SR-71 Facts: 29 Details That Will Surprise You

[MULTIZ321]

SR-71 Facts: 29 Details That Will Surprise You
By Colin Ritsick/ Aircraft/ Military Machine/ militarymachine.com

"The Soviet Union Helped Create The SR-71, Unknowingly.

The specific ore, utile ore, used to create titanium is found in few parts of the world. It’s a sandy soil that’s difficult to locate. One of the largest supplies is in Russia. The U.S. purchased much of the ore used to produce the SR-71 airframe from Russia through foreign countries and third party companies. The U.S. needed large quantities because not only did they build over 30 SR-71s, but the alloy is very brittle and breaks easily. This led to frustration on the assembly line when many pieces broke before they could be assembled...."

NASA

Wow, this is definitely some airplane. Kudos to the engineers, pilots and maintenance crews!

In the photo of the 4 pilots - does anyone know why two are wearing white footgear and two are wearing black footgear.


Richard

 

[Passepartout]

An awfully annoying and persistent Home Depot ad covers half the article just a few seconds into viewing this article. Boooo.

It worked better in Windows with an ad blocker. Thanks for posting.

 

[buzglyd]

There is a great story circulating on the web. I will try to find it. Basically, a pilot can call ATC and ask for a speed check. The tower will reply back with 200 nauts or whatever. A fighter pilot was trying to show off to the commercial guys by asking for a speed check. He was doing Mach 1 or whatever crazy speed at the time. Little did he know an SR71 was within range. The Blackbird pilot casually called in for a speed check. . .

 

[buzglyd]

Here you go

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/favorite-sr-71-story-1079127041

 

[jacknsara]

There is a great story circulating on the web. I will try to find it. Basically, a pilot can call ATC and ask for a speed check. The tower will reply back with 200 nauts or whatever. A fighter pilot was trying to show off to the commercial guys by asking for a speed check. He was doing Mach 1 or whatever crazy speed at the time. Little did he know an SR71 was within range. The Blackbird pilot casually called in for a speed check. . .

. . . and then corrected the ground controller when he/she under-reported his speed

I heard the actual SR71 pilot tell the story during a speech at BFI in Seattle during Seafair a few years ago - I don't remember the numerical details but he mused as how almost all rumors get it wrong.

 

[MULTIZ321]

An awfully annoying and persistent Home Depot ad covers half the article just a few seconds into viewing this article. Boooo.

It worked better in Windows with an ad blocker. Thanks for posting.

Hi Jim,

Sorry that you got an annoying and persistent Home Depot Ad when trying to access the article. I did not get that ad (or any ad) when I accessed the article on both my PC and my Samsung Android Tablet. So I'm not sure why you had an ad.

One of the SR71 facts that I was not aware of:
"Well over a hundred missiles were shot at the SR-71, but the Blackbird was just too fast and its jamming technology was too sophisticated for one to ever catch up. The jamming technology used in the SR-71 essentially denied the missile from receiving any updated information from the Blackbird. Once the missile was jammed, the SR-71 used its breakaway speed to create a gap that couldn’t be closed. The closest a missile ever got was 1.5 miles from an SR-71. These SR-71 Facts were compiled by Military Machine.

Quite an impressive record.

Wishing you continued success on your recovery journey.

Best wishes

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

The SR-71 Was America's First Stealth Spy Plane. But Keeping Her a Secret Proved Nearly Impossible.
By Robert Beckhusen/ Security/ SR-71/ Military/ Technology/ World/ Air Force/ Stealth/ The National Interest/ nationalinterest.org

"To keep the program under wraps, Lockheed engineers quietly worked on the plane at the company’s Skunk Works division in Burbank, California and the Air Force’s isolated Nevada base — known as Area 51 — beginning in 1958. The first Blackbird flew four years later.

More than a half-century later, the SR-71 is a museum piece. But secret aircraft projects, and strange sightings over the western United States, have not stopped. When observers notice and publicize their suspicions, an anonymous official is somewhere, surely, typing away notes.

There are few secret projects like U.S. Air Force black projects, and that was certainly the case for the famed SR-71 Blackbird.

The SR-71 was no ordinary aircraft but a big, beautiful and state-of-the-art spy plane designed in the 1950s and early 1960s to fly quickly at high altitudes over the Soviet Union, filling in for the U-2 Dragon Lady which had become vulnerable to then-new surface-to-air missiles....."

