I remember seeing one as a kid at the air show in Chicago.............or did I?

i love how the engines on this machine worked. they didn't produce thrust via mass flowrate like a traditional engine ... they literally were simply air pumps to drop the pressure in front of the engine, and raise the pressure behind them, to literally vortex push the aircraft through the air. the moveable cones doing the compression of the air for the engine.

amazing.

Very cool, Mike.

And my Boy Scout troop used to "camp" at March. The base CO (or something) son was in our troop, and we got to do a LOT that many were not allowed to do. Such as go up in a B52, a KC135 etc. We even went into the SAC war room (like in the movie War Games) where a "digital" image of the world was displayed on a large screen on the wall. With no background checks etc, we just walked in and stared googly eyed at what we saw. Only rule was no cameras. This would have been in the mid-70's when some of the B-52's had nukes in them and were ready to fly at a moment's notice. Fun times!

In the mid 60s while living on Guam, during Armed Forces Day celebrations, they would let us inspect many aircraft on display at Anderson AFB. Here are a few photos that I took at that time.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407871953.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407871998.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407872036.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407872073.jpg

This is one cool thread!

Cheers
JB

There's one at the Air museum in McMinneville, OR,..........(or is there???)

And, you can climb the ladder and inspect the cockpit....(or can you?)

SmileWavy

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407875130.jpg

What I meant was, I think I remember seeing one. It was along time ago. And thinking about it, I wonder how unlikely that would have been. Did these planes even do air shows in the 70's & 80's?

I know you did, I was just having fun with you and the history of ultra secrecy that these things had back in the day....Shades of "Men In Black"!

My dad used to be a REO on the Argus sub hunters in the RCAF years ago and they used to do similiar tricks. They were always out over water at night, and the used to hit the deck and fly over the local make out beach late night, all lights out engines idled, then just as they crossed the sand at 50 foot altitude, hit throttles to the firewall and lit up every exterior light, which included more than a few seriously bright spot lights. He says you have never seen so many half naked kids scatter....

That doesn't make any sense (an air pump implies mass flow, "vortex push"?)You need to impart energy to overcome all that drag from travelling at Mach 3. The engines were brilliant, but it was in the way that they started out as a turbojet and as the Mach number increased they bypassed more and more air around the core, similar to a turbofan but different in that the air was sent into an annular ramjet section (which doubled as an afterburner) that would inject fuel and combust it without the use of compressor blades. The aerospike would catch the shockwave and use various reflections to reduce the speed of the air down to subsonic (they hadn't worked out the SCRAMJET quite yet) and then inject fuel and ignite it.

At the highest Mach numbers all of the air went through the ramjet or out the bleed doors, none through the normal engine. As I understand it, the ramjet was more efficient from a specific impulse perspective than the turbojet.

Pratt & Whitney J58 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I certainly saw one at an air show in the 80's.

Also completely wrong... :D

JR

Ahem.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/F3ao5SCedIk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

When they were getting towards the end of their career a few of them got flown to places where they would end up as museum pieces and those were shown off to the public. I saw one in the late 1980's when it spent the night in OKC.

Even then, they didn't fly these things slowly. When it landed, it was quite a while before they would let you get anywhere near it, as it had to dissipate the heat from flight first.

Easily the most impressive plane I've ever seen fly.

JR

A short but interesting tour of the SR cockpit by pilot Richard Graham.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/tj9UwKQKE3A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I was at the McMinneville museum earlier this year; the SR-71 is now in a separate building from the Spruce Goose. They were no longer letting people near the cockpit.

Some fun reading:

SR-71 Online - SR-71 Flight Manual

Some great stories here.

Hey "Mr. Karma"

Thanks for posting the cool 'vid'. I have tried countless times to explain to some of my friends the uniqueness of this engine & the bird it powers & how it achieves its level of performance. This will make it quite clear to most of them. Much appreciated.

