 

[RogerThat99]

On the news last night they showed a pic of that first balloon taken by a U2. The wing was in the pic. Didn’t know they really use it anymore

I have a U2 base not too far from me (they also had SR-71's when they were still active). I took this pic about a year ago from my house. I never see them fly over low enough to see, and don't know why this one was so low. Someone told me that the pilot lives near me, and flew by his kids birthday party, sports game, or something. Who knows if that is true though.

 

[attitude]

I thought the rumored SR-71 replacement was the Aurora. Supposedly a triangular shaped craft that has been spotted by multiple people.

 

[WhatExit?]

From the article…

 

[attitude]

From the article…

View attachment 1208959

That’s the Darkstar from Top Gun

 

[monkeyswrench]

What would those look like?

"Supposedly", a dotted line. The dots being spaced further apart with speed...same duration between pulses, but spaced out due to distance traveled. There were reports and pics here and there online 20 years ago. Pics always sucked, and only faint because it was light hitting them at real high altitude. Early mornings, so sun hit them before sunrise.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

For years, probably since the retirement of the SR71, there have been rumors of contrails that could only be made by a "pulse" or "scramjet" configuration.
Always made me wonder.

The diamonds on a rope pictures.

While there might be an airframe that replaced the Blackbird it is highly unlikely that is a manned aircraft. My money is on a stealth drone, because then you don't need speed. Or the low earth orbit drone that Boeing flies on a regular basis.

 

[WhatExit?]

What's The Deal With All Lockheed's Chatter About The Hypersonic SR-72?

Could the exotic and shadowy jet concept be much further along in development than Lockheed is letting on?

www.thedrive.com

 

[Danger Dave]

A Chinese nightmare.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1635000207464120320

 

[whiteworks]

I stopped in the March air force base museum last week while I was out in that area. Oh boy was I surprised when I walked in and saw a SR71 sitting in the hangar. That place is awesome and 100% worth the $15.00 price of admissions and tome I spent walking around.

It was really inspiring, I was talking with a Vietnam era docent, he was the real deal. I remember when I was a child going to planes of fame and there were WWII docents airing around telling war stories about bombing missions, those guys are mostly gone now, but the viet nam guys are not.

I’ll admit I did look up the air force website information about maximum age for enlisting when I got home, figure go run some laps and fly rad shit my not be such a bad ending to act II of this life. Unfortunately I’m too old to enlist now

 

[coolchange]

A friend of mine got accepted to do the sr71 simulator in Texas. Cost to do this is $30,000. He didn’t have to pay. Studied for months.

 

[stokerwhore]

another short tale

 

[stokerwhore]

 

[stokerwhore]

 

[stokerwhore]

lol

 

[4Waters]

Bye

 

[rivrrts429]

RoMiG21 on Instagram: "SUPERSONIC SUNDAY – WANNA RACE? In the August 2012 issue of Aviation News pilot Lt Col Erik C Swanson (ret.) described his experiences flying the ‘Q’ variant of the Stratotanker supporting the SR-71A on its secret missions: “M

5,563 likes, 32 comments - romig21 on November 5, 2023: "SUPERSONIC SUNDAY – WANNA RACE? In the August 2012 issue of Aviation News pilot Lt Col Erik C S..."

www.instagram.com

 

[rivrrts429]

 

[HCP3]

Has the SR-71/A-12 or U-2 made it to the "Land on the moon" thread yet?

 

[DoughBallin14]

 

[rivrrts429]

This is impressive to listen to. The people behind this project are/were impressive to account for all of these obstacles…

F-14 Tomcat ATG Podcast on Instagram: "You’re about to get even smarter, After all, knowledge is power 🔥🔥. Pratt & Whitney employee Arnie Gunderson gives you a very in-depth look at the Pratt & Whitney J58 aka the JT11D-20 power plant that pushed the

54K likes, 1,769 comments - f_14_tomcat_ on January 20, 2024: "You’re about to get even smarter, After all, knowledge is power 🔥🔥. Pratt & Whitney employee Arnie Gunderson gives you a very in-depth look at the Pratt & Whitney J58 aka the JT11D-20 power plant that pushed the A-12 Cygnus, YF-12A...

www.instagram.com

 

[rivrrts429]

The sound of freedom…

Jeff Walck on Instagram

17K likes, 150 comments - jeffwalck on February 11, 2024

www.instagram.com

 

[DLow]

Pretty good information about its systems in this well produced animated video. The flight control engineering is pretty cool.

 

[Backlash]

My wife and I were in LA today, and found our way over to the California Science Center. I've never been there! Imagine my surprise as we were walking across the parking lot and seeing this bad boy!!

Pretty frigging amazing!

I did a little reading while we were waiting to see a flick at the Imax theater......I guess there are only two of these birds left in service.

Incredible!!

 

[JB in so cal]

There are no more left in service!

 

[monkeyswrench]

There are no more left in service!

I think there may have been two of those "trainers" built though?

 

[Backlash]

There are no more left in service!

I am obviously not in the know, and didn't read the fine print before posting. Thank you for the correction.

 

[sonicss31]

 

[spectra3279]

View attachment 1362916

Fucking sucks the f14 is no longer in service.

 

[rivrrts429]

Fucking sucks the f14 is no longer in service.

That was a bad ass plane and loud AF when the pilot was giving it all the beans.

 

[4Waters]

Fucking sucks the f14 is no longer in service.

Except in Iran