How slow can an SR-71 BLACKBIRD fly?

[gorthar]

Originally Posted by red-beard

And the A12. Don't forget about the A12

Yes, the A-12 is often forgotten in Blackbird discussions. What many people don't realize is that the SR-71 is the last of the line of Blackbird aircraft that included the A-12, YF-12, and M-21. It always irks me when watching a documentary about the SR-71 and they interchange facts of the A-12 and SR. They are certainly NOT the same aircraft, and they had slightly different missions. (A-12 performed a direct overflight while SR-71 had side-looking cameras and radar and a second crew-member) They often reference the SR-71 as having been tested at Groom Lake and as far as I can tell in the many books on the topic the SR was the only one of the Blackbird family that was never tested out there having been tested at Plant 42 and Edwards.

Some cool footage of A-12 first flight at Groom,narrated by the pilot Lou Schalk

[Embraer]

the first A12 (#6924) is parked outside my building. flew the first flight on april 26th, 1962

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

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."

Timeline is off. The A12 preceded the SR71. The SR71 took over around 1968.

The A12 was single seat and the SR71 is two seat.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

[I]As I noticed the airspeed indicator s-l-i-d-e below 160 knots (180 mph), my heart stopped, as my adrenalin-filled left hand slammed both throttles FULL FORWARD, aka "Balls to the Wall !"

"What did you see" asked Walt ? Trying to find my voice I stammered "One hundred fifty-two..."(175 mph)
We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt calmly said "Don't ever do that to me again...."

What a great story.

The thing I love most about aviation is the dichotomy of aircraft purpose and performance.

At 160kts in my aircraft I was already at BTTW!

Great stuff. Thanks for posting.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Embraer

the first A12 is parked outside my building.

Yep, and there is one in front of the San Diego Air museum. Great aircraft!

[daepp]

A repost, but it bears repeating. If you are into this kind of stuff, read Skunk Works by Kelly Johnson's assistant Ben Rich - who also ran Skunk Works for two decades. The book describes a time before CAD and computers were used to do the design work, and men with cigarettes and white long sleeved shirts worked together in a windowless office, using slide rules etc, and designed some awesome hardware.

[daepp]

I never got to see one fly, but the SR-71 was my favorite as a kid.

Fast forward about 30 years, and my daughter had a 7:00am Sunday water polo tournament in Riverside, CA. With about three hours between games, I headed over to March Field. I did not know what to expect; hadn't showered etc, but a nice young man greeted me as I looked at the SR. He then asked if I wanted to sit in what was, for me, the most highly classified thing I had ever dreamed of as a kid:



Not near as cool a selfie as the earlier post but:

[kach22i]

I went to the public library today, and read an article on the SR-72.

Meet the SR-72

Nearly two decades after the famed Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird spyplane was retired, its developer, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, has revealed exclusively to Aviation Week that it is ready to begin development of a hypersonic successor, the SR-72.

Note: some old SR-71 articles in the link above.

Like this one:
http://www.aviationweek.com/Portals/aweek/media/PDF/SR-71.pdf

[74-911]

I think it must have been 1977 or 1978, a SR-71 landed at Randolph AFB. IIRC this was when the AF was first letting the SR-71's land at just regular bases and be seen by the public. He would be departing that afternoon.
Needless to say everyone who could went over to the flight line to watch. The SR-71 was parked at the far end of the runway and under armed SP guard. When he finally took off it was a sight to behold and the noise was like no plane I had ever heard.

He flew a few miles out very slowly gaining altitude then turned back towards the runway. As he approached the base he kicked in the afterburners and came straight down the runway at very low altitude, pulled back into a steep climb and just went up until out of sight and sound..

Everyone just kind of stood there... speechless. Will definitely never forget that.

[javadog]

Another interesting interview, especially the latter half:

FLYING THE SR 71. - YouTube

JR

[kach22i]

Updating an old thread with this PDF.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/88796main_YF-12.pdf

[john70t]

Originally Posted by BeeMaster

The weird part was I heard it about 20 seconds before I saw it. It was making a horrible racket.

While strolling on a beach near Camp Lejeune, NC I once heard a racket.
About 10+ miles away a CH-47 helicopter was taking off.
A little spot in the sky, but it sounded like it was right above us.
That is a huge current detriment IMO.

[kach22i]

The USAF Thunderbirds were doing an airshow near where I was playing golf with friends on Saturday.

You could see the planes long before you could hear them.

If you could hear them, they were already gone visually for a good five seconds.

[intakexhaust]

Old thread but what a neat read from the OP to the last. I believe it was 1988 or 89 where I was lucky to see an SR71 takeoff at the EAA convention. Chilling awe.

Not exactly in the same league but another memorable craft at the EAA was seeing one of the last flying Concord's takeoff.

Reminds me and I'll have to hunt for the pics.

Funny, just the other day I was having a conversation and someone mentioned they wished we could bring back the days of sonic booms... LOL

[GH85Carrera]

A local air show here in OKC had a SR71 participate. It was cool watching him make a low level fly by and then come in and land. It was on display for the show and then when it left it was just awesome.

Back in 1969 when I lived in Hawaii on base at Hickam we got to see a U2 take off. They were still pretty rare to see back then.

[sammyg2]

[mikester]

Originally Posted by daepp

I never got to see one fly, but the SR-71 was my favorite as a kid.

Fast forward about 30 years, and my daughter had a 7:00am Sunday water polo tournament in Riverside, CA. With about three hours between games, I headed over to March Field. I did not know what to expect; hadn't showered etc, but a nice young man greeted me as I looked at the SR. He then asked if I wanted to sit in what was, for me, the most highly classified thing I had ever dreamed of as a kid:



Not near as cool a selfie as the earlier post but:

I grew up at March AFB - my dad was stationed there from 1984 to 1994.

The museum was on the flight line at the time. My Eagle project was to setup a schedule for the local scout troop to come help with the Museum and clean the planes on a regular basis. I washed that SR-71.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Very cool story, thanks for posting. I used to work with a number of ex-fighter pilots, I loved sitting around and having a few beers, listening to them tell stories from their time in service.

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One of my friends was a B-52 pilot. He is long retired. He said back in the 60s when he was on active duty they would fly out to west Kansas or east Colorado at night to rack up time. They could see the headlights of a lone vehicle just cruising down the road. They would drop down to very low altitude and fly right over the poor sucker in the vehicle.

Imaging just driving a LONG very straight quiet road and not seeing anyone for a while and all of a sudden hearing a B-52 with 8 engines roaring just 100 feet above your head. He said they always drove off the road in fright and all the crew laughed. He said he felt bad now that he was older and wiser but he was just a kid with a huge expensive toy.

My in-laws live out in rural central KS on the outskirts of a small town. Their house is large and on a hill, it stands out relative to the town (I've flown over it before). When the B1 was based in Wichita they used to frequently practice out in central KS, and I noticed that they would come in low and hot in formation over the town and directly over my in-laws' house, then immediately after passing do a full afterburner climb and split. Every, single, time. It was incredibly loud and awesome to watch. At one of our airshows I found a B1 pilot and asked him what they were doing, and he knew exactly the house I was talking about. Apparently my in-laws have been blown up hundreds of times by the B1.

[wayner]

B1

[flipper35]

Whatever happened with the Blackswift project? Last I heard it went SAP and everything sort of went black after that.