Sr-71 story

[redneckdan]

I sniped this off another forum, not sure if its true or not, good read regardless.







I have had the honor of conversing with a former "Sled Driver" on another forum.
His stories are legendary.
Here is a repost of one (declassified) of a fellow pilot, Brian Schul that appeared in "Flying" magazine.

There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact.

People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment.

It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plan in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet.

I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace.

We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied:

November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground.

Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that. and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios.

Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his groundspeed. in Beach.

I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed.

Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren.

Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios.

Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check

Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet.

And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion:

Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground.

And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now.

I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet.

Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke:

Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?

There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request.

Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground.

I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice:

Ah, Center, much thanks,

We're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money.

For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with,

Roger that Aspen,

Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours.

You boys have a good one.

It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work.

We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there.

[Mallard57]

Habu is still a magnificent creature!
Jeff

[oneokie]

Very subtle way of strutting their stuff!

Good one.

[Powderpacker]

Great story ! Thanks for sharing it with us.

[armexman]

I admire and respect what you did for our country. With that, as I read your story I cannot help but wonder about the look on the Navy pilot's face as your transmission was heard by all.

[garandsrus]

I spent three weeks at Beale AFB in California, the home of the SR-71, and they were truly impressive planes! I got to walk around them, take pictures, touch them, and fly the simulator.

It is absolutely amazing to me that they were developed 40+ years ago without the aid of computers!

John

[454PB]

Great story.

When the space shuttle returned the other day, one of the possible re-entry paths was directly over my home town. As it turned out, they didn't use that path, but it didn't matter as it was too cloudy to see it. However, the newspaper article said it would be traveling at 6800 MPH at 120K feet.

[MGySgt]

Habu is still a magnificent creature!
Jeff

The only place I heard them refered to as the Habu was on Okinawa in the early 70's.

We got pictures of one coming in for a landing at Kadena - NIS was all over us when we turned the film in for development! Never did get the film back either!

Drew

[No_1]

Beauty comes in many different forms. Flying one of those must have been icing on the cake for the lucky few who had a chance. When I was a kid I dreamed of being an astronaut and sometimes in the fog of the waking morning I realize that dream has visited in the night and left me once again.

R.

[redneckdan]

I admire and respect what you did for our country. With that, as I read your story I cannot help but wonder about the look on the Navy pilot's face as your transmission was heard by all.



The pilot was Brian Schul, his RIO was a guy named Walt.

[Mk42gunner]

I was hom on lave when the Air Force flew the SR-71 from California to Washington D.C. to go in the Smithsonion exhibit. This was suposedly the only time one flew all out across CONUS. The news announcer stated that it took 8 minutes to cross Missouri.

Impressive.


Robert

[Mallard57]

The only place I heard them refered to as the Habu was on Okinawa in the early 70's.


Habu was a pretty well known nick name in Air Force circles, I believe there was a Habu(snake) painted on the tails of the Blackbirds flying out of Okinawa.

I remember one day working on the flight line at George AFB which was in Victorville, CA (Southern CA.) an In Flight Emergency came across the radio involving an SR-71. The aircraft was over Texas when they called in the emergency and they ended up landing at our base. Not bad, only three or four states to be able to land.
Jeff

[danski26]

Great story!

[ebner glocken]

It's almost hard to call those things a "plane".....almost a simi-spaceship.

[Ricochet]

When NASA retired their SR-71 to the Space Museum in Huntsville, Alabama, I'd taken my family down there for my son's birthday (and Spring Break), I saw that thing sitting in a bus parking space out front by the curb, with no ropes or barriers, nothing calling attention to it except its own presence. The crowds went right by it without anyone but us paying attention to it. We hung around that plane for a while, giving it a good close ground level walk around inspection. Just being able to reach up and put hands on that thing was awesome to me!

