SR-71 Blackbird: The Cold War's ultimate spy plane (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Stephen Dowling

Colonel Rich Graham spent 15 years as a Blackbird pilot and wing commander. He told BBC Future some of his incredible stories about the world's fastest plane.

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.
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http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130701-tales-from-the-blackbird-cockpit

Video (5:21): http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130701-flying-the-worlds-fastest-plane




Still the most amazing plane ever built !

[MADem]

1. Very interesting seeing those things up close, which I've done.

A Habu taking off is a sight to behold as well.

Link to the online museum: http://www.habu.org/

A bit of footage:

[Sherman A1]

2. If you ever get to Dayton, OH

visit the USAF Museum. It's free and just full of airplanes including....

LOCKHEED SR-71A

The SR-71, unofficially known as the "Blackbird," is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966. The U.S. Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990, because of a decreasing defense budget and high costs of operation.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world's fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth's surface per hour. On July 28, 1976, an SR-71 set two world records for its class -- an absolute speed record of 2,193.167 mph and an absolute altitude record of 85,068.997 feet.

On March 21, 1968, in the aircraft on display, Maj. (later Gen.) Jerome F. O'Malley and Maj. Edward D. Payne made the first operational SR-71 sortie. During its career, this aircraft accumulated 2,981 flying hours and flew 942 total sorties (more than any other SR-71), including 257 operational missions, from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., Palmdale, Calif., Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and RAF (Base), Mildenhall, England. The aircraft was flown to the museum in March 1990.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=395

[TrogL]

3. Apocryphal Blackbird story

BB: BBL requesting flight level 62000
Tower: If you think you can get that dinky little thing to 62000 you go right ahead
BB: BBL requesting to descend to 62000
Tower: oh, errr, BBL you are cleared to flight level 62000

[icarusxat]

4. The pilots who flew it were telling that story

when we took a B-52 to Beale in 1987. Beautiful airplane to watch on the ground or in the air. If you can't make it out to Dayton, there is one in Roy, Utah at the Hill AFB museum...

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Here's a map of all the BBs ...

http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/locations.php

and an aerial shot of one we drive by on the way into town ...
http://wikimapia.org/148028/A-12-SR-71-Blackbird

It's easy to find ... just look for the Saturn V ...











(pssst ... the "Saturn V" is actually a concrete mockup. The real one is indoors.)