I think it's of a design that truly is so far ahead of its time that it almost seems alien. It's crazy to think that the craziest aircraft that looks most like a spaceship capable of warp speed was designed using slide rules back in the early 1960's.
It is still to this day mind boggling to know that this magnificent piece of a enginuity was built from the mind, slide rules, calculators, and trial and error. No computer graphics design
We were smarter back then. I believe this to be true due to the fact that now a days, we rely on technology to remember things for us as to where back then, you remembered everything. For example, those old enough, think about how many phone numbers you knew as a kid. We all must have known at least 20 phone numbers. It also blows my mind how the SR71 never caught fight while waiting to take off considering it poured fuel out everywhere due to the airframe not being properly expanded due to the thermals of high speed flight
Can you imagine the first people who saw this in the 60’s who first saw this and what they must’ve thought- Looking at it in 2021 it still looks so far ahead of it’s time
Everything we have has been re invented. Before our time in the ancient days they had things that would shock people today. Photos from thousands of years ago are beginning to make their way onto youtube though during this reset.
Came across this footage by chance and it brought back fond memories from long ago. That left seater is Captain Jerry Varner my aircraft commander during that Kadena deployment and I was the boomer MSgt Spike Bell. Both of us now long retired.
It’s amazing that a random RU-vid video of this beast has comments from the people actually working with it. Thanks for sharing! This must require a crazy amount of skill and concentration to pull off. How many times did you get to complete the refueling?
@@colinashby3775 when the SR is approaching half full on gas it will have to light a burner. It’s flying at a high aoa and has to stay in the flight envelope.
I am fortunate to have seen the SR-71 refuel from inside the KC-135. I moved to the back of the aircraft, and set to the side of the boom operator. As the SR-71 closes distance, I remember thinking “Holy shite this is really happening!”
You could put any other aircraft up in the sky, anything that man has built before or after, you can even throw a UFO in there if your that way inclined, with all their alleged wizardry, but nothing will ever capture my attention like that aircraft. For me, there is just some unexplainable awe that they invoke.
My stepfather was a Skunkworks engineer. He was so brilliant that he was just bizarre. He had a triple Doctorate; Physics, Philosophy, Religions. That alone seemed off the wall to me. He had several Patents that paid him well, and Lockheed kept him on Retainer when he retired. Interesting character!
I was fortunate to be part of ground support for the SR-71 at Beale AFB Ca in 1965/66. Biggest thrill was when I did an engine start on the run up pad for the first SR-71 delivered to Beale. On the run up pad we trimmed each engine in afterburner. What a thrill.....
@@DavidEVogel i worked in airfield management and was around the u2 a lot. Loud as fk. I used to hate when they would depart at 5am waking the whole damn base up 😂
I spent 4 years as a kid at Beale, from 88-92. My step dad was ground crew for the SR. I feel so fortunate to have spent that time at Beale. I think about it all the time. It was a magical place for me.
Lived at Beale as a kid and marveled on a daily basis as the SR would fly around with the T38 chase plane right behind. Early 70's to the early 80's. We'd go to the Beale airshow every year. Incredible flybys and one on display with canopy covered of course. Never saw them when I was active duty but, was flying over Sydney, NE, in 93 and heard a Blackbird call sign radio that he was entering SLC and calling out an outrageous time to over Sydney. I was in a Huey so, could not get any altitude to see him. Never saw him but his radio traffic was indicative of the incredible speed he was moving at. Great video!
Advance satellites, drones, and an active intelligence agency. While the SR-71 is one of my favorite planes, there isn’t too much of a need for these types of planes.
Everything about the Blackbird was just awesome. I have always been fascinated with this aircraft. I had the opportunity to to listen to actual pilots and techs talk about their experiences in the SR program a few years ago at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in Mcminnville OR. I hung on every word these guys said.
God I love this video. I work at Tinker AFB in Okc, Oklahoma. I've always loved planes and the best one to be 100 yards away from on takeoff on a roof 80ft up is the B1B lancer, its deafening.
