Jim Scanlon (deceased)
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Aug 20, 2013 0:39:46 GMT 9
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Post by Diamondback on Aug 20, 2013 3:30:18 GMT 9
Jim, for some reason I'm really having to fight an urge to post my own "Blackbird Bibliography"--I try to snap up every book published on the subject.
Funny story... I have virtually no memory of my childhood, but I distinctly recall having three major ambitions before my eyes failed me and the Pear-Shaped Gene kicked in: ->To fly Sixes with the 318th. ->To fly B-52s. ->To fly Blackbirds with the 1st SRS.
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
Senior Staff
FORUM CHAPLAIN
Commander South Texas outpost of the County Sligo Squadron
Currently: Offline
Posts: 5,075
Location:
Joined: July 2007
Retired: USAF NBA: Spurs NFL: Niners MLB: Giants NHL: Penguins
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Aug 20, 2013 7:29:44 GMT 9
Diamondback, most people out there have no idea of the history of the "Blackbird", or how many different types there were.
The YF-12A, the SR-71 and the A-12 were all called Blackbird, but each had a different mission.
The SR-71 was the last to "retire".
There have been rumours that there are still some flying, but I don't know if they are true.
At Beale there is an SR-71 beneath the control tower, but it is in a restricted area, so no casual observers are able to get too close to it.
That is not the case at Duxford, England, where one is on the floor, www.bing.com/images/search?q=duxford+sr+71&qpvt=duxford+sr+71&FORM=IGRE
I really wonder if there are still some flying, or what the replacement is.
Guess we will know in another 50 years, or so.
Jim Too
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Post by Jim on Aug 20, 2013 8:50:08 GMT 9
Diamondback, most people out there have no idea of the history of the "Blackbird", or how many different types there were.
The YF-12A, the SR-71 and the A-12 were all called Blackbird, but each had a different mission.
The SR-71 was the last to "retire".
There have been rumours that there are still some flying, but I don't know if they are true.
At Beale there is an SR-71 beneath the control tower, but it is in a restricted area, so no casual observers are able to get too close to it.
That is not the case at Duxford, England, where one is on the floor, www.bing.com/images/search?q=duxford+sr+71&qpvt=duxford+sr+71&FORM=IGRE
I really wonder if there are still some flying, or what the replacement is.
Guess we will know in another 50 years, or so.
Jim Too And another, under cover at Pima Air Museum, next door to Davis-Monthan AFB www.pimaair.org/aircraft.php
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Post by Diamondback on Aug 20, 2013 8:56:36 GMT 9
Jim, you missed the M/D-21 (we have the survivor of the pair up here in Seattle) and the unbuilt B-12 tactical nuclear bomber. Different missions, but absolutely amazing structural commonality and design flexibility--in fact, the last SR built (tail #981 IIRC) was actually the back half of wrecked YF-12A 60-6934 and the front half of the SR-71A Structural Engineering Mockup, appropriately dubbed "The Bastard." I had the privilege of interviewing Col. Graham (former 9th SRW commander) and a few other HABUs at a Museum event, and they told me that the real limit on the airframe is its engines--according to them, Kelly Johnson himself had once said the airframe itself would be good for Mach 7 if a powerplant could be built to get it there. Here's a couple photo galleries of our ship: www.sr-71.org/photogallery/blackbird/06940/www.flickr.com/photos/25695066@N00/3502607164/
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
Senior Staff
FORUM CHAPLAIN
Commander South Texas outpost of the County Sligo Squadron
Currently: Offline
Posts: 5,075
Location:
Joined: July 2007
Retired: USAF NBA: Spurs NFL: Niners MLB: Giants NHL: Penguins
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Aug 20, 2013 11:31:01 GMT 9
When you consider the limits of technology in the 1950s, it is amazing that so many very advanced airplanes were designed and built.
Much of it was inventing the new technology and materials needed to make the machines work.
The Six, as we all know, is the Ultimate Interceptor, and over 50 years later, nothing comes close.
Yes, the electronics have been updated and there is now composite material in most planes, along with computer controlled flight control systems and the miniature electronics now on board.
But, for the time, the Six was so far advanced that the designers and builders are still catching up.
The Six and the Blackbirds were not the only ones.
The Thud was very advanced, with a Doppler Radar system to help it deliver a Nuclear Weapon, at ground level, from the bomb bay and then fly out of danger from ground level to 50,000 feet without the pilot having to be conscious.
Some of the materials Republic used are still advanced.
There was also the B-70, which North American built, and proved that it was possible to fly a very large airplane past the speed of sound for long distances, and deliver weapons.
The oldest of the bunch is the F-104, another product of "Kelly" Johnson's Skunk Works, and an absolute marvel of engineering at the time it first flew in 1954, including the Gating gun in the nose.
Some of us were in the Air Force during that time of "discovery" and advance and, as for me, it still makes my head spin to think of it.