[georgewxxx]

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1210796347057782051QbDsxx

When I was in the Air Force back in the early 60's, they were known as a YF12-A. My daughter worked at the SAC museum while working on her Masters in Museum Studies just outside of Lincoln Nebraska a few years back. They have one inside mounted on concrete pedestals. Very impressive when you can get a close up look at one in a simulated flying mode...Geo

[Nazgul]

Wife was stationed at Mather AFB in Sacramento around the time they decommissiioned the SR-71. Every night one would come into the base and do an approach. We would ride our bikes out to a picnic area where you could see the runway and watch. Always listened to the scanner for call sign Aspen, knew one was nearby.

Talked to an SR-71 pilot at the O club, he told the story of a new controller who received a call from Aspen 32 requesting FL 100 (fligh level 100 or 100,000 feet altitude). The controller laughed and said "Aspen 32 cleared to FL 100 if you can get there."

The pilot replied "Aspen 32 descending to FL 100."

[Ricochet]

They never publicly acknowledged anything over 80,000 feet as far as I know.

[Pilgrim]

The YF-12 was the fighter version of the SR-71. Seems the AF wanted a fighter with high altitude performance, etc. The YF-12 was just a bit ridiculous as there wasn't anything up there to shoot! If it came down to the altitude where the bad guys were, then the performance envelope of the "normal" fighters was superior and the YF-12 was in serious trouble. Look down - shoot down was not really available at that time, so there was no way to arm the beast. I believe there were three of the YF-12's made before the program was abandoned. Amazing airplane. I heard a story of one that had a flame out over Hawaii. He coasted to California (Wright I think) and landed dead stick. I have a hard time imagining something that high and fast that can coast for 2000 miles or so. Incredible. Pilgrim

[Lucky Joe]

I believe I read the SR-71 flew faster than the boolits it fired. That would have made for an interesting dog fight.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k168/Luckyjoe_01/SR-71.jpg

[Ricochet]

Could've gotten out in front of the enemy and shot back with a tail gun. :mrgreen:

[HollandNut]

Yep was never publicly acknowledged beyond 80000 feet ..

In 1974 one flew from Cali to DC in less than 2 hours , with one or two inflight refuels .. Think the average speed was a little over 1400 mph ..

At take off they carried just enuff fuel to get to an orbiting tanker , the wings at normal temperature were so pourous that the fuel actually leaked out and they had catch pans under them to catch the fuel .. Fuel was over $7 a gallon and cost was $250,000 per hour to operate if I remember correctly ..

Was said at normal operating speeds , which hadda be up there , it took over two hundred miles to make a 180 degree turn ..

I had a bunch of awesome pics on my computer that were lost in the house fire ..

[Bret4207]

12/30/82 I was stationed at MCAS Futema, Okinawa, Japan. I was working the afternoon shift and had to run to Kadena AFB for parts. After picking up the parts I was headed back around the base when I saw a Habu (SR-71) taxi onto the runway. I stopped and watched the take off. Picture an airplane, black as night, sitting there with just the nav lights showing. Then he started his roll and lit up the afterburners. Now picture green flame about 75 feet long behind the airplane which was airborne in nothing flat and climbed pretty near straight up. Impressive.

I'll always remember that night. It was my 22nd birthday.

[JMax]

There are two of them at the Palmdale CA airport. Took my sons to see them as I was on a tanker during training when we refuled one in a dive over the Hudson Bay. Neat airframe.

[4570guy]

The SR-71 was unarmed. The YF-12 would have been armed with the Falcon air-to-air missile. No guns.

BTW -- the cruising speed of the SR-71 at altitude is faster than the muzzle velocity of a standard 130 grain load fired from a .270.

The speed of heat....

[eaglefacts]

My father was stations in Okinawa in the early to mid 60's, he said those were some very impressive planes.....

[Blackhawk Convertable]

The Blackbird is by far my all time favorite plane. It's the one design that just doesn't look right on the ground. Made to Fly, Baby!!! I have an ESTES model of one that will someday rocket into the sky. What I wouldn't give to get a ride on one....

