http://www.habu.org/index.htm

The Blackbird is still one of my favorite aircraft. I used to have a whole whack of posters covering my ceiling of the plane when I was a kid. Have you ever played around with any of the Micro$oft flight simulator programs? If you have any of them on your computer, here is a site with an awesome Sr-71 you can fly in the game. It is near the bottom of the page.
http://www.fsplanet.com/best2.htm

Those are very cool. They had (still do maybe???) one at the Seattle Museum of Flight, but I never got to go see it.

Hmm...I wonder if it's still there??? I should look into that.

Bryce
88 GT

loafer87gt --

I have flown the SR-71 on an old copy of Chuck Yeager's Flight Trainer. It's hard to get off the ground, but once you're in the air, point it at the moon and go up until the sky turns black!

Nashco --

If you're in Alabama -- there's one in Huntsville and another in Birmingham. Warner Robins, near Macon, GA, also has one.

Last time I was there, the museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio had one on display...

SR71s and F-117As are 2 of my favorite aircraft.. if you like them, I recommend the book "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich. excellent book, very interesting.

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steve@fieroproject.com
http://www.fieroproject.com

The SR-71 is very cool! I have a huge model of one I made years ago!

Castle Air Force Base in Atwater California has one. They finally repainted the one in Huntsville, AL. It was looking pretty bad there.

The ANG museum on the northside of Minneapolis St. Paul International has one on display. Remember all the stories/rumors about the 'aurora' that supposedly replaced the SR71? Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine ran a few articles where they claimed to have heard radio conversations with one of the pilots and had tracked it and measured its speed. Then the stories just kinda died off. http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/aurora.html http://aurorapage.tripod.com/

[This message has been edited by WampusCat (edited 12-10-2001).]

I've read some fascinating articles on the SR71.On it's last flight it flew out over the Pacific,refueled and got a running start towards Washington DC.It made it in about 1 hour16 minutes.Satelites reduced the need for the SR71 and caused it's eventual retirement.

Yup, the one in the Smithsonian broke a cross-country record on the trip there, its final flight before being put in the museum.

Is it true the sr-71 leaked fuel all over the place till it reached cruising speed? I know they were supposed to be un-armed, but they just looked mean as hel*.

I always like the SR-71 too. My dad was in the Air Force and I got to see one up close and personal (got to see it in the air too!) in '79 or '80 while we were stationed on Okinawa (Kadena AFB).

A VERY cool plane!

Mj, indeed the Sr71 did leak fuel until it reached a certain speed/height and then the airframe would tighten up. There was actually a variant of the Sr71 that was proposed for interception called the YF12, and it was capable of carrying air to air missles. It is distinguishable from the regualr BB by its nose section. The one plane I really want ot know more info about is the Aurora, the new ramjet the military is supposedly testing.

The one in Huntsville is parked in front of the Space and Rocket Center on Interstate I-565 on the west side of town. You do not have to pay to get in the museum to see it (up close). You may want to check it out if you come to the Swap Meet at the Fiero Factory next April.

I saw that plane in Seattle, first one I've seen up close... AWESOME! Rocket Sled indeed!
I lucked out, Brian Shuel was there (Author of the Sled Driver books, and a SR-71 pilot
We spent the rest of the day there, and I talked with him a bit. They would get up at 6am, fly around the USA TWICE, and be back in CA for lunch....

THe SR-71 would indeed leak fuel on the ground when 'cold' (the airframe normally *operates* in excess of 1,000degreesF.) The JP-7 Fuel is a special, and *very* hard to ignite. Once a fire broke out in a trashcan in a SR-71 hanger, and a quick-thinking mechanic took a bucket of JP-7, tossed it on the fire, and it WENT OUT!

The JP-7 soaked SR-71 did catch fire once on the run-up pad, but considering the burning temp at sea level is about *HALF* the operating skin temp of the airplane.... They just sat tight and let it burn off

The Titanium Airframe is being gradually heat treated as the plans grow older through normal flying. It does not stress crack like Aluminum, and it is stronger today than it ever was when new. These planes could last *forever!*

The SR-71 Pilots will live about 5min longer than the rest of us, due to Relativity Dialation!!!

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Ben Cannon
88 Formula, T-top, Metalic Red           "Every Man Dies, not every man really Lives"
88 Formula, Northstar, Silver                     -Mel Gibson, "Braveheart"

Kelly Johnson:
"Will it do Mach 3?"
"Oh yes"
"Will it do Mach 3.5?"
"Oh yes"
"Will it do Mach 4?"
"I am not at liberty to discuss the top speed of the SR-71..."
"Will it do Mach 4.5?"
"I am not at liberty to discuss the top speed of the SR-71..."
"Will it do Mach 5?"
"I am not at liberty to discuss the top speed of the SR-71..."
"Will it do Mach 5.5?"
"Oh, no, it won't do Mach 5.5"

Brian once told me that over Libia, he was doing Mach 3.5, and still had *THREE INCHES of afterburner travel* left on the throttles....