When I entered the Air Force in January 1952, the F-80, F-84, F-86 and F-89 were the fighters we had.
Except for the Scorpion, they saw combat in Korea, and proved jet fighters were the fighters that would conquer an enemy.
Over the next 20 years, I saw changes that were unbelievable, yet they were on our ramps and in our hangers.
Looking at what is out there now, I mostly see advances in some technology, but not all.
The biggest changes are in electronics, as computers and other electronic systems have become so small that the entire Six electronics system could be put in a box the size of a laptop computer.
Amazing.
Jim Too
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Post by Diamondback on Aug 20, 2013 13:37:15 GMT 9
Indeed, Chaplain... sometimes I wonder if those engineers didn't have an extra helping of special Help From Above in creating the tools to defeat True Evil in its Soviet Communism form. Put an F119 or F120 engine in a Six, replace the MA-1 and other electronics with more modern systems and I'll bet you'd have a real hotrod that could still go toe-to-toe with the big boys...
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MOW
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Post by MOW on Aug 20, 2013 19:21:41 GMT 9
I used to sit at the end of the runway on perimeter road at Kadena AB Okinawa and watch... I mean listen to them take off overhead. Magnificent aircraft.
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Post by Mark O on Aug 20, 2013 23:13:16 GMT 9
Whenever they launched the Habu out of Kadena it was a major event. I took plenty of really awful photos of them from "Habu Hill", as we called it! Not even worth posting, but lots of memories!
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Post by pat perry on Sept 7, 2013 8:04:40 GMT 9
Thanks to Ross S. for sending. Sign over the entrance to the SR-71 Operations Building at Kadena AFB, Okinawa: "Yea though I walk in the shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil. For I am at 80,000 feet and climbing".Two short stories about SR71s. Both happened late Sunday evening while I was on the way home from the Midwest on a long cross-country in my rusty A-7E cruising along trying to keep awake. The first time, and I think their call sign was Gunfighter (sounds a little too much like motion picture call signs, doesn't it?) I was coming across into Los Angeles airspace from Salt Lake when I heard "Center, Gunfighter 42, I think we are going to need a 360 on course to burn off altitude before we can descend into Edwards." "Gunfighter 42, Center, roger that. How much room do you need?" " Utah and Arizona would be nice!" The last time I was farther east on Salt Lake Center , middle of the night again on a very slow night, when the voice came up: "Center, Gunfighter 51, we would like Flight Level 650." "Well, Gunfighter, if you can climb to 65,000 feet, I can tell you, it is all yours!" "Uh, Center, this is Gunfighter 51. We would actually like to DESCEND to Flight Level 650. I heard one of the last SR71 pilots for NASA Dryden speak a few years back. He was asked what a typical mission was like. "Well, we would take off from Edwards (California desert north of Los Angeles,) get up to altitude, hit the tanker (for refueling), then fly over to White Sands Missile Range (not far from El Paso, Texas) and check our telemetry, then fly up to the Canadian border and commence a Peacekeeper missile profile back to White Sands to calibrate their equipment, then fly home again." "And how long did that take?" "About 35 minutes." Impressive airplanes. Thank You Lockheed Skunk Works and Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson. Pat P.
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Post by pat perry on Mar 2, 2014 19:47:12 GMT 9
This Day in Aviation History February 29, 1964 I was getting ready to graduate from high school and Kelly Johnson was already trying to replace the F-106s that I would work on in 1966. www.thisdayinaviation.com/29-february-1964/29 February 1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson publicly revealed the existence of the Top Secret Lockheed YF-12A, a Mach 3+ interceptor designed and built by Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson’s “Skunk Works”. Intended as a replacement for Convair’s F-106 Delta Dart, three pre-production YF-12s were built for testing. On 1 May 1965, they set a speed record of 2,070.101 miles per hour (3,331.505 kilometers per hour) and reached an altitude of 80,257.86 ft (24,462.596 meters). Pat P.
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Post by LBer1568 on Mar 3, 2014 2:03:28 GMT 9
Pat, I was fortunate enough to be at Tyndall in early 1960's and got to see and look over a YF-12A. It was flown into Tyndall at night and was parked in Hanger 5 which was largest hanger and last one on flight line on Mexico Beach end, away from Panama City area. They put maintenance/stair stands so we could see into cockpit. They also had poster boards with key info on the bird. From what I remember it was to be stationed at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base and provide interceptor defense for all of US from one location. It was so fast they could provide same coverage as all Fighter Squadrons around perimeter of US. So the failure of the Y-12A to go into production was more political than capabilities. No politician wanted to give up his fighter squadron/bases. It had a track while scan radar that could target up to twelve aircraft at same time and missiles could fire when avionics gave best fire solution. Amazing capabilities for early 60's technology. But the Six had same complex systems for a 1950's design. Lorin
PS We got about 2 " of snow this morning with about 6" more forecast for later today/tonight.
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Post by pat perry on Feb 8, 2015 12:38:24 GMT 9
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