Hot Bird!

[Farmwithjunk]

Check this out!

SR-71

 

[czechsonofagun]

I had a chance to see it during an Air Show on Andrew's Air Force base this year. It is also in the Dulles, VA exhibition

And Frederick Forsyth put this plane in his book Icon too

 

[RobS]

Incredible aircraft, thanks for the link. There is an SR-71 at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo museum in K-zoo, MI.

 

[Oleozz]

A great tribute to the best of the best!

 

[ronjhall]

Got see the plane in Kalamazoo, MI. last month. Very impressive at the time plane was built many of the features had to be designed. If you are near Kalamazoo stop by the Air Zoo.

 

[N80]

There was one at the Armament Museum at Eglin AFB when I was stationed there. It is bigger than it looks in pictures. The SR-71 is one of the most remarkable aircraft of all time and the neat thing about it is that it looks the part. It just looks like it means business and its got all the records to prove that it does. It was also stealthy, long before 'stealth' technology became mainstream. I think it is truly amazing that after all these years and all the new technology that it is not only the fastest jet of all time but that it is likely to keep that distinction for many years to come. And even more amazing is that it was designed before computers. This might not seem like that big a deal and the plane looks pretty simple from the outside, but those funny engine intakes etc are designed that way to allow for proper air flow into the engines at multi-mach speeds. That was one of the biggest design challenges and the physics of it is waaaaaay beyond my comprehension.

And on top of that, it is beautiful as well. One of the most beautiful jets ever, in my opinion, second only to the XB-70 Valkyrie:

 

[mjarrels]

I've been to the National Air Museum at Dullas... Amazing place to spend the day... FREE too, except for a $10.00 parking fee. Use to watch SR-71's and U-2's fly out of Osan AFB in South Korea, they would actually taxi them in/out of the hangars, open doors and in minutes they were airborne!

mark

 

[mjarrels]

They were actually built for the CIA... not the Air Force! Lockheed Skunk Works is an amazing story.

mark

 

[Redneck_Randy]

I saw the SR71 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle and was able to sit in the cockpit.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

That's not a Valkyrie, that's Firefox! "think Russian, think Russian......."

great link, thanks for sharing..

i grew up building models, etc. of the blackbird....i love that plane for what it is and what it represents......

a buddy of mine bought the last trans-am and has on his plates "blackbird"

i think it has inspired many a young and old mind, alike.....

second only to the XB-70 Valkyrie:

 

[vic4news]

Excellent movie about the SR-71. Thanks for posting this.

I grew up outside of Dayton, OH and used to visit the Air Force museum there quite often. Some of my favorite planes there are the SR-71, XB-70 and B-36J.

When my daughter was around 6 years old we went to the museum. At the time one of here favorite songs was "Rock Lobster". She was quite surprised when she saw a plane there with the same name as the band. It had never occurred to me that she wouldn't know that a B-52 was a plane.

Vic

 

[RavensRoost]

In my youth when I was in Okinawa ~ 1967 and wearing a funny colored suit, we used to watch SR71s land at Kadena AB. We could tell when one was due to land because a helicopter with a foam bomb mounted underneath would be orbiting near the runway. Always fascinated me to watch it land, but never did catch one taking off. Darn.

RavensRoost