Funny SR-71 Story from Popular Mechanics

    Very cool! I was honored to watch an SR-71 launch from the tarmac when it was still a military secret. My uncle, a full-bird colonel and commander of the Beale Air Force base hospital pulled some strings for my brother and I after our father (his oldest brother) passed away unexpectedly in 1972 when we were 12 and 13 years old. We got to join the pilots while they suited up in full space suits, follow them out to the tarmac in a 2nd van, and watch the takeoff from a few yards away, which I can only describe as breath-taking and deafening. The idle noise was insane through our ear muffs and then they hit full throttle which was times ten for about 3 seconds until the plane disappeared. We returned to his house, picked up his family (his sons never got to do this), and drove to a restaurant for dinner. As we were being seated he got a radio call that the bird was home. It had flown to the east coast, up the coast to the northern states, back west to the left coast then south to California. A complete circle of the United States in about two hours!



    The stats on this thing are crazy! They eventually told the public that it could fly Mach 3 at 70,000 feet. We were told in our tour that it actually flies at 120,000 feet and comes close to Mach 7. It basically bounces off of the atmosphere in inner space. It burns the ceramic call numbers off the fuselage every flight. It can take a picture of a parking lot and read the license plates and tell which tires have low pressure. To shoot it down would be like me shooting a 30.06 bullet into the air and you trying to hit my bullet with your 30.06 bullet that you fire from two miles away.



    This experience obviously stayed with me. Thanks Uncle Bill Neal (RIP).



    Bonus: 1960's selfie:


    Remember folks - this isn't a rehearsal, this is The Show!8)

    It boggles my mind to think what we have now.... The original BoxCar for the CIA dates to the early sixties... That's over 40 years.....

    Proud supporter of S.O.G.

    (Slingshot Owners Group)

    :thumbsup:

    Owner/operator: MeanSling LLC :thumbsup:

    I really enjoyed that! I've loved that plane from the first I learned about it! We've had 50 years since that was designed, I'm with @Ruptured Duck. Imagine the things they have now that we don't know about. The SR71 is still impressive to me today, and I'm sure that they haven't sat back and rested on their laurels...

    IIRC, when the SR-71 was first mentioned in the popular magazines (Popular Science or Popular Mechanics, I think) it was originally referred to as the RF-12 or RF-12A and was originally reported to be a fighter/interceptor capable of engaging Russian bombers and maybe even missiles. As I remember the reporting, the DEW line in the Arctic could detect a vehicle and the RF-12A was supposed to be capable of intercepting it before it crossed into American airspace at the US/Canadian border. It's been a long time, so I might not have remembered everything correctly. I believe the fighter/interceptor story was part of OPSEC to cover the fact the SR-71 was a U2 replacement.
    I've had the pleasure of viewing both a B-52 and an SR-71 land. Both aircraft are very impressive.

    Wonder if I am going to give away secrets here. Worked on both SR71 and B1, as a painter. The seams on the skin is covered with a wide clear tape, similar to packing tape, that was impregnated with gold. Seems that radar detects the seams in the skin of the aircraft and the gold tape made the seams disappear so radar could not detect the plane. Oops, why are there black helicopters circling overhead.................gotta run now.........


    LC

    Quote from LargeCar

    Wonder if I am going to give away secrets here. Worked on both SR71 and B1, as a painter. The seams on the skin is covered with a wide clear tape, similar to packing tape, that was impregnated with gold. Seems that radar detects the seams in the skin of the aircraft and the gold tape made the seams disappear so radar could not detect the plane. Oops, why are there black helicopters circling overhead.................gotta run now.........


    LC

    People are now going to go to the static displays with scrapers to cash in on the gold. Don't worry, no one will be looking for you since they're all looking for Trump Russians.

    Quote from LargeCar

    Wonder if I am going to give away secrets here. Worked on both SR71 and B1, as a painter. The seams on the skin is covered with a wide clear tape, similar to packing tape, that was impregnated with gold. Seems that radar detects the seams in the skin of the aircraft and the gold tape made the seams disappear so radar could not detect the plane. Oops, why are there black helicopters circling overhead.................gotta run now.........


    LC

    funny part is that the SR-71 leaked JP-7 when taxiing and during flight until they reached operation temperature. It was designed to expand under the extreme temps it operated in.

    Proud supporter of S.O.G.

    (Slingshot Owners Group)

    :thumbsup:

    Owner/operator: MeanSling LLC :thumbsup:

    Quote from bjk81

    Ty for that info. I would like to see it! I will try to go there this fall.

    If you do it on a weekend, let me know. I've been there many times, but not for over a decade. I've seen it (the SR71), along with some other amazing things there! I only live about an hour from WPAFB. I still like the early years and WWII stuff the best. Last time there, I went to the experimental hanger. Many rare aircraft there, and all of the early Air Force One planes. They only give you about 50 minutes though, and it's hard to get thru all of it in that amount of time.