Inventive engines The plane travelled so fast that the engine inlets needed special inlet spikes to slow down the supersonic air so that it didn't shatter the engines. (Copyright: Stephen Dowling)
Inventive engines The plane travelled so fast that the engine inlets needed special inlet spikes to slow down the supersonic air so that it didn't shatter the engines. (Copyright: Stephen Dowling)
Used to watch the SR-71 fly out of the Palmdale, CA ‘skunk works’ facility from my 2nd story condo balcony. Quite a sight!!
If they built this 50 thirty years ago, imagine what they are capable of today.
And the coolest looking plane ever.
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. The major supplier of the ore was the USSR. Working through Third World countries and bogus operations, they were able to get the rutile ore shipped to the United States to build the SR-71."
The Pratt & Whitney J58 engines are variable-geometry. Below Mach 1.6, it functions as a regular turbojet. At high speeds, the intake shifts, and turns it into a ramjet.
I always thought that was funny, because not too many years earlier, at an air show at that very same Robins AFB, there was an SR-71 on display, cordoned off, couple of guys with M-16s, signs saying 'Use of deadly force authorized', and the pilot answering every question with 'That's classified'.
The J-58 was a marvel. From 0 to about 1,100 mph, it operated as a turbojet. At high speed, it operated as a ramjet. In its day, nothing could touch it.
At Beale, we used to watch them take off, down the runway, then straight up till out of sight.
Worked on KC-135Q refueling aircraft.
I’ve seen SR-71s in various states of disassembly during major maintenance operations. Very impressive aircraft.
One maintenance procedure was the “hot gig” test where hydraulic fluid at elevated temperatures (several hundred degrees, to emulate in-flight conditions) is pumped through the system to check for leaks and check for proper hydraulics operation. The mechanics would don metalized suits for protection against the hot fluid. While this was going on one day I recall looking through Lockheed’s Palmdale hangar and seeing a blue haze or smoke rising from the hot gig cart’s heater.
Beale AFB has a great open air display of a couple of vehicles near the flight line. A pylon-mounted Blackbird about 10-15 feet above ground, gear-up flight configuration in a slight bank/nose up attitude, gives real appreciation for its size and form. In its shadow is a D-21 drone (which was originally intended to be launched by the SR-71 predecessor M21 mothership).
IIRC when the Smithsonian took delivery of its Blackbird, the plane took off from Edwards AFB (?) flew out over the Pacific and circled back around to head east. Just before hitting the coast line it refueled and when the refueling nozzle detached they pounded the throttle. It landed at Dover AFB less than an hour later.
My BIL was an engineer on the Pratt & Whitney crew that did the R&D for the SR71, and he assured me it went way higher and way faster than they said.
My favorite airplane! I got to work on it in ‘72. Awesome aircraft...
I’ve seen a couple that made emergency landings at Barksdale in the 70’s. One thing I would love to seen, is the AG-330 start cart spinning up the J58’s
You wonder what they are doing now? Well thirty years ago they were working on Hyper Sonic. Anyone living in the L.A. Area then should remember the ultra-loud sonic booms on Thursday afternoons.
There was always a lag waiting for the metals to catch up with the engineers design plans.
Those were vary heady days working there then, also there were no Snowden’s working there as they were never compromised.