Richard

 

[baf99]

Here's another one. I had a friend who worked at the Skunkworks in the 80s. She told me that the flag (or maybe she meant the air force emblem) isn't red white and blue, it's red pink and blue. Because the plane expands so much all the white paints available weren't flexible enough and kept cracking off. The closest to white Lockheed could get was more of a pink. But at least it stayed on.

 

[SmithOp]

I had the pleasure of watching one do touch and goes when I was in USAF at Travis AFB. I was at the end of the runway doing ground checks on the ILS signal, just wandering around taking a reading every 0.5 degrees off centerline. Suddenly I feel a whoosh over my shoulder and there it was, I was in awe of the futuristic look, not sure what I was seeing. He came around three times doing slow lazy touch and goes. On the third one he punched it on the runway and lit up the afterburners, shot straight up like a rocket and disappeared.


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[Ralph Sir Edward]

I had the pleasure of watching one do touch and goes when I was in USAF at Travis AFB. I was at the end of the runway doing ground checks on the ILS signal, just wandering around taking a reading every 0.5 degrees off centerline. Suddenly I feel a whoosh over my shoulder and there it was, I was in awe of the futuristic look, not sure what I was seeing. He came around three times doing slow lazy touch and goes. On the third one he punched it on the runway and lit up the afterburners, shot straight up like a rocket and disappeared.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I can "one up" that. . . .

The scene. - Randolph AFB, Just outside San Antonio, Texas.
The time. - May 1983.
The event - An air show with an SR-71 doing passes.

I am standing midway along the side of the runway. The announcer say the SR-71 was going to do a slow pass, just above stall, then go vertical on afterburner for 15 seconds. Only 15 seconds, or otherwise the plane would go supersonic, which is against the law over land.

It turned out I was at just the right spot. It went vertical right in front of me. I got 15 seconds of staring up the "stovepipes" while it was on full afterburner, going vertical. It wasn't sound any more, my whole body shook from the exhaust waves . .

 

[Roger830]

It was first developed as the A-12 and tested in Nevada's top secret Area 51, where atom bombs were also tested.
Airline pilots would look up and see it at 70,000 feet and report a flying saucer.

While visiting the atom bomb museum in April, I saw a book in the store describing events in the area.
I picked one up on ebay for a few dollars. An interesting read.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...op=1&_osacat=267&_odkw=area+51&LH_TitleDesc=0

 

[SmithOp]

It was first developed as the A-12 and tested in Nevada's top secret Area 51, where atom bombs were also tested.
Airline pilots would look up and see it at 70,000 feet and report a flying saucer.

While visiting the atom bomb museum in April, I saw a book in the store describing events in the area.
I picked one up on ebay for a few dollars. An interesting read.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...op=1&_osacat=267&_odkw=area+51&LH_TitleDesc=0

You can read an excerpt from the book here:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/americas-secret-nuclear-test-revealed-in-area-51-by-annie-jacobsen

I worked for EG&G for a brief period and visited NTS for an “event”, an underground bomb test. Doc Edgerton was an interesting guy, he was a pioneer in fast event photography. Many have probably seen his photos of the bullet flying through an apple, or the milk drop.






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[Ralph Sir Edward]

Here is a Kindle book on the A-12s. As of this posting (8-21-18) it is $0.99.

https://www.amazon.com/ARCHANGEL-SU...=1-1&keywords=A-12+aircraft#reader_B008IHDB08

 

[MULTIZ321]

You can read an excerpt from the book here:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/americas-secret-nuclear-test-revealed-in-area-51-by-annie-jacobsen

I worked for EG&G for a brief period and visited NTS for an “event”, an underground bomb test. Doc Edgerton was an interesting guy, he was a pioneer in fast event photography. Many have probably seen his photos of the bullet flying through an apple, or the milk drop.






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Hi SmithOp,

For those interested in learning more about the 4 lost nuclear bombs in Spain - see this previous Tug Thread:
The US Air Force Lost 4 Nuclear Bombs in Spain 52 Years Ago - and the Disaster is Still Being Felt

Richard

You can read an excerpt from the book here:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/americas-secret-nuclear-test-revealed-in-area-51-by-annie-jacobsen

I worked for EG&G for a brief period and visited NTS for an “event”, an underground bomb test. Doc Edgerton was an interesting guy, he was a pioneer in fast event photography. Many have probably seen his photos of the bullet flying through an apple, or the milk drop.






Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Helios]

This was (is) one amazing bird.