Roost Air Lounge => Aviation related topics => Topic started by: Mike on January 09, 2010, 03:22:36 PM
Title: SR-71
Post by: Mike on January 09, 2010, 03:22:36 PM
This is a pretty good read. I love that airplane!!
Here's an Interesting Story I Think You'll Like...
What was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?
Brian Shul, Retired SR-71 Pilot via Plane and Pilot Magazine
As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn't one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual “high” speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Let’s just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn’t previously seen.
So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, “what was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?” This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following. I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield.
Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing.
Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field—yet; there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field. Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast.
Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and haze, I couldn't see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point we weren't really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass. Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn't say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of “breathtaking” very well that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach. As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there-we hadn't spoken a word since “the pass.” Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?” Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.” We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again!” And I never did.
A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer’s club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, “It was probably just a routine low approach; they're pretty impressive in that plane.” Impressive indeed.
Little did I realize after relaying this experience to my audience that day that it would become one of the most popular and most requested stories. It’s ironic that people are interested in how slow the world’s fastest jet can fly. Regardless of your speed, however, it’s always a good idea to keep that cross-check up…and keep your Mach up, too.
Title: Re: SR-71
Post by: TheSoccerMom on January 09, 2010, 10:37:46 PM
Whoa!! :o
::unbelieveable::
COOL picture....... ::bow::
;)
Title: Re: SR-71
Post by: Frank N. O. on January 10, 2010, 10:47:06 PM
Dude! ::unbelieveable:: And yes, cool picture indeed! The Blackbird sits side-by-side with the Concorde as two of the most elegant and beautiful aircraft ever made in my book.
Quite an interesting question to ask though. The information about the plane flying on the limits of the airframe and not the limit of the engine's thrust is also interesting, and I noted that no speed figures were given when running from the missiles.
275 kts is "uncomfortable" and it went down to 152..... wow, that must be like doing 10 kts in a Cessna. I must say though, it sounds like it was well-designed since it was still stable when in a full stall. I wonder if he got flak now he let the secret out, even after this time.
Frank
P.S. "... scooted across Denmark in three minutes"!? I know the country is small (which sadly means commercial aviation is very limited), but 3 minutes? Even if you skip Bornholm and just go from Kastrup to Esbjerg that's 291 km and I get that to be 5800+ km/h.
Title: Re: SR-71
Post by: Fabo on January 11, 2010, 01:00:22 PM
That can be some Mach 5... I am not sure, but maybe Blackbird can do that?
Title: Re: SR-71
Post by: 4X-NTY on January 11, 2010, 04:37:20 PM
Dude! ::unbelieveable:: And yes, cool picture indeed! The Blackbird sits side-by-side with the Concorde as two of the most elegant and beautiful aircraft ever made in my book.
Quite an interesting question to ask though. The information about the plane flying on the limits of the airframe and not the limit of the engine's thrust is also interesting, and I noted that no speed figures were given when running from the missiles.
275 kts is "uncomfortable" and it went down to 152..... wow, that must be like doing 10 kts in a Cessna. I must say though, it sounds like it was well-designed since it was still stable when in a full stall. I wonder if he got flak now he let the secret out, even after this time.
Frank
P.S. "... scooted across Denmark in three minutes"!? I know the country is small (which sadly means commercial aviation is very limited), but 3 minutes? Even if you skip Bornholm and just go from Kastrup to Esbjerg that's 291 km and I get that to be 5800+ km/h.
If it makes you feel better,flying east to west in Israel is 15 minutes,by cessna :P
Title: Re: SR-71
Post by: Oddball on January 11, 2010, 05:48:28 PM
If I remember right the SR-71 holds the record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean,
Title: Re: SR-71
Post by: Jean Loup on January 12, 2010, 09:44:59 PM
If I remember right the SR-71 holds the record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean,
Records |:)\ |:)\ |:)\ The SR-71 was the world's fastest and highest-flying operational manned aircraft throughout its career. On 28 July 1976, an SR-71 broke the world record for its class: an absolute speed record of 1,905.81 knots (2,193.17 mph; 3,529.56 km/h), and an "absolute altitude record" of 85,069 feet (25,929 m). Several aircraft exceeded this altitude in zoom climbs but not in sustained flight.
When the SR-71 was retired in 1990, one example was flown from its birthplace at United States Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, to go on exhibit at what is now the Smithsonian Institution's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (an annex of the National Air & Space Museum) in Chantilly, Virginia. On 6 March 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. J. T. Vida piloted the Blackbird, setting a coast-to-coast aircraft speed record: 67 minutes 54 seconds, at an average speed 2,125 miles per hour (3,420 km/h). Three additional records were set within segments of the flight, including an average speed of 2,190 miles per hour (3,520 km/h) measured between the radar gates set up in St. Louis and Cincinnati. These four speed records were accepted by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), the recognized body for aviation records in the United States. An enthusiast site devoted to the Blackbird lists a record time of 64 minutes 20 seconds between Los Angeles and Washington DC for that 6 March 1990 flight.
The SR-71 also holds the "Speed Over a Recognized Course" record for flying from New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds, set on 1 September 1974 while flown by U.S. Air Force Pilot Maj. James V. Sullivan and Maj. Noel F. Widdifield, reconnaissance system officer.[55] This equates to an average velocity of about Mach 2.68, including deceleration for in-flight refueling. Peak speeds during this flight were probably closer to the declassified top speed of Mach 3.2+. For comparison, the best commercial Concorde flight time was 2 hours 52 minutes, and the Boeing 747 averages 6 hours 15 minutes.
Performance ::whistle::
Maximum speed: Mach 3.2+ (2,200+ mph, 3,530+ km/h, 1,900+ knots) at 80,000 ft (24,000 m) Range: 2,900 nmi (5,400 km) Ferry range: 3,200 nmi (5,925 km) Service ceiling: 85,000 ft (25,900 m) Rate of climb: 11,810 ft/min (60 m/s) Wing loading: 94 lb/ft² (460 kg/m²) Thrust/weight: 0.382
(http://www.area51zone.com/aircraft/SR71_sun.jpg)
"My job was to maintain, inspect, launch and recover the SR-71 Blackbird..." = http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/sr-71~1.htm (http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/sr-71~1.htm)
Title: Re: SR-71
Post by: Frank N. O. on January 15, 2010, 09:37:04 AM
If it makes you feel better,flying east to west in Israel is 15 minutes,by cessna :P
I was noting that crossing the main part of Denmark in just 3 minutes would require a speed above Mach 5+ and a SR-71 fan site listed that Lockheed found with testing that the materials of the aircraft cannot handle more than Mach 3.5 as the absolute limit.