Best!
Ben.

PS: They start the JP-7 with Tri-Ethel Borane, a high-energy density exlposive developed for deep pressure offshore oil exploration (blowing holes in rock a mile down.) CERTINLY NOT for starting jet engines

Count the Mach Diamonds!

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Ben Cannon
88 Formula, T-top, Metalic Red           "Every Man Dies, not every man really Lives"
88 Formula, Northstar, Silver                     -Mel Gibson, "Braveheart"

relativity who? What?

quote Originally posted by maryjane: relativity who? What?

I could be wrong...

...but i think Artherd was refering to the Theory of Relativity, Re: Albert Einstien, it links velocity and time...as you speed up, time slows down, relative to a non-moving observer. Experiments have been done with atomic clocks. Atomic clocks are very very accurate, if they run for 1000 years they will only be off a second or two, any way... You put one clock on the ground and the other on an airplane and fly around for a few weeks, and when your done the clock on the airplane will be a little bit behind the clock that is left on the ground.

So, when Artherd says that the pilots will "live longer" he is technically incorrect, what is happening is that we on the ground are traveling faster through time than those in the airplane. Five minutes would be a HUGE difference, but may be correct, if you asume that the pilots have a fairly long carreer. (And spend a lot of time flying in the airplane at high-speeds.)

It's 4:30 am, if this doesn't make sense, I appologize.

Man those things are fast. I beleive stil the fastest plane ever to be in service.

Woulder what it would take to strap one of the engines onto a fiero...
<fantasy>
ignition...check
maskes on...check
belted in...check
fuel injetors...check
ingnition in 3
2
1
BAM! Mach 4 in 3 seconds.
</fantasy>
Anyways....
<relizes he was daydreaming out loud>

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'88 coupe, 5 speed, custome paint job
"I! have a plan!"
Have you seen my website yet?
Http://www.LithiumEffects/pheageysfeiro
Killed: '97 civic CS auto;
Killed by: '94 Civic Ex, '96 Camery LX
Vandalised: 2 time (in 2 days).

Ben, you never cease to amaze me! Good stuff. That thing sounds like it goes way beyond being "just a machine".

This thing sounds like one of the machines that can do things that the human body can't tolerate, so who can fly it to the max of it's capabilities?

Don't flog me with a wet noodle, I don't know anything about this stuff, I'm just asking?! I will never get over the basic CONCEPT of manned flight, let alone a mechanical beast like this thing! That's just incredible!

Good info...all, thanks for sharing.

Happy holidays!

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Have a good one!

Can a pilot take it? Man, what a plane, but for the most part; yes.

Straight line speed is no problem, depending on who you ask, we're all hurtling away from the rough center of the universe's expansion at anywhere from .1-.6C (speed of light) any way you slice that, it's fast

However, let's just say that you DO NOT want to yank on that control stick very hard above certin mach numbers or so (unsurprisingly the airplane is fairly sensative above mach 3 Most airplanes have a speed that which, once exceeded, you can *hurt* the plane by yanking it around to roughly. Pilots know this as 'manuvering speed.'

PS: Despite extensive shielding and a 3" thick SOLID quartz windscreen, the cockpit temp rises above 220F during normal runs.

You could cook a steak on there!

With some technology though (Apollo era climate controled space suits actually) the human body can mostly take it

PSS: Red2m4, time dialation with speed, exactly what I was talking about. Yes, it IS a huge number! as for 'older' or live 'longer', it's all relative :P)

Best!
Ben.

quote Originally posted by Sage: This thing sounds like one of the machines that can do things that the human body can't tolerate, so who can fly it to the max of it's capabilities?

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Ben Cannon
88 Formula, T-top, Metalic Red           "Every Man Dies, not every man really Lives"
88 Formula, Northstar, Silver                     -Mel Gibson, "Braveheart"

The pilots wore a modified space suit if I remember correctly to survive both the pressure and the heat associated with the speeds the SR-71 could reach, plus the altitude that they flew at.

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T.Shawn Palmer
'85 SE 4cyl 5spd

Seems I also recall that the Blackbird doesn't/didn't take off with a full load of fuel. Just enough to get it airborne and able to be aerially refueled.

I think there is one on display at Hill AFB in Ogden, UT, too.

Also, considering that jet engine fuels are fairly close to diesel and kerosene, it shouldn't came as any great surprise that it isn't very easily ignited. You can put out matches and cigarettes in the stuff. The only general time an explosion hazzard is present is on hot days when fumes begin to generate, and even then it is usually only in confined areas like fuel tanks.

When I was a kid living in Boulder, Colorado one would fly over the house about once a year. That was quite interesting hearing, and feeling, it boom overhead. Until living in CA, it felt like what a earthquake would feel like. No I know better!

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Mark Matthews
'87 GT Fastback T-top