SR 71 Blackbird--3200 feet per sec...interesting video
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Here are two quotes on the Blackbird:
Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death I Shall Fear No Evil For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing. (sign over the entrance to the SR-71 operating location Kadena, Japan).
You’ve never been lost until you’ve been lost at Mach 3. (Paul F. Crickmore – test pilot)
The museum at Barksdale AFB has one, but the paint is so sun faded she's a grey bird.
Doug
Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death I Shall Fear No Evil For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing. (sign over the entrance to the SR-71 operating location Kadena, Japan).
You’ve never been lost until you’ve been lost at Mach 3. (Paul F. Crickmore – test pilot)
The museum at Barksdale AFB has one, but the paint is so sun faded she's a grey bird.
Doug
I never got to work on the SR-71 when I was in the Air Force, but I have worked with several others that did. Some of the stories are almost beyond belief.
According to the flight manual, if you are cruising at mach 3 over I-10 and make a maximum rate 180 degree turn you’ll roll out over I-20. A whole state just to turn around.
One crew had to eject over the western United States at cruise speed. The RIO came down in one state, the pilot in a second, and the jet crashed in a third!
Out at Beale, one of the engine start carts (twin Buick V-8’s) leaked some gasoline and started a fire. A crew chief took a squeegee and smothered the fire with JP-7 jet fuel!
After Lockheed machined the titanium parts, they used to wash them off with city water. They ran into problems, parts that were made in the winter lasted forever but parts made in the summer were rapidly cracking. They finally tracked it down to the chlorine residual in the water. The city would increase the chlorine in the summer to keep algae growth down and it was poisoning the titanium. After they started washing the parts in distilled water the problem went away.
All the hand tools they used on the Blackbirds were bare steel, no cadmium plating. If you tightened a bolt with a plated wrench it would leave microscopic cadmium particles on the bolt causing it to dissolve.
To remove the center main wheel & tire, you had to remove both outer wheels first. Of course it was always the center tire that had to be changed.
When I was stationed at Pease AFB, NH the control tower received a mayday call one afternoon requesting immediate landing clearance. The pilot would not identify what he was flying or how far out he was, only that he would be there in so many minutes. So when the IFE call came over the radio “unknown aircraft type, two souls on board” we all got real interested. An SR-71A comes screaming in from the East, rolls out on short final, and lands. He taxied in and stopped in front of the big hanger being closely followed by the fire trucks and shut the engines down. The pilot had the canopy up and his helmet visor open trying to keep everybody away from the aircraft. He did not have time to do a normal deceleration letdown so the plane had no time to cool off. You could feel the heat from 15 feet away! Two Security Police come running up and throw a tarp over the wing tip to hide the aircraft. The tarp immediately caught fire. Then the fire department came running up with the foam hose. Now the pilot is screaming to let it burn, it won’t hurt the plane, get the &#$%* foam away from his jet. Another crew chief and I grabbed the tarp and pulled it off the wing and far enough away so the fire department could put it out without hitting the jet. Can you imagine what cold foam would have done to a scalding hot airplane? After it was all over, the pilot invited the other crew chief & I up to see the cockpits as a reward for our quick thinking. I never did find out what the emergency was, but he was flying from RAF Mildenhall to Beale and needed to land NOW!
My Dad worked in the instrument lab at the Pratt & Whitney plant in Florida while they were developing the J-58 engine. When they were doing the endurance tests, running in full after burner for days on end, the only way you could tell your car had started was turn the key and wait for the oil pressure and ammeter lights to go out.
He also set up microwave test equipment behind one of the test stands to measure the radar reflection across the exhaust plume. They had a special (very expensive) chemical that was only added to the fuel on “operational” missions to reduce the radar signature of the exhaust gasses. Of course at the time, Dad had no idea why, it was all “hush hush”.
They should be in the air, not is museums.
Doug
According to the flight manual, if you are cruising at mach 3 over I-10 and make a maximum rate 180 degree turn you’ll roll out over I-20. A whole state just to turn around.
One crew had to eject over the western United States at cruise speed. The RIO came down in one state, the pilot in a second, and the jet crashed in a third!
Out at Beale, one of the engine start carts (twin Buick V-8’s) leaked some gasoline and started a fire. A crew chief took a squeegee and smothered the fire with JP-7 jet fuel!
After Lockheed machined the titanium parts, they used to wash them off with city water. They ran into problems, parts that were made in the winter lasted forever but parts made in the summer were rapidly cracking. They finally tracked it down to the chlorine residual in the water. The city would increase the chlorine in the summer to keep algae growth down and it was poisoning the titanium. After they started washing the parts in distilled water the problem went away.
