SR-71 Blackbird - Supersonic Aircraft

[Astronuc]

For those interested in a remarkable aircraft - Lockheed's A-12, YF-12A, SR-71 Blackbird.

http://www.sr-71.org

http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/index.htm at sr-71.org

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/sr-71~1.htm

http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/sr-71.htm

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/SR-71/ - NASA Dryden SR-71 Photo collection

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Movie/SR-71/ - NASA Dryden SR-71 Movie collection

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The J-58 Power Plant

http://aerostories.free.fr/technique/J58/J58_01/page9.html

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/j-58~1.htm

http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/j-58/

 

[Q_Goest]

I remember this one when I lived in San Diego, right after the decision to chop them up. I drove past it every time when heading to the airport downtown. It sat inside a fenced in lot, choped right in half. Almost seemed criminal!

 

[Sled Head]

Another great link on the history of the Remarkable SR-71.
http://mach3ti.com

You can see first hand why they were so remarkable. The special Beta Titanium Alloy provided the ability to shed off the heat created by tremendous atmospheric frictional loads and still retain it's high strength.

Do you know the SR-71's top speed?

 

[turbo]

Old, old thread! Still, nice to see alive. Years ago, I beat out a newly-graduated CE for a job, and found out that his brother was a really close friend of mine in college. Their father was a senior engineer in the Blackbird program. Very nice guy, though he was as closed-lipped as could be, even years and years later.