[mtgrs737]

The SR-71 is one impressive bird, and to think that it is OLD technology now! I don't think that any other country in the world has had or has anything like it. And to think it was developed about the time I was born 52 years ago today! "America" what a great country!

There is one on display in the Kansas Air And Space Museum in Hutchinson Kansas, it is turned about 30 degrees so you can see the bottom and the top and yes you can walk right up to it and touch it.

[monadnock#5]

P-51 Mustang. One of the design characteristics that made it so eye pleasing was the ventral air scoop. At the other end of the air scoop was a vent with louvers that the pilot could adjust to control engine cooling.

SR-71 Blackbird. At speed and at altitude, 60% of the thrust generated by the engines comes from the phenomenon of extremely cold, high altitude atmosphere violently expanded from contact with the extremely hot engine components. The engines don't push the Blackbird through the sky so much as it pulls (sucks?) itself along. Again, that's cruising at high altitude, not maneuvering down low.

OK, so if you can wrap your mind around that tidbit, you can go back to the P-51 and figure out what gave that bird it's long range abilities. There was nothing "magical" about it. My guess is that the Merlin engine ran a lot hotter than the Allison. And of course, once it shed its drop tanks and dove into the thicker, warmer air, the P-51 was just another high performance gas guzzler.

[HollandNut]

And those two birds P51 and SR71 happen to be the purtiest ones ever built , the Spitfire and B58 Hustler were some sweet looking birds too ..

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSOaKaFIgAs

[leftiye]

Yup, fire at 'em, zoom 'em, watch in the rear view as they exploded?

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeBu6mRDaro

[Harter66]

I married the USAF in 85' she was at Edwards. 1 afternoon on our way home there was an officer left afoot about half way to Palmdale out the west gate. So we stopped and invited this Col into 69 Newport coup with my civil self and my A1C wife . He was headed to Plant 42.......... the skunk works at Palmdale. We'll I figured he'd jump in front and we'd go and drop him at the outer shack and be on our way.......1st mistake . He opens the door flips the seat up and hopes in the back ,making some uneasy joke about having a guard and a civi driver in a hotrod limo.
We took off and the chit-chat loosened up a bit leading to motor pool signin out an empty minivan. It wasn't long and we were at the outer gate and I started to get out ,"pull on up you can just take me to the office ", what a treat there were probably 10 in various states of undress . To a wing nut like me that was heaven. I didn't get to walk around as they were still in service but it was very cool seeing just a little of the bones .

Many years later I talked to both a pilot and crews. It seems there were several variations of equipment and each set up had its own W&B sheets a 4 had ballist required. The pilot recounted a "Moscow run" stating that he set up his decent over Adak after he pulled the throttles back over the east coast . That trip took him back to Beale. He also disclosed that Mach 4 wasn't all that hard to hit .

A Lockeed Engineer is quoted as answering 'what's the lifespan of the airframe' with "we don't know. It gets annealed everytime they hit 70% throttle over 60,000 feet" .

She is a glorious rocket sled on wings.

The Corsair was always my favorite the F2G was the apex of radial engine hotrod multi tasking fighters ,due credit to the F8F . 470 knots at 20,000 . Yummm

[kevmc]

I worked as an Air Traffic Controller at Indy Center for 25 years....just watching a SR-71 come thru on radar was a treat!!

[Moonie]

One of my favorite aircraft. I don't have as neat a story as some of you, but I have touched the one that set that speed record, it is at the Udvar Hazy center in DC. I believe it was one of the only ones with the twin cockpit, for NASA.

[Kent Fowler]

Found this on the net awhile back. It goes to show you things are not all roses and champagne in flying new or experimental aircraft. Plus the bravery of those air crews.
A Bad Day in a B-36. It's lengthy but a great read.
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CLANBOYD/2010-06/1275437553

My Dad was in the engineering department that balanced the B36 mockup, at Consolidated Aircraft in Fort Worth during WWII. I asked him how he did it and he said with 50,000 pounds of lead weights and a slide rule. He was really proud of being able to work on that aircraft.

