SR71 Fans

[BobDrye]

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"

[Flibbie]

Thanks Bob, Sure brings back a lot of memories. I used to work on KC-135's, B-52's as well as F-106's and T-33's in my much younger days. The U-2 was operational when I was in Thailand. The SR-71 and the X-15 were always my favorite a/c. Jim

[Mondo]

I was a former "wingnut" in the late 70s and stationed at Edwards AFB for a couple years. We had a SR71 that was assigned to NASA. I got to climb around it a bit. As part of the "Aircraft Rescue Crew" we were responsible for shutting aircraft down and safetying the seats to get the pilots out should they crashland. Granted, this was pretty far-fetched but it allowed us to get inside every aircraft except the Space Shuttle!

I was stationed at Ramstein AFB, in Germany, as well. So I got to climb around all kinds of planes from different countries as this was a NATO base (they had a huge air show crash the year after I left).

 

What I remember about the SR71 was how you had to wear special slippers to climb around and the thing leaked like a seave while on the ground as the metal was designed to expand due to the heat of flight...

Edited May 21, 2009 by Mondo

[MoPho]

There is an SR-71A and an A12 parked up in Palmdale/Lancaster. Been up to see it a few times, they let us pose a car in front of them for a shoot a while back

 

http://www.mjswebgallery.com/carz/images/G8GXP_217.jpg

 

http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezwebin_site/storage/images/reviews/hot_lists/high_performance/american_performance/2009_pontiac_g8_gxp_second_short_take/2009_pontiac_g8_gxp/pong8_gxp_09_101/1978082-1-eng-US/pong8_gxp_09_101_gallery_image_large.jpg

[slngsht]

Bob, that was awesome, thanks.

[MHKflyer52]

Bob, that was awesome, thanks.

 

Ditto to that Bob.

[scannon]

There is an SR-71 at the Air Force museum at Hill Field aFB in Ogden, UT. The first time I saw it there were no barriers and we were allowed to walk under it and touch it. An awesome experience.

 

Thanks for sharing this.

 

Skip

[slomove]

Another one in a small (but very nice) museum at March Airfield near Riverside, CA.

[DeanG]

There is an SR71 at the Virginia Aviation Museum in Richmond Virginia. http://www.vam.smv.org/

They have had British car shows there in the past although I haven't heard of one lately.