All the hand tools they used on the Blackbirds were bare steel, no cadmium plating. If you tightened a bolt with a plated wrench it would leave microscopic cadmium particles on the bolt causing it to dissolve.
To remove the center main wheel & tire, you had to remove both outer wheels first. Of course it was always the center tire that had to be changed.
When I was stationed at Pease AFB, NH the control tower received a mayday call one afternoon requesting immediate landing clearance. The pilot would not identify what he was flying or how far out he was, only that he would be there in so many minutes. So when the IFE call came over the radio “unknown aircraft type, two souls on board” we all got real interested. An SR-71A comes screaming in from the East, rolls out on short final, and lands. He taxied in and stopped in front of the big hanger being closely followed by the fire trucks and shut the engines down. The pilot had the canopy up and his helmet visor open trying to keep everybody away from the aircraft. He did not have time to do a normal deceleration letdown so the plane had no time to cool off. You could feel the heat from 15 feet away! Two Security Police come running up and throw a tarp over the wing tip to hide the aircraft. The tarp immediately caught fire. Then the fire department came running up with the foam hose. Now the pilot is screaming to let it burn, it won’t hurt the plane, get the &#$%* foam away from his jet. Another crew chief and I grabbed the tarp and pulled it off the wing and far enough away so the fire department could put it out without hitting the jet. Can you imagine what cold foam would have done to a scalding hot airplane? After it was all over, the pilot invited the other crew chief & I up to see the cockpits as a reward for our quick thinking. I never did find out what the emergency was, but he was flying from RAF Mildenhall to Beale and needed to land NOW!
My Dad worked in the instrument lab at the Pratt & Whitney plant in Florida while they were developing the J-58 engine. When they were doing the endurance tests, running in full after burner for days on end, the only way you could tell your car had started was turn the key and wait for the oil pressure and ammeter lights to go out.
He also set up microwave test equipment behind one of the test stands to measure the radar reflection across the exhaust plume. They had a special (very expensive) chemical that was only added to the fuel on “operational” missions to reduce the radar signature of the exhaust gasses. Of course at the time, Dad had no idea why, it was all “hush hush”.
They should be in the air, not is museums.
Doug
Cool story! Just a month ago I went on a small vacation to Pensacola (to get engaged). They have one in the museum there. My fiance was all freaked out, saying look at that giant POS, what is that? All I could say was: Only the most awesome plane ever built!
USMC-Deano
Baby Eagle FTW
I'm a youngster, but I was stationed at Beale my entire active duty career. I was obviously disappointed that all we had out there was a model of the Blackbird, which is my second favorite aircraft, only behind the B-2 Spirit. But, knowing that Beale was the main station for the SR was nice. Stupid U2s, though. Hate those things.
Deano,
I held up one wingtip & balanced a U-2R as he taxied into the hanger at Pease >>before<< they existed. The pilot was a civilian and there was not a single marking to disturb the blackness of the paint job, not even the ejection seat warning ;-)
I was in from 1974 to 1997.
Doug
I held up one wingtip & balanced a U-2R as he taxied into the hanger at Pease >>before<< they existed. The pilot was a civilian and there was not a single marking to disturb the blackness of the paint job, not even the ejection seat warning ;-)
I was in from 1974 to 1997.
Doug
TomTerrific
Well-Known Member
Here is an interesting report of the crash Doug may have been referring to.
http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/SR-71_953_crash_site.htm
Brought down by duct tape.
http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/SR-71_953_crash_site.htm
Brought down by duct tape.
They discriminate against gay people.
They didn't want anyone who might defect. It would be less likely for someone who would need to leave their wife/kids to defect..... at least that's my guess.
I didn't see that in the video, and it has absolutely nothing to do with marriage.
I forgot that it was a Cold War animal. You are right, I think. Good an idea as any.
Think of a flamer at the wheel of 150,000 lb 308 round...no time to be textn Arlo about last nites cat fight over what wine to have, now put a married guy at the stick of that thing and he ain't gonna even remember the msus
The flamer might just decide to have a flame out over Souh Carolina so he can make an emergency landing in Paris and hit the beach for a while while the married guy has to play nice to be home for the kids school play
Just a few things I copied from the CIA Pilot Selection Manual
All well and good and all, but there are plenty of gay people with kids and a wife. I really don't see what homosexuality has to do with anything in this thread.
The reason they only selected married men, they are supposed to be more emotionally stable. This was also a criteria to be selected for the U-2, E-4, astronauts, and any command position. One time I worked with a former wing commander that was relieved of his command after his wife attempted suicide. Since he “couldn’t take care of his own house”, he wasn’t fit for command. Remember, at that time, gays were prohibited from serving. Both you and your butt buddy were kicked out.
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