[Roy Acuffff]

I have coffee with a ham radio friend of mine on Monday's. Very interesting stories, he has, but you aren't going to get a got of mission details from him. You know the saying "If I tell you I will have to kill you". Anyway, that's his version. Sorry, no name, he has asked that I not associate his name and the SR-71.

Roy

[MtGun44]

Cool story, I have heard similar "mine is bigger than yours" ground speed check
'wars' on enroute freq several times, but never numbers that big. Very amazing
aircraft, but I really wonder if we gave up a lot of capability when they were
retired. A former military pilot told my cryptically "Don't worry about it." very firmly,
when I complained about the loss of capability with the retirement, but he refused
the slightest hint or additional info, when I asked for more general info like
"air-breather or satellite"?

A small quibble on one of the comments. RIO is Navy for Radar Intercept Officer first used
on the might F-4 Phantom, which several family members have flown, and I think the correct
term for the SR-71 was Reconnaissance Systems Officer, or RSO, where most AF backseaters
are called WSOs, (whizzos) as Weapons Systems Officers, although apparently the slang
GIB for Guy In Back was very commonly used.

Bill

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I was stationed at NAS North Island boat house in San Diego in the early 1950s. Convair which was across the bay had built a very large sea plane designed to carry troops and equipment. It was decided by someone that it needed fighter escort so they built the Sea Dart. It was a fantastic looking jet fighter which still looks as modern as today. It reminded me of a large mosquito It could take off and land in a very short distance. It was one plane that would stop the crowds on Broadway. They would pause and stare at it until it passed out of sight. One day while inside one of the boats I heard two load explosions. I quickly came on deck and saw two large clouds of black smoke. The dart had blown up while flying in for a landing. Seems strange to call it that since it came down and took off on water. They grounded the other one and you can see it today mounted on a pedestal outside the Air And Space Museum in Balboa Park, San Diego. The large four engine transport plane later went down with a crew of five. It was in the area the grey whales come to every year to have their calves. We looked for it for three days without sighting any piece of the plane. We even dragged the bottom with no luck. Attached is a picture of the Sea Dart.

[MtGun44]

There is a Sea Dart at the Sun N' Fun museum at the Lakeland, Fla airport, too.

Bill

[willie_pete]

In another life I was a Fuels Officer at Sheppard AFB and we got a SR-71 come in for a static display at an open house. My office was on the flight line with a full view of the runways and taxiways. After the 71 landed it was taxing to the parking area. Of course I and many others were watching. We saw it come to a quick stop, both canopies opened and both pilots came out of the cockpit head first and hit the ground running. The leaking fuel had gotten sucked into the air intakes, engines flamed out and gave fire warning lights in the cockpit.

[legend 550]

Here's another SR71 story I pasted from an email. Good read.

HOW SLOW CAN An SR-71 BLACKBIRD FLY?