Cheers
JB

A lot of my Dad's classmates from WP went Air Force after graduation. One ( at least that I know of) flew the SR-71. I am on, like a lot of sons and daughters of these aging warriors, the old guys WP class email distribution list.

Once in a while, you get an email that, while you know it my stretch the bounds a bit, makes you smile. After you read the below, know that all the comments directed at the Air Force guy who posted it were: "Which one of the four were you?". I love it.

The setting was the O'Club at Kadena AFB... circa late 60's or early 70's.
The participants were an SR-71 crew, a Captain and Co-pilot from Continental... and two young school teachers for the US Government schools in Okinawa (actually, the last two should be called targets of opportunity).

Ain't no way to say it nicely; but 'Round Eyes' were a hot commodity in those days... especially unmarried ones. Our two young ladies were enjoying the unabashed and total focus of the four gentlemen sitting at the two tables on either side of them... 'Fight on'!
Since it was a 'Dirty Shirt' bar... our two young studs were in flight suits, hepped up a little from their latest 'overflight' mission... fearless and bullet proof... they surveyed the opposition and knew they were already in the saddle... or soon would be... no real threat on the scope.

The Captain, while still handsome... was a bit long in tooth, a former Spad driver he was... his co-pilot was of the jet age, having flown 'Scooters' on little boats, until opting for the 'Good Life' that the airlines promised.

Our two young damsels, were almost immediately overwhelmed by the two young 'flat bellies'... in their form fit flight suits... covered with patches... they represented all that was good... about virile, young, American manhood. They were in awe.

Even though the good Captain had bought their drinks... it was obvious, our two SR types had the upper hand. One of the young ladies, looking at a patch on the shoulder of one of the two studs, asked what it meant... the patch was red (compliments green, Air Force guys know about such things). In the middle was the word 'Habu'... and just above it was a sinister looking snake. Above it was written... Lockheed Super Bird SR-71... just below that was... MACH 3 +... and just below that was written... 80,000 +.

'Studley do right'; knew it was time for the kill... he told the young ladies that 'Habu' was the nickname of the airplane he flew... since they were new on the island, they weren't familiar with the notorious venomous snake that lived in the jungles surrounding them.
At this point the prettier of the two sweet young things asked, 'What does match three mean'? Our steely eyed young buck knew it was all over but the shouting... loud enough for most of the club to hear... he firmly, but politely corrected her mis-pronunciation and explained that Mach was a technical word that stood for the speed of sound... 'Mach 3+ means I've flown over 3 times the speed of sound'... and in a moment of sheer brilliance, he looks at the two airline types and says to the Captain, 'Hey old man, you ever been above Mach 3'? In a humble mumble... the good Captain acknowledged he had not.

Studley knew her next question... and before she could even ask... he went on to explain that the 80,000+ stood for flying above 80,000 feet. And then Studley went too far... in a final move intended to seal the deal... Studley, erect and steely eyed, looked at our humble Captain and said what he should not have said; 'Ever been above 80,000 old man'?

Our humble Captain looked at Studley; then ignoring his protagonist... he cracked a half smile, stared at the two young sweet things, looking for signs of understanding for what he was about to say... He then very calmly and eloquently said, 'Only on my W-2 form hotshot, only on my W-2'!
Studley had no idea he'd just been smoked! He had no idea; that the other gender, no matter what degree of blondness, or air filling of head... wouldn't know Mach from match... but they all knew what a W-2 was... it was a 'woman thing'... it was innate... it was in their bones... and shortly it was over... our good Captain then said, 'Why don't you ladies join us for dinner'? An agreement was quick in coming and as they left for parts unknown... Studley sat there stunned... having no idea what went wrong.

As Corkey was fond of saying, 'The genies of fate had just urinated on the best intentions of a young man'. A simple government form, had just trumped the fastest and highest flyer in the world... ain't life a *****?

That was precious! Very unexpected ending... Thanx for the laugh!

Great story Seahawk!

Some translation for those not aware: Spad driver - A1 Skyraider pilot.

Scooter - A4 Skyhawk.