SR 71 Blackbird--3200 feet per sec...interesting video

[JWG223]

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.

I don't think this officially applies anymore, judging by Clinton's impeachment outcome. However, I am pretty sure it is still running strong in the good ol' boy network and many people who choose not to marry/get divorced/etc. get screwed over by it. Sucks.

Based on the married people I know, I don't think it has any bearing on emotional stability. Especially when you consider that police always look to the spouse when murder occurs, etc. Just not seeing any logic at play.

Makes me wonder if the military will refuse to place anyone in that same position of command who has ever owned a black car. I mean, studies show...

 

[Yrdawg]

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.

Homo'$ are being discussed in their ability to drive a SR 71 Blackbird, I say that while they may be physicaly able they are not emotionaly stable enough to. A hang nail could comprimise the fate of the free world.

You replied that a lot of homos are married with children....and that is relevant ??? Merle and Earle are not having babies last I heard

 

[TomTerrific]

Was the married requirement for CIA pilots or did it include the Air Force's also?

I looked up Rudolf Anderson and it doesn't mention whether he was married or not.

I read a very interesting account of a SR71 recon mission over Lybia on line some time back. As with the U2, they are flown right at the edge.

Did Beale AFB have the capability of supporting the a/c or did they have to bring in the support?

 

[jimdana1942]

http://www.barthworks.com/aviation/sr71libya.htm

Really interesting read.

 

[Cookoff]

Hi Guy I got to see one of these black birds at Barksdale afb, were I was stationed at the time, it was a big secret ,this was 1970, the bird came in and was refuled, the thing that got all of our attention was that the fuel was leaking out of the bird before it took off, thanks for bring back the memories.

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

 

[JWG223]

Homo'$ are being discussed in their ability to drive a SR 71 Blackbird, I say that while they may be physicaly able they are not emotionaly stable enough to. A hang nail could comprimise the fate of the free world.

You replied that a lot of homos are married with children....and that is relevant ??? Merle and Earle are not having babies last I heard

Homos are not even relevant to the discussion except in my trying to track down CEHollier's "logic" in his response to one of my posts. CEHollier appears to believe that only gay people would choose not to marry. Why he believes this, if indeed I have interpreted his post correctly, I haven't the foggiest. That is the only reason it is being discussed.

Well that pisses me off, why must you be married to fly this thing? I would think they would want people who didn't like 50/50 odds of losing their ****. *disgust with government*

They discriminate against gay people.

Since we are on the topic, though, I have seen plenty of gay people who have children that they fathered.

 

[I_FLY_LOW]

The whole must be married thing, has nothing to do with homosexuality...
Preceding the married statement, was the mentioning of being mature.
Having someone tying you to the home, like your spouse, can serve as a sense of security to them, that he won't try and fly off with the thing.
Get over all the gay talk for christ sake, that BS get's old quick.
All y'all want to do is pick a scab until it bleeds, gets infected, and just keep beating the same dead horse...
Don't y'all have anything more interesting to talk about?
Like the SR-71, for instance?

 

[JWG223]

The whole must be married thing, has nothing to do with homosexuality...
Preceding the married statement, was the mentioning of being mature.
Having someone tying you to the home, like your spouse, can serve as a sense of security to them, that he won't try and fly off with the thing.
Get over all the gay talk for christ sake, that BS get's old quick.
All y'all want to do is pick a scab until it bleeds, gets infected, and just keep beating the same dead horse...
Don't y'all have anything more interesting to talk about?
Like the SR-71, for instance?

Careful, now they are going to accuse you of being gay, or if you are, ridicule you for it. Maybe even call you... a Moozlim.

Certain things being mentioned/discussed on a small-town gun-forum will always result in drama: People of any race other than Caucasian (or the predominant race of the forum), homosexuality, religious ideation (or lack) other than Christianity, political views other than staunch conservatism, and any discussion either pro or con of law-enforcement, or local businesses.

As to the SR-71, I have a cousin who works in a .gov think-tank regarding things like that. Mainly, his job is to keep our airplanes ahead of the Russian's, and anyone else out there. Back in the early late 90's, he was doing a lot of work on the F22 regarding combat simulation.

The cameras on the SR-71 are capable of visualizing a golf-ball from 80,000 feet.

That is Cold War technology.

Think of what they can do now...