> Brian Shul, Retired SR-71
> Blackbird Pilot
> from
> "
> Plane and Pilot
> Magazine . "
> As a former SR-71 and keynote
> speaker, the question I'm most often asked is
> :
> "How fast would that SR-71
> fly ?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any
> event I attend.
> It's an interesting question,
> given the aircraft's proclivity for speed. But there really isn't a
> single number to give . . as the turbo ramjet would always give you a
> little more speed.
> (If you wanted it to...)
> It was common to see 35 miles a
> minute. But we typically flew a programmed Mach number.
> But because we never wanted to
> harm the plane in any way, we never let it run-out to any limits of
> temperature or speed.
> Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own
> personal high speed that he saw at some point during our missions.
> I saw my highest speed over Libya
> when Khadafy fired two missiles my way: max power was in order.
> Let's just say that the
> Blackbird truly loved speed . . and effortlessly took us to high Mach
> numbers . . we had not previously seen.
> So it was with great surprise,
> when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, "What was
> the SLOWEST . . you ever flew the Blackbird ?"
> This was a first. After giving it
> some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared
> before, and relayed the following: I was flying the
> SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England ,with my backseater, Walt Watson.
> We were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when
> we received a radio transmission from home base.
> As we scooted across Denmark in
> three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English
> countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-by.
> The Commander of air cadets there
> was a former Blackbird pilot thought it would be a motivating moment
> for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach.
> No problem, we were happy to do
> it.
> After a quick aerial refueling
> over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield.
> In the back seat, Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation
> equipment and he began to vector me toward the field.
> Descending to subsonic, we found
> ourselves over a densely wooded area in the slight haze.
> Like most former WWII British
> airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little
> surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I
> should be able to see the field.
> But as far as I could see in the
> haze, I saw nothing but trees. We got a little lower, and I pulled the
> throttles back from our 325 knot cruise.
> With the gear up . . anything
> under 275 knots
> (316
> mph) was plain uncomfortable. Walt said we're practically over the
> field. Looking hard, I saw nothing that looked like an airfield.
> I banked the jet and started a
> gentle circling maneuver. . hoping to pick up anything that looked
> like a field. Meanwhile on the ground, the Commander had taken the
> Cadets up on the control tower's cat walk to get a prime view.
> It was a quiet, still day with no
> wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me
> indications that the field should be below us, but in the overcast and
> haze, I couldn't see it.
> But the longer we continued to
> circle and peer out . . the slower we got. With our throttles way
> back, the awaiting cadets heard silence.
> I must have had good instructors
> in my flying career, as something told me I better "cross-check the
> gauges."
> As I noticed the airspeed
> indicator s-l-i-d-e below 160 knots
> (180
> mph) , my heart stopped, as my
> adrenalin-filled left hand slammed both throttles FULL FORWARD, aka
> "Balls to the Wall !"
> At this point we weren't
> really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. At the moment both
> afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame, the aircraft fell
> into full view of the shocked observers on the catwalk on the tower.
> Shattering the absolute silence of
> the morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their
> faces as the plane leveled and accelerated in full-burner, on the
> their side of the infield much closer than expected. It could only be
> described as some sort of ultimate "knife-edge"
> aerobatic pass. We proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident . .
> not saying a word to each other for those next 14 minutes. After
> landing, our commander greeted us . . and we were both certain he was
> reaching for our wings.
> Instead, he heartily shook our
> hands and said the Commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71
> fly-by he had ever seen. Especially how we had surprised them with
> such a precise maneuver that could only be described as . .
> breathtaking.
> Apparently, some of the
> cadet's hats were blown off. The sight of the "plan view" of the plane
> in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was stunning and
> unbelievable.
> Walt and I both understood the
> concept of "breathtaking" very well that morning, and we sheepishly
> replied that the Cadets seemed just excited to see our low approach.
> As we retired to the equipment
> room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there....
> and hadn't spoken a word since "the pass."
>
> Finally, Walter looked at me and said : "I saw One hundred fifty-six
> knots."
> "What did you see" asked
> Walt ? Trying to find my voice I stammered "One hundred fifty-two..."
> (175
> mph)
> We sat in silence for a moment.
> Then Walt calmly said "Don't ever do that to me again...."
> I never did, and not sure I
> could.
> A year later, Walter and I were
> having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer's club, and overheard an
> officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he'd seen.
> Of course, by now the story included kids blown off the tower, and
> screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows.
> As we stood there with lunch trays
> in our hands, the officer noticed our HABU shoulder patch icon of a
> deadly snake asked us to verify to the Cadets that such an event
> occurred.
> Walt just shook his head and said,
> "It was probably just a routine low
> approach......they're pretty impressive in that airplane."
> Impressive . .
> indeed.
> Little did I realize that LOW
> SPEED experience . . would become one of the most requested stories.
> It's ironic, that people now became very interested in how slow the
> World's fastest jet aircraft can fly.

