My uncle was USN on Guam for years. He talked about taking a couple pictures of the SR-71 taking off from the fence and the MP's coming over to take the film out of the camera.

I saw it do an afterburner climb out when I was a kid at the Pt. Mugu air show. Loud.

What did you fly?

S-3 Viking
VS-33 Screwbirds off the USS Nimitz

Recon or refueling? Cool stuff. Cat launches must be intense.

My pop was at Andersen AFB in Guam for a few years and has the same recollections from when the SR-71 would visit (among other things, a BUFF crashing into the reef upon take-off in the middle of the night and lighting up the whole sky).

I know this story is somewhere else in here, but it is a delight to tell it from firsthand experience.

I was westbound from Shannon to Seattle in a Gulfstream IV. Over the flat expanse of the northern Hudson Bay at Mach .82.... talking to Artic Control. We were not as high as usual because it actually warms up at altitude way up north. Probably FL390. We were the only aircraft in the sector, so it was quiet.

We get called about traffic. Controller says our traffic is 6 o'clock, 65 miles back with a 1200 knot overtake, and no altitude readout, primary return only.

The hairs go up on my back and arms. He then says he's not talking to him, and by the way, the radar targets just merged.

We are speechless, but what could we do? Nada.

The controller says he has an idea, will call right back.

I look up and see the twin orange-yellow shock cones as the controller comes on and says traffic is identified, but classified. His flight plan was from Mildenhall to Mather nonstop, and the reason he was not talking to him was because he was not in controlled airspace (above 60,000 feet).

It took the dot with the twin glowers a full two minutes to disappear from our view over the horizon in front of us.

just an FYI...the controller would have still had radar on him, not just a primary. we don't get primaries in high altitude, it would be what's called a "dogbone" or mode c intruder. even with classified stuff, they're on radio and on discrete code..but it's a tac frequency that we have. (separate from military UHF). ...in case of emergency, and they need ATC right now, we monitor them. I talk to guys above FL600 pretty much everyday. it's cool talking with them...because the positive pressure from their space suits is very noticeable on the radio.

cool story, nonetheless.

you guys would never believe the stuff that flies over the western united states....everyday.

Great story. My dad was an aerospace engineer during SR-71 development and it was one of his favorite pieces of 60s technology. Yes having a look at the gauges when flying low and slow is always a good thing. They were very close to going into the dirt.

Is it foolish to assume that there are things much more advanced that the SR-71?

the SR was 50's technology.

But is the stuff manned or unmanned? I'd like to think that we currently have a manned replacement for the SR71 and not everything coming down the pike is a UAV.

I grew up as an Air Force brat and my father was in maintenance. As such I was able to get in, over and around pretty much everything in the inventory between the mid-60s till the early 80's. The absolutely most awesome experience I had was driving along the flightline at Mildenhall and seeing an SR-71 on final appear out of the low clouds, land and taxi past us. It was a chilling sight.

That is one plane we were never able to get up close to and that was the only time I ever saw one outside of a museum.

I suppose that all depends on your definition: Imagined, designed and engineered, constructed, or first flight:

"SR-71 timeline[edit]
Important dates pulled from many sources.[75][unreliable source?]
24 December 1957: First J58 engine run.
1 May 1960: Francis Gary Powers is shot down in a Lockheed U-2 over the Soviet Union.
13 June 1962: SR-71 mock-up reviewed by Air Force.
30 July 1962: J58 completes pre-flight testing.
28 December 1962: Lockheed signs contract to build six SR-71 aircraft.
25 July 1964: President Johnson makes public announcement of SR-71.
29 October 1964: SR-71 prototype (AF Ser. No. 61-7950) delivered to Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, CA.
7 December 1964: Beale AFB, CA, announced as base for SR-71.
22 December 1964: First flight of the SR-71 with Lockheed test pilot Bob Gilliland at Air Force Plant #42."




Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://iliketowastemytime.com/sites/...-old-photo.jpg

So if we ask...you can tell right? Pretty please!SmileWavy

Here is another video that is oven an hour from the same guy.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/CeBu6mRDaro?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And the A12. Don't forget about the A12

I have no idea why, but a B1 did a flyby at the opening of the LA County fair about 10 years ago. He circled at least twice beforehand waiting for the green light.

I have NEVER heard anything quite so loud in my life. And I have been on the runway for a flyby of a B1 at Edwards. I don't know if he lit the afterburners or what, but even my wife, who was miles away, called me and asked what happened. I called the local general aviation airport to ask if they landed a jet (rare at Cable) but they said no. I called Bracket (another local bigger field) and they too said no but told me there had been a B1 in their airspace.

We are a Navy family and have had many occasions to hear F18's etc, but I have never heard anything else so loud as that B1.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387227469.jpg

Brian Shul Selfie


Fascinating in every aspect.

Our neighbors son circa 1972-1975 who we thought flew tankers was a Blackbird Pilot, did not know it until the mid 90"s.

Not much automation you had to fly it.

I hear the Beale AFB drone pilots on VHF all the time. Oakland ARTCC. (Also the U-2/TR-1s and the T-38s.) I point out to my captains that the voice/pilot is sitting in a trailer at Beale while descending the drone out of high altitude.

Growing up in the bay area I went to a couple of airshows at Beale. c1985 they had an SR-71 depart mid-morning. By noon we were there and strolling the ramp when we see a contrail coming from the west. I keep looking at the contrail and it was acting 'funny.' The trail was straight, of course, but then it began twisting into a snake-shape as it slowly dissipated. We looked up as it passed over the base but could not see the aircraft making the contrail which we thought was unusual. We weren't near the P.A. system so we didn't get the explanation as it happened. Anyway, the contrail had suddenly started west of Beale and then just after passing over the base eastbound the contrail suddenly stopped. Weird. Then a buddy walks up and says, "That's the SR that took-off this morning!" Huh? After a little time passed the faint "pop-pop" of the sonic boom(s) was heard and the explanation was that the SR had made a pass at "Mach 2" at altitude and had been dumping fuel so as to leave a trail in the sky way up above the normal contrail level. That's why it twisted strangely as it dissipated. Maybe two more hours passed and the SR was back. It made a few nice passes and then landed. Pretty exciting for that day and age.

Then, in 1997 as a USAF instructor pilot, I took a jet to the 50th USAF anniversary airshow at Nellis AFB, NV. Great show with numerous 'Warbirds' and several military demo teams in attendance. After our sunrise+30" arrival on Wednesday we were cleaning up our jet when the arrivals were picking up. A civilian-owned F-104 two-seater made a scorching pass and came around and landed and then a NASA SR-71 showed up. He made a couple of close-in banking fly-bys and then pulled into the overhead pattern for landing. SR pilots described its flight characteristics as very close to the T-38s they used for proficiency training. He basically flew a close-in T-38-style pattern and an aggressive left descending 180-degree turn to land. Well, he overshot the runway (too wide a turn to final) but dramatically 'yanked and banked' and got it lined up expertly just crossing the runway threshold. Just as the main wheels touched the drag 'chute was ejected from the top of the aft fuselage and went 'whap' as it blossomed. He kept the nose up and used aero-braking to slow (as well as the 'chute) and it was pure showmanship. That guy knew we were all watching and just expertly put that SR down with style.

B1 flyover at the 06 Rose Bowl, TX 41, USC 38 - YouTube