Posted on 10/28/2015 5:20:03 AM PDT by lbryce
Make sure to scroll down to the end of the article to view the numerous photographs of the SR-71.
After a Soviet surface-to-air missile battery showdown with a USAF U-2 spy plane near the closed city of Sverdlovsk in 1960, the US government realised they needed a reconnaissance plane that could fly even higher – and outrun any missile and fighter launched against it.
The answer was the SR-71 Blackbird. It was closer to a spaceship than an aircraft, made of titanium to withstand the enormous temperatures from flying at 2,200mph (3,540kph). Its futuristic profile made it difficult to detect on radar – even the black paint used, full of radar-absorbing iron, helped hide it.
WATCH: How to fly the world's fastest plane A whole high-tech industry was created to provide the Blackbird's sophisticated parts. For example, the fuel, a high-tech cocktail called JP-7, was made just for the Blackbird.
Based at Beale Air Force Base in California, detachments of the SR-71 flew from Mildenhall in the east of England and from Kadena on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Just a handful of pilots ever flew the plane. BBC Future interviewed Colonel Rich Graham, former pilot, wing commander and author of several books about the aircraft, at Imperial War Museum Duxford, in front of the very plane he used to fly. Here are some of his stories about what it is actually like to fly this top-secret spy plane.
The Soviet Union actually helped build the Blackbird: "The airplane is 92% titanium inside and out. Back when they were building the airplane the United States didn't have the ore supplies - an ore called rutile ore.
It's a very sandy soil and it's only found in very few parts of the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Correction on author and publishing date.
Stephen Dowling
2 July 2013
Is this the two seater George Bush flew in?
“the fact that it could fly to the Middle East and back in a couple of hours”
From where now? From anywhere in the US it would’ve been more than just “a couple hours”.
I'm not sure but it could be. As I recall, it is not quite the standard version and it is pretty obviously a 2-seater.
There is an SR-71 in the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH. Lot of very cool planes you can walk right up to. Well worth a visit.
That is the prototype - Also known as the “Titanium Goose,” #927 was the only “B-model” in the A-12 series. SR-71s were later.
http://www.habu.org/a-12/06927.html
The two seater that Bush flew in would be obviously recognizable by the separate compartment for the birthday cake.
I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk and worked in the shop that relayed messages to and from the pilots of the U-2 and SR-71. Giant Talk was the radio station.
I Finaly got to see one in Tucson two weeks ago. It looks impressive in pictures, but to actually walk around it was incredible.
I want to make it to the AFM to see my other favorite plane.
I saw it fly a couple times. Awesome!
cool
there is an A-12 in the air museum in Kalamazoo, MI, adjacent to their small airport.
if you are ever in that area, it is worth a visit. they have lots of old warbirds, as well as a Phantom, and some other assorted stuff.
They have one mounted at the Kansas State Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchison, Kansas. Very cool.
“I saw it fly a couple times. Awesome!”
I’m jealous. Used to go to Oshkosh nearly every year. The last time one was there we had a death in the family and I had to miss it. Friend told me the fly by was fantastic.
Aesthetically the most beautiful aircraft ever IMHO.
We’ve had one here in Richmond for years.....
http://www.richmond.com/news/article_93a7a87a-bdc8-5687-857c-de4abec6f1ef.html
I agree...by far the most beautiful plane ever designed and built.
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