[fatelk]

Cool thread. A couple coworkers and I were just walking around and gawking over an SR71 today at the local museum. What an impressive machine!

[smokeywolf]

Dad did a stint with Lockheed in the '50s which included time at the Skunk Works. He was an aerodynamics troubleshooter; spent a lot of time in wind tunnels. He loved the Blackbird but didn't have a lot of good things to say about Kelly Johnson. He said Johnson was a bit like Edison in that much of what he took credit for came from the minds of the engineers who worked under him.

From what little Dad let on, I have an inkling of what the Blackbird might have been capable of. I have to wonder if those capabilities will ever be declassified.

smokeywolf

[depoloni]

Haha... incredible story. Much respect and thanks to our guardians in arms!

[willie_pete]

For any SR-71 fans;

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/rare-photos-of-the-sr-71-blackbird-show-its-amazing-his-1670184930

WP

[smokeywolf]

Great pics willie. Thanks for that link.

[Multigunner]

One reason they went to all missile armament for fighters for awhile was because a fighter did actually out run its cannon shells in a firing run and pulled out of his descent scrubbiung off speed just as the cannon shells got there and holed the plane pretty good.
Not sure but I think it was one of the century series fighters.

The space shuttle didn't fly it fell with a certain amount of dignity. It was a glider on reentry.

The B-58 Hustler was another bad boy when it came to speed.

[Plate plinker]

If you don't salivate and have other bodily urges when looking at a SR-71 your not a true American.

That at thing is sleek.

[woodbutcher]

:smile: Thanks for a great post.OP mentioned the plane that shot its self down.That happened appx 1953 or 54.AC was testing the Vulcan 20MM cannon.Pilot fired in a dive,and continued the dive and caught up to the slugs.Shot himself down.Bet he had some real explaining to do about that.Re:Short development time.From the first sketches on a napkin in a restaurant to prototype first flight for the P51 was IIRC 90 days.Apache was the USAAC designation.The Mustang designation was what the British called it.Mustang stuck.IIRC,"Mustang"came from a popular song of the time called"Hitch your dreams to a Mustang".
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[472x1B/A]

WOW. That brought back some memories. I was stationed at U-Tapao Thailand, major B-52 base, in 73-74. U-2's and Blackbirds landing and taking off almost everyday, in between Buff and tanker sorties. I worked heavy equiptment repair, fuel servicing/fire trucks. Remember vividly getting called out at night to repair a down truck in the JP-7/12 dump. You could not take 3 steps in any direction without stepping on a ground wire. The fuel for the Black Birds was shipped in in 55gal drums.
Remember seeing the SR-71's after burnners kick in, they would start rolling, go maybe 1000 yards, lift off and go stright up. In 3 minutes you could not see or hear them. The U-2 is an altogether different story.

[Multigunner]

Here it is 1956

On Sep 21, 1956 Grumman test pilot Tom Attridge shot himself down in a graphic demonstration of two objects occupying the wrong place at the same time—one being a Grumman F11F-1 Tiger [138260], the other a gaggle of its own bullets..
http://www.aerofiles.com/tiger-tail.html

An F11F1 instead of a century series fighter.

Going to all missile armament for some of our best fighters cost us dearly in Vietnam. Turned out the mass produced missles of the newest type were often defective, some older style missles still worked okay. They began retro fitting some fighters with gun pods, then adding guns as back up for newer production fighters.
Some modern fighters have only one gun and only enough ammo for one burst, but thats better than nothing once the missles are expended or the enemy is too close for a missle to lock on.

[Multigunner]

The U-2 is an altogether different story.
The U-2 has a charm all its own, more like a big sailplane with jet assist.
Last I heard they still had a few of these still going strong doing civilian high altitude scientific testing and aerial mapping.