 

[I_FLY_LOW]

I just get tired of reading the same **** over and over....
The thread is about the SR-71, and it turned into something about the gays...
WTF???

 

[JWG223]

I just get tired of reading the same **** over and over....
The thread is about the SR-71, and it turned into something about the gays...
WTF???

CEHollier wanted to talk about gays, so I indulged. My fault.

Putting it back on track, here is a link about the SR-71's propulsion system. http://www.456fis.org/PRATT_&_WHITNEY_J58_ENGINE.htm

 

[I_FLY_LOW]

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.

Over on another Motorcycle forum I'm on, there was a guy that had collected some peices from the site of an SR-71 crash.
I need to do some searching to find the thread.
He had the peices up for sale.
The pics shown, were interesting, as well.

 

[MOTOR51]

Modern marvels on history channel has some stuff on sr71 and the U2 showing right now

 

[dougstump]

Hi Guy I got to see one of these black birds at Barksdale afb, were I was stationed at the time, it was a big secret ,this was 1970, the bird came in and was refuled, the thing that got all of our attention was that the fuel was leaking out of the bird before it took off, thanks for bring back the memories.

The funny thing is they were supposed to leak fuel (JP-7). Considering how much the airframe stretched from heating, there was no way to seal the fuel tanks so the leak when cold. That’s also why the skin of the wing was corrugated so it wouldn’t crack. Once they hit cruse and the airframe heats up the leaks seal themselves. If you look at the photos of the SR’s approaching the tanker, if you can see the fuel leaking on the top of the wing, they have just taken off and are topping off the fuel load. If the wing is dry then she’s been at cruise and the tanks are sealed.

They used the fuel to cool various parts of the airframe and as hydraulic fluid for the engine exhaust nozzle. Also, the jet carried nitrogen in liquid form to blanket the fuel tanks with an inert gas to prevent a fire at operating temperatures.

 

[Renegade]

Just a month ago I went on a small vacation to Pensacola (to get engaged). They have one in the museum there.

At the National Museum of Naval Aviation??? Where did they park it? I go there every summer, if this is true I can't wait to go back!!!

 

[Yrdawg]

Careful, now they are going to accuse you of being gay, or if you are, ridicule you for it. Maybe even call you... a Moozlim ( sp ).

Certain things being mentioned/discussed on a small-town gun-forum will always result in drama: People of any race other than Caucasian (or the predominant race of the forum), homosexuality, religious ideation (or lack) other than Christianity, political views other than staunch conservatism, and any discussion either pro or con of law-enforcement, or local businesses.

As to the SR-71, I have a cousin who works in a .gov think-tank regarding things like that. Mainly, his job is to keep our airplanes ahead of the Russian's, and anyone else out there. Back in the early late 90's, he was doing a lot of work on the F22 regarding combat simulation.

The cameras on the SR-71 are capable of visualizing a golf-ball from 80,000 feet.

That is Cold War technology.

Think of what they can do now...

Thats MooZlum...pay attention

 

[dougstump]

At the National Museum of Naval Aviation??? Where did they park it? I go there every summer, if this is true I can't wait to go back!!!

It's at the museum at Eglin AFB.

 

[TomTerrific]

Putting it back on track, here is a link about the SR-71's propulsion system. http://www.456fis.org/PRATT_&_WHITNEY_J58_ENGINE.htm

One of the really interesting things about the engines is how they change the configuration of the inlet at different velocities to achieve the desired air intake.

The machine is a friggin engineering bonanza, terribly interesting to read about.

 

[JWG223]

One of the really interesting things about the engines is how they change the configuration of the inlet at different velocities to achieve the desired air intake.

The machine is a friggin engineering bonanza, terribly interesting to read about.

I agree, it reminds me of VVT and VTEC on automobiles, just a different method.

 

[shamrock]

That spike in the intake is to slow the air and create turbulance to prevent supersonic air entering the engine the
Russians have used them for years. They are variable and are adjusted for different speeds.

 

[SVTFreak]

That spike in the intake is to slow the air and create turbulance to prevent supersonic air entering the engine the
Russians have used them for years. They are variable and are adjusted for different speeds.

Air actually slows behind the spike. The spike focuses the highest pressure point of the wave into the inlet as well as causing a slowing of air after.

There was one at the uss Alabama several years back. Two years ago, there was not one at Pensacola but I havnt been since. Maybe they moved the bird from the alabama to Eglin?