Still remains the KING of SPEED. So ahead of it's time...even in Sep, 2022. I got to see one in the Boneyard Museum in Arizona and physically touch it. It is like seeing a UFO from Omicron Seti 5 or some other Sci-Fi dreamed up world. It is one sexy machine -- out of this world looking air/spacecraft. It doesn't belong on the ground aging away...it belongs in the sky breaking it's own records. I know the economics and technological advances killed it off...but, the KING of SPEED deserves better IMHO.
What also killed it off was the advent of satellites. Remember: SR 71 had no offensive or defensive capabilities. It was there to take pictures at a high altitude for reconaissance purposes.
Same, I am from Australia and visited the states many years ago, and stopped by the museum in Houston Texas and they have or had one out the front. It was the most beautiful aircraft I have ever seen, I remember reaching out and touching it like in a dream. Just amazing.
I saw the SR-71 at an airshow in Europe. It was something I can never forget. It was the clearest day you can imagine, and you could see the snow capped Carpathians from Bucharest, as well as the Black Sea, and watching him go out until you couldnt see anything, then a dot, then a silently growing silhouette, low fly by and Mach...only he knows (and ATC lol). The benefit of air shows in a former communist bloc country, right after 89. No FAA or any kinds of regs so these guys knew they could do stupid cool stunts. Did windows break? Yes. Did your ears ring? Yes. Did some people feel their guts rumble so much they puked? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes. What happened to you America? XB-70, SR-71, 747, F-14...Younger kids will never know this growing up.
I once worked with a boom operator on KC135 tankers. He said you would be laying on your belly at the boom controls and aircraft would appear out of nowhere like humming birds coming to a feeder...
Airforce- What's the MPG on that model? KellyJohnson- Not sure...but it gets better the faster you go?! God bless all the test pilots and engineers at Skunkworks.
KC-135 “Q” Model. With the itty bitty J-57 water injection engines. Round dials with the old APN-59 Radar. 2nd generation fuel panel with the “little switches” (for the boost pumps, override pumps and A/R pumps). Digital FSAS display next to the radar scope. Glad I flew the A model briefly, but I’ll never miss it. The R model was a whole lot more fun (and safer) to fly! Got to see several SR-71 launches out of Mildenhall RAFB back in the late 80s. Magnificent aircraft.
From Naha AB , Okinawa I saw one approaching Kadena AB a few miles up island . Didn't know they were there , but it's profile is like none other . CHILLS ! Lovely people there .
SR-71 is an amazing combination of mathematical metallurgy, aviation, chemistry, and engineering marvel . I put it up there with the Luftfwaffe Horten's Ho 229 Bomber flying wing as being so far advanced and game changing in their respective Era. Alien and majestic both. Just imagine the jaws dropping of common people and adversaries watching these aviation miracles fly upon the blue yonder.
Im sure most of you know, this bird had ductwork that bypasses the compressor stages of the engines at high enough speeds, this "ram air" was fed directly into the combustion section for mix with fuel and burning, this increased engine power, all the while reducing fuel consumption! GENIUS, ... eFFing GENIUS!!
This is a slight misnomer. In actuality compressed air was bled out from the 4th stage of the compressor into bypass tubes which led to the afterburner
@Big truck The giant No, it can't even do low earth orbit. Very high altitude hypersonic heights. Most aircraft would stall and crash the air is too thin.
It's really amazing that the engine inlet cones, at maximum speed, take 2,000mph air & slow it down to less than 700mph air so the engines can use it to push the plane past 2,000mph.
I laid in a body cast for 8 weeks during the summer of 1989. I built a Testors model blackbird while sitting there. It hung from my ceiling for years and years on some 10lb stren.
I don't know what's more precise in terms of all elements in order to execute this kind of perfection. A F1 pit crew on a 2 second pit stop or these pilots and refuelers. Amazing.
