A nod to my favorite aircraft- The SR71

[EPS]

Seen it fly a hundred times I grew up in Lancaster CALIFORNIA had lots of friends that work at and when I was going to school friends parents working at Northrop Grumman in Palmdale where they at the SKUNK WORKS hanger and when it was flying people would gather in the desert at the end of the runway and take pictures of it as it took off

 

[TOVO]

I was lucky enough to see one at an air show in California. Talked to the pilot and he could tell us very little about the plane at that time. A couple of interesting facts was at there maximum altitude with there cameras they could read a Tomas guide laid out on the ground. After three flights over Russia during the Cold War the planes skin would stretch two feet and it would have to get reskinned. The plane also leaked real bad on the ground.

At the air show the SR71 took off and left for DC and broke the west coast to east coast fastest flight record. Then they put the plane in the Smithsonian. It was amazing.

 

[kmk1012]

It's unbelievable how large it is until you are standing under it or up at one of its engines that have been removed for display. At 6'4" I'm not exactly short but I'm not quite tall enough to see the top of the engine!

 

[EPS]

Before they decided to scrape the program when you went to air shows and one was there they had gaurds around it you could only get so close to it and the cockpit was covered so it someone did get closer they could not take pictures of the inside lol now they have posters of the cockpit you can hang on your wall

 

[EPS]

I was lucky enough to see one at an air show in California. Talked to the pilot and he could tell us very little about the plane at that time. A couple of interesting facts was at there maximum altitude with there cameras they could read a Tomas guide laid out on the ground. After three flights over Russia during the Cold War the planes skin would stretch two feet and it would have to get reskinned. The plane also leaked real bad on the ground.

At the air show the SR71 took off and left for DC and broke the west coast to east coast fastest flight record. Then they put the plane in the Smithsonian. It was amazing.

This is all true my friends dad worked there and said it would leak fuel all over before it took off once it was in the air they would be able to refuel it in flight because by the time it got airborne and the skin swelling stopped the leaking it would almost be out of fuel

 

[EPS]

We used to go to the big air show they would have at EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE they always had one there but it never flew at the show

 

[EPS]

It was a BAD A$$ plane the pilots wore space suits lol that's a hint on how hi it flew

 

[jbett98]

Tagged.

 

[Jamie6.5]

The genius that was Kelly Johnson.

If you're gonna have a favorite, from the jet age, and it's unarmed, it's pretty much gotta be that one.

 

[BWH]

Definitely a cool plane. When they were bringing one of the last ones on a flatbed truck through Oregon years ago, I made a stop to go see her in person. Sad to see these out of commission now.

Burns Bros. Truck Stop???

 

[BWH]

You can do an up close in McMinnville at Evergreen or whatever name they go by these days. Very impressive plane.

 

[orygun]

You can do an up close in McMinnville at Evergreen or whatever name they go by these days. Very impressive plane.

Yup. I was amazed at the length. Like a friggin needle.

 

[Stomper]

That plane was designed and built pre-computer aided era.... slide-rules, long-hand math, and old school wind-tunnel testing. It's never been beaten (that we know of) to date... amazing.

Sadly, wicked-good satellite surveillance capabilities being what they are these days did the SR program in.

 

[teflon6string]

I really enjoyed Ben R. Rich's autobiography of the U-2 & SR-71.
Skunk Works, A personal memoir of my years at Lockheed.

Thanks for the heads up JB! I'm always listening to downloadable audiobooks from the library on my iPhone and just grabbed this one.
------------------------------
Edit 11-29-17: Just plowed through it in a couple days in the car and earbuds doing projects around the house. Great "read!"

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

It was really cool to see one in person at the aviation museum.

 

[SA Shooter]

I am a USAF veteran and was sent to Beale from Castle on a 90-day TDY.

Being a poor E3, most forms of entertainment were beyond my financial reach. Instead of sitting in the airmen's club drinking beer on Friday nights, I'd go out to the perimeter fence and lay down out under the stars, watching those aircraft take off. It was a noisy, colorful and impressive show.

 

[etrain16]

That plane was designed and built pre-computer aided era.... slide-rules, long-hand math, and old school wind-tunnel testing. It's never been beaten (that we know of) to date... amazing.

Sadly, wicked-good satellite surveillance capabilities being what they are these days did the SR program in.

We need to revive them if for nothing more than to fly over NK at 80,000' and drop giant bags of crap all over Lil' Kim's palace.

 

[JO JO]

This is all true my friends dad worked there and said it would leak fuel all over before it took off once it was in the air they would be able to refuel it in flight because by the time it got airborne and the skin swelling stopped the leaking it would almost be out of fuel

I was told the same thing always thought that was really neat ,

 

[jbett98]

My best friends Dad passed away this spring at age 95 and he was the lead engineer for General Electrics J79 jet engine that was
developed for the F-104 Starfighter.
As a kid, my friend can remember meeting Air Force generals and Lockheed engineers like Kelly Johnson but didn't appreciate who he was talking to as he had to behave and not get in trouble while visiting the aircraft production plants.

 

[etrain16]

Burns Bros. Truck Stop???

I believe that was the place. Was there with my then fiance, now wife.