These SR-71 Blackbirds
Discussion
Boosted LS1 said:
ecsrobin said:
And there's sled driver a very good book that I may have in ebook form...... 
Gosh, I'd love to read this. Is it something you'd be prepared to share assuming its emailable?Andy RV said:
Well, that's just killed all productivity for a while....
Just come across this little anecdote on facebook....
Here is why you should not p
s off a pilot, especially one who flies a Mach 3+ SR-71 Blackbird
During an airshow at RAF Greenham Common, people who were protesting against President Reagan’s decision to station intermediate nuclear missiles in England, broke through the security barricade and threw paint on several aircraft including the SR-71 Blackbird.
This required special maintenance to be performed on the Blackbird to avoid any hot spots to be formed on the aircraft surface during flights and took hours to treat the paint off the airframe. Naturally, the pilots and crew were not pleased.
Early morning on the flight out, Planning a farewell Revenge on the Protesters camped outside the airbase and sleeping peacefully, the Blackbird pilot obtained authorization for a "closed pattern", the Pilot descended to a 100 feet and pointed the nose in the direction of the "Protest Campgrounds".
Flying at 150 Knots, the Pilot opened throttled to afterburner and accelerated to 400 Knots and then pulled up directly over the tents of the protesters, focusing the plume from the J58 engines, each giving out 34,000 lbs of thrust on the protesters, flattening their tents; even ripping out a few off the ground, and causing hearing problems for the protesters for hours after the flyby.
Here is why you should not p
s off a pilot, especially one who flies a Mach 3+ SR-71 BlackbirdDuring an airshow at RAF Greenham Common, people who were protesting against President Reagan’s decision to station intermediate nuclear missiles in England, broke through the security barricade and threw paint on several aircraft including the SR-71 Blackbird.
This required special maintenance to be performed on the Blackbird to avoid any hot spots to be formed on the aircraft surface during flights and took hours to treat the paint off the airframe. Naturally, the pilots and crew were not pleased.
Early morning on the flight out, Planning a farewell Revenge on the Protesters camped outside the airbase and sleeping peacefully, the Blackbird pilot obtained authorization for a "closed pattern", the Pilot descended to a 100 feet and pointed the nose in the direction of the "Protest Campgrounds".
Flying at 150 Knots, the Pilot opened throttled to afterburner and accelerated to 400 Knots and then pulled up directly over the tents of the protesters, focusing the plume from the J58 engines, each giving out 34,000 lbs of thrust on the protesters, flattening their tents; even ripping out a few off the ground, and causing hearing problems for the protesters for hours after the flyby.
my sister was one of those painters
true fact
she didn't know what the fk the plane was, they all broke in through the fence, headed for the biggest plane they could see
got chased by guards with dogs, ended up in a hangar with 'some black plane', painted flowers and peace signs on it
she went to Holloway prison on remand, charges were later dropped, the USAF didn't present any evidence IIRC
she's never mentioned the 'flypast' to me, but there were several different camps all round the base
true fact
she didn't know what the f
k the plane was, they all broke in through the fence, headed for the biggest plane they could seegot chased by guards with dogs, ended up in a hangar with 'some black plane', painted flowers and peace signs on it
she went to Holloway prison on remand, charges were later dropped, the USAF didn't present any evidence IIRC
she's never mentioned the 'flypast' to me, but there were several different camps all round the base
Edited by Hugo a Gogo on Tuesday 17th November 20:40
From memory the "ladies" from the camp threw white paint at the SR, KC153Q and other aircraft ( obviously they couldn't tell what a nuclear bomber was) all parked outside, it was pictured on the news at the time - The Yanks did want to press charges but the UK government "declined" to prosecute.
As we left the show we passed the "Ladies" demonstrating by the exit and we reciprocated by spraying them with various liquids in squeezy bottles and water bombs,needless to say it wasn't very big or clever but we found it funny.
Sadly since that point the security round most USAFE bases stepped up somewhat.
ETA - the fly past made the news.
As we left the show we passed the "Ladies" demonstrating by the exit and we reciprocated by spraying them with various liquids in squeezy bottles and water bombs,needless to say it wasn't very big or clever but we found it funny.
Sadly since that point the security round most USAFE bases stepped up somewhat.
ETA - the fly past made the news.
Edited by NM62 on Thursday 19th November 09:03
Nice under wing tour given by Buz Carpenter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4KD5u-xkik
What do you do with a dead SR-71?
When no-one wants it and you're not allowed to spend money on scrapping it? Bury it at sea, obvs, see here: https://fighterjetsworld.com/historic-aircraft-and...
When no-one wants it and you're not allowed to spend money on scrapping it? Bury it at sea, obvs, see here: https://fighterjetsworld.com/historic-aircraft-and...
It’s been posted elsewhere on the site, but this:
http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-oth...
Is a good read for anyone interested in SR71s - although it is about its close relative the A12.
http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-oth...
Is a good read for anyone interested in SR71s - although it is about its close relative the A12.
hoffman66 said:
It largely did yes, but obviously the SR was largely needed by the CIA not the air force!! But like the U2/TR1.
As it's name suggests the A was an attack plane.
Except it wasn't. It was a spy plane, just like the SR-71. The designation "A" was deliberate misinformation.As it's name suggests the A was an attack plane.
Just like the F-117 was never a fighter aircraft.
The YF-12 was intended to be an interceptor. If it had become operational it would have dropped the "Y" prefix and simply been referred to as the F-12.
The chief recognition feature of the YF-12 is the shortened chine which doesn't reach all the way to the tip of the nose. This was because the nose was fitted with an intercept radar.
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