Last time I was there, there was still a slight puddle of fuel on the floor under that one, running along the centerline. I wish I had known you were going there; I’d have asked you to give my favorite B-57 a hug and a kiss for me.
Wonderful shot of this beauty – still one of my favorite birds of all time – but what on earth is the manta-ray-looking craft in front of the right wing? Is that a belly pod for instrumentation? A weapons pod? Be still my heart – a weaponized SR-71 … Only one word for that: Awesome! But no – it couldn’t be … so, the question remains: what is it???
Lockheed D-21 drone. Designed by the same Lockheed Skunk Works folks who designed the SR-71, it was meant to fly off the back of an M-21 mothership (modification of the original single-seater A-12, IIRC). Turned out to be a staggeringly bad idea. But it worked well when carried aloft by a B-52 and equipped with a solid rocket booster. Had a simple ramjet engine; designed to fly at one specific speed (Mach 4-ish) and one specific altitude. When it did, the range was astonishing for such a small vehicle with such a small fuel volume. Carried cameras in a droppable pod.
That thing still looks like it’s 20 years in the future.
Jim
So does it’s little friend that is in front of the right wing nacelle!
Last time I was there, there was still a slight puddle of fuel on the floor under that one, running along the centerline. I wish I had known you were going there; I’d have asked you to give my favorite B-57 a hug and a kiss for me.
Wonderful shot of this beauty – still one of my favorite birds of all time – but what on earth is the manta-ray-looking craft in front of the right wing? Is that a belly pod for instrumentation? A weapons pod? Be still my heart – a weaponized SR-71 … Only one word for that: Awesome! But no – it couldn’t be … so, the question remains: what is it???
> what is it???
Lockheed D-21 drone. Designed by the same Lockheed Skunk Works folks who designed the SR-71, it was meant to fly off the back of an M-21 mothership (modification of the original single-seater A-12, IIRC). Turned out to be a staggeringly bad idea. But it worked well when carried aloft by a B-52 and equipped with a solid rocket booster. Had a simple ramjet engine; designed to fly at one specific speed (Mach 4-ish) and one specific altitude. When it did, the range was astonishing for such a small vehicle with such a small fuel volume. Carried cameras in a droppable pod.
Where did they get a Russian SA-5 “Gammon” SAM from?
Iraq, I believe.