Tell us something we don’t know.

   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,241  
Although the U2 was an amazing plane, the SR71 Blackbird is the one that always excited me, at almost 5x the air speed and being one of the first stealth designs. I think it could literally outfly most of the missiles available at the time.
 
   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,242  
When I was in the Air Force during the Vietnam war, I was stationed in Okinawa where there were some SR71s based. On one occasion I had the experience of being on a taxiway near the start of the runway with my aircraft. A couple of SR 71's came on to the runway to take off. It was an incredible event to watch from so close by. They had #1 priority and our planes were ordered to set and wait for them. (I was the maintenance crew chief of a B-52, and the pilot wanted to have the ground crew check something out while waiting).

The first thing I noticed is how fast they taxied. I don't know how fast it was but it was really fast! The smell from their exhaust fumes was extremely strong and reminded me of nitro-methane used in top fuel dragsters (it is similar stuff). When they lined up on the runway for take off and they first gunned their engines, not only was the noise overwhelming (probably the highest db I have ever been exposed to. My ear muffs didn't seem to dampen it much) it also caused the ground to vibrate violently and you could feel every bone in your body vibrating with it. As they gunned their engines initially, they kept the wheel locked for a short while, but they'd skid down the runway some anyhow. Then they released their brakes... and they were GONE! They didn't use that much runway and angled nearly straight up right after take-off and were out of sight in no time. I have never been in awe of a machine nearly as much as I was with those things.
 
   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,243  
I was there for a U2 launch once.
The taxi wheels are not attached and they don't have out rigger wheels, to reduced drag, on the long wings.
It takes off and does loops over the base going higher and higher until out of site.
Needs to do all of it's climbing in safe space since it is slow while doing so.
At lower altitudes the air drag slows it down.
 
   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,244  
WinterDeere said:
Although the U2 was an amazing plane, the SR71 Blackbird is the one that always excited me, at almost 5x the air speed and being one of the first stealth designs. I think it could literally outfly most of the missiles available at the time.
Click to expand...
The U2 IS an amazing plane. Still in use today.

The SR71 was retired, in part, to advances in missile technology. It used to be able to turn and accelerate at a rate that the missile would run out of fuel before catching it. The missiles gained enough speed and distance over the years that it was just a matter of time before one would connect.
 
   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,245  
No chase cars here:


Bruce
 
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   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,246  
Actually satellites did in the SR71 moreso than, missiles, I believe. Satellite photography has gotten so good (and endangers no pilots) that it is hard to beat. Below is a video that is not too long but really goes into some great detail on the engineering of the SR71 (if you can ignore the overhyped title). One of the points they make is that the 60-70's photography technology was never refitted to modern standards so they cannot transmit photos as being taken and they actually still need to process film, it seems. A satellite takes a shot and spits it out immediately. Anywhere in the world. Hard to beat that. I have always been amazed at this plane especially given when it was designed.

 
   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,247  
MossRoad said:
The U2 IS an amazing plane. Still in use today.

The SR71 was retired, in part, to advances in missile technology.
Click to expand...
I believe the U2's continuing use, in the face of the SR71 retirement, has more to do with comparative operating costs and risk than anything else. The SR71 was a uniquely expensive and risky program, from start to finish. Once satellite replaced spy planes for most military applications, there was little justification for the very high continuing cost of the SR71 program. I believe much of the U2's usage since the end of the cold war has been non-military research and commercial applications.

Here's another one, for the original topic, the Saturn V had a launch weight near 6.5 million pounds, of which 5.5 million pounds was fuel. The first stage generated about 7.5 million pounds of thrust.

If I could travel back in time, a Saturn V launch would be at the top of the list of events to witness.
 
   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,248  
Don’t know for certain…but what seems highly probable…. If the SR71 was designed in the 50s and 60s it was engineered pre CAD (computer aided designed) using slide rules to three significant places! That’s old school engineering!
 
   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,249  
The SR-71 was a development of the A-12, which was a 1950's design.

From:
en.wikipedia.org

Lockheed A-12 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

The aircraft was designated A-12, the 12th in a series of internal design efforts for "Archangel", the aircraft's internal code name. In 1959, it was selected over Convair's FISH and Kingfish designs as the winner of Project GUSTO, and was developed and operated under Project Oxcart.

Bruce
 
   / Tell us something we don’t know. #2,250  
035C94BC-F6A7-49F2-882B-2602A5A0E7D8.png
 
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