One of the nicest planes ever seen..

I LOVE GT40- Paolo · 01-24-07, 05:57 PM

was surely this one...

YouTube - SR 71 Blackbird

Scott Calabro · 01-24-07, 08:02 PM

I have to agree.....and to think the A-12 was designed for the CIA 60 some odd years ago, no CAD, CAM or CATIA. Kelly Johnson and his "Skunk Works" team of engineers were nothing short of brilliant. A time when America was truly a great manufacturing powerhouse. Even though the powers that be say the SR-71's were retired in favor of spy satelite's, I can't imagine what the Blackbird was REALLY replaced by!!!!!

Neal · 01-24-07, 09:12 PM

If you ever come to Seattle visit the Museum of Flight. www.museumofflight.org

There is an M21 variant of the Blackbird that hangs in the main gallery at eye level. Absolutely incredible.

BenL · 01-25-07, 12:08 PM

There's also a SR71 on board the retired aircraft carrier Intrepid museum in New York. But at the moment, the museum is closed for renovations until Fall 2008.

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/

I LOVE GT40- Paolo · 01-25-07, 12:54 PM

Sr-71, and its previous interceptor variant YF-12 are surely some of the most incredible planes ever done (and for the Yf-12...the colors are stunning, with that big US AIR FORCE on his fuselage..).My parents were on the intrepid deck and took a lot of picture of the sr-71.

There is only one that is even special that sr-71....just dunno how many knows this.
I do,and also remember its incredible developing history....all done in the 50s.

YouTube - XB-70 Valkyrie

Think the only surviving one is in Dayton USAF museum.

Paolo

ChrisL · 01-25-07, 12:58 PM

Also in agreeance. I have a cast model of the SR71 and it truly would be a wonder to see in real life. If I remember right, it had a cruzing speed of somewhere above Mach 3 and could reach Mach 4.

I can recall a flight simulator game of the 1980's that had this plane as an option. If you flew it at the correct elevation and at full power, you could fly it into lower space where it would tumble for a while before falling back to earth, but banking too fast would rip the wings off

I think the game was called AFS.

Ron Earp · 01-25-07, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenshiro8

YouTube - XB-70 Valkyrie

Think the only surviving one is in Dayton USAF museum.

Paolo

That museum is fantastic. The Valkyrie is there, a HUGE plane in person. An SR71 is there too, a really large aircraft too. A must visit museum for aircraft buffs.

National Museum of the USAF - Home

Ian Anderson · 01-25-07, 01:17 PM

I love the look of that plane but isn't that the one that is great when it flies but P155E5 fuel over the place when it is on the ground as the airframe and everything expand and contract so much with the cold and altitude?

Ian

I LOVE GT40- Paolo · 01-25-07, 01:45 PM

I remember there is also one (sr-71) in Duxford museum.
They have a part of RAF museum dedicated to USAFE, with B-52 and B24
Welcome to the Imperial War Museum
Uk has the nicest airplane museum of all Europe, and is the only place where u can see airplanes SO good as in US.
Everytime I went to Uk for Jas motorsport I stopped at least 6 hours there, also cause they often organize airshows(they had a supplier near Cambridge..on the M11 if I am not wrong..)

we really miss so nice museums down here,also because italy had a SO great airplane tradition, but seems we want just to forget it cause involved with fascist era.

Paolo

Joey Dean · 01-25-07, 02:09 PM

I got to see an operational SR-71 in a National Guard hanger in Oklahoma City prior to an airshow. There were about 15 of us and we got to do about everything but get in it. The crew chief and a pilot were there and they were happy to answer questions. The plane was incredible (still is). The engineering required to keep the fire lit in the engines at Mach 3+ was simply incredible. Pilots have been knocked unconscious and had bones broken from high altitude/high speed flame-outs when the front engine intake cycled that huge spiked cone in and out. The fuel and the fluid used for hydraulics was the same stuff, JP-11 as I recall, and there wasn't a spot on the floor of the hanger that wasn't covered in drip pans to catch it as it slowly leaked out. What a great plane.

JimmyMac · 01-25-07, 06:47 PM

How about this one ?

I LOVE GT40- Paolo · 01-25-07, 08:02 PM

nice and pretty.
But civil..still prefer USAF stuff.

eheh..just kidding.
Maybe some friend inside here has pilot this (many exBritish Airways pilot..)...wonder what happens when u push full throttle with this toy

David Morton · 01-25-07, 08:34 PM

When you push full throttle .....
It's sort of a sexual experience really.
Your foreskin slides backwards......

So I was told.
I never drove Concorde, just the heavies.
Dave M

Mike from Vegas · 01-25-07, 11:03 PM

I love the Blackbird

. There is a Blackbird in the NASA museum in Huntsville, Alambama. Quite a plane, though I also like its predecessor, the U-2 just because it is unique, as what else from the 60's could fly that high? (I was once told that it like a beefed-up glider with a jet in it).

I LOVE GT40- Paolo · 01-27-07, 07:53 PM

Also the XB-70 had his replica....russian made.
Was simply ugly...but maybe was a good plane.Surely fast.
Look at this:

monino museum:
Monino museum highlights

Alex Hirsbrunner · 01-27-07, 08:47 PM

If you are ever in Tucson, AZ, the Pima Air and Space Museum (Primarily outdoor displays) also has an SR-71. Unfortunately, at least when I was there, it was one of the few planes there you could not just walk up to and touch.

Arizona Aerospace Foundation

Regards,

Al

David Briggs · 01-28-07, 12:07 PM

There is an A 12 at the San Diego Aero Space Museum, it is a space ship for sure. The Russian aircraft designed to compete did not have access to the same technology for fuel management that we had in the West and that was one reason they were not as successful. I visited Monino Air Base in Moscow in 2005, the Russians did build some fantastic stuff.