They have one on display indoors at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. They have it displayed with the gear down, and it sits' on pedestals that bring the tires up to about waist high. I actually got to touch the airplane, and was thinking that if I got this close to one 25 years ago, I would've been shot on the spot. They also have one of the D-21 drones they launched off the back of the 71. Awesome musem...it's right across the street from Davis-Monthan AFB. The musem offers boneyard tours in buses. If any of you ever are in the Tucson area, this museum is a MUST visit. They have a huge collection, and many are outside. They have alot of one-of-a-kind stuff too.
Wow special tanker for a special plane. It looks difficult to fly while fueling. They needed a lot of fuel for those Pratt and witneys. Amazing video. Much respect slide-rule dudes. You built an amazing plane. Thank you. God bless.
Such a long refueling cycle, many times that of the more mundane aircraft that visit the station in the sky. Just imagine what it was like for the boom operator in that KC-135Q to just watch that amazing aircraft as the JP-7 flowed into it's cavernous tanks. This is just one of the coolest videos I have ever watched.
@Phillip Banes Uh, yes, isn't that what I just said ("cavernous tanks")? Was your reply made to ensure that me, a woman, was correct in making my comment? Or perhaps did you not understand the word cavernous? Typical mansplaining.
My now 84 y.o. father was in the AF Security Service on TDY to SAC during Linebacker II from McConnell AFB. According to his records he flew onboard a special equipment "Aerial Radio Relay" aircraft a KC-135Q orbiting high over Hanoi, North Vietnam with the "D" models at lower altitudes & SR-71 much higher above. I ask him did he mean to say a EC-135 or a RC-135 no a "KC-135Q" we had JP7 onboard for Blackbird ops and some regular JP fuel in case someone else needed it. However they were not part of the primary "Young Tiger" refueling aircraft... his "135Q" served as a huge communication relay platform of some type for the Blackbirds.
On the telly in '74 I saw it land at Farnborough UK after slowing down in a turn over Holland to claim the Transatlantic speed record in 1hr 54mins, but that time was longer than a standard ferry run as the it refulled in case of a divert, as the weather as usual was not good in the UK.
We had 57's stationed at Eielson AFB when an SR landed and went straight way into a shed near the end of the runway, just across from the F4 shacks. It was funny, there were 2 F4s at the end of the runway that were about to take off when the SR came out of its hiding. It must have excited them because they took off at max power and did their version of a vertical take off. The SR did nearly a true vertical ascent right past them and then disappeared for about 1/2 hr before "cruising" by. I think I counted 10 rings flaming out behind it. Then our 57's took off. Not sure if they got permission because of the strain on the wings, but they did their own version of a vertical take off. Much more elegant though also much slower. NASA still uses one or two of the 57's as well.
With all the vintage jets that fly at air shows, You would think they would fly this beauty, I bet people who grew up with the SR-71 would come from miles around.
The Maint. and operating costs are literally astronomical. It's a shame, but at least they have a few set up all over the country to see. There's one we visited on the Aircraft Carrier Intrepid in NYC that you can just about walk up to. Very cool birds.
While refueling it became fairly unstable. The weight increased significantly to the end of sometimes 15 minutes of refueling. The crew had to use one afterburner to keep up with the tanker.
Remember those planes had two types of engines built into one it doesn't engage the part of the engine that makes it really fast until it hits a very high altitude where the air is really thin requiring them. That's where it goes really fast.
Brilliant piece of engineering, no country on earth has possessed such a powerful machine except America and to think it's already old skool technology.
The SR-71 was the aircraft that made me want to join the Air Force and become a pilot to actually fly one. Being nearly impossible to become a pilot of one by the time I would have become eligible they decommissioned it sadly. Thank modern satellite photography for its retirement.
@@danielbunger6201 yes, exactly. Satellite imagery as i said. But it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s sad that such a fantastic airplane was mothballed.
@@danielbunger6201 oh I know, I wasn’t trying to sound snide or anything. I’m in total agreement with you why it was decommissioned. The ironic part is that it’s still the fastest aircraft in history but being it has no other function than taking pictures is a shame.