[willie_pete]

WOW.The fuel for the Black Birds was shipped in in 55gal drums.


SR-71's did not use normal JP-4. The fuel in the drums was JP-TS for thermally stable. Normal JP-4 would not work at the heats the airplane generated.

WP ( ex- fuels officer )

[smokeywolf]

Here's a little jewel about what Habu drank.

http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/what-blackbird-drinks-180953422/?no-ist

smokeywolf

[Artful]

http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/picture-perfect-sr-71-180953419/?no-ist
http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/33/e6/33e69631-d6e2-4a78-8a8f-bc04deff7f14/shull_sled_image.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Gyd6EYuXI

[472x1B/A]

SR-71's did not use normal JP-4. The fuel in the drums was JP-TS for thermally stable. Normal JP-4 would not work at the heats the airplane generated.

WP ( ex- fuels officer )

Quite true willie pete. That's why I mentioned the JP- 7/12 'fuel' dump. The fuel for the U-2's and SR-71's that landed at U-Tapao was shipped in 55 gal drums. There was a crew of 12 G.I.'s and Thais that unloaded these barrels at "NIGHT TIME ONLY" into R-5 refueling trucks to be used ONLY on U-2's and SR-71's, NO other planes. When these 2 trucks came into the shop to be worked on there was armed S P's ( security police ) that came with them. They stayed with the trucks untill all work was finished.

[Lloyd Smale]

some cool storys. I lived most of my life 5 miles from a sac base that's now gone. I miss the jets overhead and the stuff on the shelves I the house shaking and falling when the tankers took off. There runway put them right over our house. Even saw the blackbird a number of times. Air shows were never missed by our family. Dad worked at the steam plant on base and we had ring side seats on top of the building. I feel sorry for those who never get to see one.

[willie_pete]

. I lived most of my life 5 miles from a sac base that's now gone. .

Kincheloe, Wurtsmith or K I Sawyer ?

WP

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdcoijZ_b20

[Lloyd Smale]

K I Sawyer,. Kincheloe is about a 150 miles from here and is now a prison. It wasn't a sac base though it was a fighter base. It closed before sawyer.
Kincheloe, Wurtsmith or K I Sawyer ?

WP

[btroj]

I spent 4 years as a kid at KI. Holy cow did it snow.

[Lloyd Smale]

ya I live 40 miles from there. The area I live in now only 40 miles away probably gets 20percent more snow that that area so youd really hate it here. Summers are nice though. I spend a lot of my childhood bumbing around that base. Probably half my friends lived there. Use to chuckle at it in the winter. All the security with the nukes there and half way through the winter there were a half a dozen places where the snow was higher then the fences and you could drive a snowmobile right on base. Changed a lot in the 80s though and you didn't want to go on without permission then. Same with that back gate by the ski hill. Half the time it wasn't even manned back in the 70s and you could drive a dirt bike or snowmobile right through there. Drank many of teen aged beers and bottles of wine back by that ski hill!! Youd about cry if you remember what it was like when you were there. Its all run down paint pealing off of buildings and mostly low income and indian housing now.
I spent 4 years as a kid at KI. Holy cow did it snow.

[btroj]

Yeah, my older brother went thru that area last fall. He drove from there to Wursmith down by Oscoda in the LP.

He said it wasn't at all the way he remember it and that things were generally in disrepair.

Between those two bases I have lots of memories. 6.5 years of my childhood up in Michigan, fond memories overall.

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7K5E-GMCTI

[popper]

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/fascinating-photos-reveal-how-they-built-the-sr-71-blac-1683754944

[scarry scarney]

The U-2 has a charm all its own, more like a big sailplane with jet assist.
Last I heard they still had a few of these still going strong doing civilian high altitude scientific testing and aerial mapping.

The U2 is still flying missions over Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea and other places of interest. It is home is Beale AFB, and they are on temporary duty, through out the world.