A Must See for Pilots and Military Vets and any other patriot...
In 1968 (1967?) a SR-71 made an emergency landing at Grand Forks AFB
(ND) and was "parked" between two B-52 hangers close to the N/S road
that paralleled the base runway. The aircraft was completely visible to
anyone using the road. Immediately after landing, GFAFB security
established machine gun "nests" close to the plane. The two man crew
could not exit the plane until a C-130 arrived from Edwards AFB with
the ground support equipment and aircraft technicians to evacuate the
crew and "fix" whatever the problem(s) were... Of course, everyone on
the base came to see the 71 and security had to control traffic.
After the "fixes" were accomplished (two days?), the 71 exited the
base heading north. A few minutes later it returned at a very low
altitude at tremendous speed in a fly by. It was awesome and was
probably witnessed by about everyone on the base.
Eye candy for people who like airplanes
Grab your beverage and relax for a few minutes of awesome beauty. The
SR-71 was the creation of Kelly Johnson, Lockheed, Eisenhower and the
Air Force. It was envisioned in the '50s, first flew in the early
'60s, retired in the '80s, briefly brought back in the '90s.
In all, 13 units of the single seat A-12 were built, and 32 of the
Pilot + Recon two seat SR-71 units were built.. Five A-12 were lost,
one is stored. Twelve two seaters were lost. The remaining 27 are on
display around theUSA. The closest is atAtwater, the old Castle
AFB museum atMercedwith 50 other classic warplanes. You probably
have a better opportunity of viewing the one inSan Diego. Ask me
and I'll tell you where the others are. NY, OR, OH, DC, etc. I can
find most answers to most questions. Just ask. Start
with the 2000+ mph, the 80,000 feet + altitude. More if you wish.
So enjoy. One more thing. The author of the captions to the picture
in this video made one misstatement, due to youth. The U-2 Recon
aircraft was created in 1955, flew operationally in 1956. Kelly
thought theUSSRwould shoot it down in 18 months. Lucky us, it flew
until Gary Powers was downed on 1 May 1960.
But Kelly Johnson already had the go-ahead from Ike for the A-12. It
first flew in 1962, JFK kept the manufacture of it active. No one
told LBJ, 'cause everyone knew he would spill the secret. He wasn't
told til the week after JFK left us. And sure enough, LBJ gave out
the secret in a matter of months.
Anyhow, the most interesting, most exciting five years of my life
were spent in the program, as a KC-135 refueling pilot. Where the
Blackbird went, we went. You will see several refuelings in the
following.
Enjoy.
Click here to view the slideshow:
http://www.greatdanepromilitary.com/SR-71/index.htm
If you have a chance read the book "Sled Driver"