Jun 032011
A couple of photos of the SR-71 at the Museum of Aviation. I’d intended to get enough of ’em to stitch ’em together into a panorama… but several came out blurry (tripod motion). Bleah. So… there’s this.
10 Responses to “Robins AFB SR-71”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Nice pix, Scott!
I’m still amazed by the A-12 / SR-71 design. Despite it dating from the mid 50’s, the shape is still very futuristic… it would not look out of place sitting next to a YF-23. The only things that cry out to “experienced eyes” are the intakes and those nice big, rocket like exhausts.
I remember repeatedly reading that the Blackbird “wasn’t” actually black, but very dark blue.
Certainly looks black to me!
> the Blackbird “wasn’t” actually black, but very dark blue.
All of the blackbirds I’ve seen first-hand have been black. But then, all the Blackbirds I’ve seen firsthand have been display pieces, and might not have been in their natural finish.
Kelly Johnson gave us a timeless Masterpiece
you don’t notice its based on 50 year old concept of A-12
put SR-71 next to F-22 or F-35 they look “antiquated”
It’s great that they have it on display with the drone – I wonder how many places have it that way.
The USAF Museum in Dayton has a D-21 next to an SR-71. Much more difficult to photograph there, though.
We’ve got an oxcart left out in the rain in what passes for our Museum of flight here
http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/article131.html
http://area51specialprojects.com/oxcart.html
What I thought was interesting in the recent “Area 51” documentary was that the titanium was to have originated in Russia, where a recently deceased hypersonics guru was known to have visited often:
http://www.spoke.com/info/pFdkArA/SeymourBogdonoff
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/05/q1/0111-bogdonoff.htm
O/T rant
What angered me in the documentary was how Soviet satellites were refered to as “ashcans”, showing perhaps some anti-ballistic missile anti-rocket thought seen in The Right Stuff. In those days ‘Baikonur’ was the ‘Area 51″ to the folks here who wanted a glimpse of real spacecraft. Right now, hypersonics seems limited to some cruise missile concepts, even though one op-ed in Av Week talked about how long extinct Skybolt would outperform anything on the table now.
Engineers are human after all, and have their favorites, Some want hypersonic airbreathers for the sake of having hypersonic airbreathers, although, were I to hazard a guess, its drones that are all the rage now. I can’t help but wonder if Rutan would be better off making drones and leaving real spaceflight to Musk.
I remember reading that Kelly Johnson thought it was a waste of money figuring out how to make paint for the markings that would withstand the extreme environment. However, the Air Force was adamant that they be able to comply with the Geneva Conventions and put distinctive national emblems on it.
Nowadays, the national emblems on combat planes and helicopters are so subdued that you can barely see them under many conditions, such as low light, but I guess the standards are looser these days…
Cool and unique perspective for the photos. I was assigned to these as a mechanic in the Air Force. I thought they were really cool until I started working on them. I was of the last crop of airmen to work them but wasn’t sad to them go.
wasn’t sad to SEE them go
All the SR-71s I saw were black.
Back in the 80’s the Norton AFB airshow featured an SR-71 takeoff and flyby. SR-71s were LOUD.
The plane would take off, do a couple of flybys, and then kick in the afterburners and climb.
Straight up.
That was even louder.