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SR71 Blackbird: Unbelievable engineering [engine]

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LTC8K6 said:
Makes you wonder what they are playing with these days.
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Satellites. Satellites and drones with laser beams on their heads like sharks. Well fictional sharks anyway. Like fictional sharks with laser beams on their heads swimming through air/and or spacetime. Yet not nearly as cool as the SR-71.
 
Coolest model rocket I ever had was the Estes SR71 Blackbird. It was hard as hell to build though. I think they made an easier version later on.
 
They have an SR71 at March Air Museum in Riverside, CA (about an hour from where I live). We pass by there every time we head out to Palm Springs. I need to stop by there again with my son sometime soon.
 
CZroe said:
Coolest model rocket I ever had was the Estes SR71 Blackbird. It was hard as hell to build though. I think they made an easier version later on.
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Do you still have it? I don't think I'd ever launch it if I had one. Be afraid of losing it. I fired a rocket once, it was a little tiny generic rocket. Went really high. Then I never saw it again lol.
 
lsd said:
I'll always admire the SR-71 and I believe it serves as the pinnacle of military aircraft. But I think had the XB-70 gone into production it would have matched the SR-71 in greatness.
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The XB-70 is my favorite aircraft of all time.
 
Paratus said:
I loved the part in the "Skunk Works" where they were trying to show the Air Force the A12/SR71 could make an effective interceptor.

They installed look-down shoot-down radar and a trapeze system to launch air-to-air missiles.

After launching the missiles at Mach 3+ they would fall 80,000ft accelerating the entire way until they hit their targets at Mach 6+. 😱
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Just the coolest aircraft ever made, so far.

Definitely when it was made.
 
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SR-71 Cockpit view:
kVAaasI.jpg
 
Wow, no wonder they were so picky about who got to fly those birds, that's a LOT of information to monitor!. What's amazing was it's ability to outrun missiles shot at it and shoot at it they did, but never successfully. Also it was designed in an era were computer aid was not much, if any, help yet that team overcame insane design challenges to build an aircraft that was so good all of it's records STILL hold to this day, well over 50 years after it was introduced. IIRC it was expensive to use because of the extensive need for in-flight refueling and it also required all kind's of special lubricants, parts that were specially made just for the extreme environments the '71 operated in, Still sad that they no longer fly though, bummer..
 
JulesMaximus said:
They have an SR71 at March Air Museum in Riverside, CA (about an hour from where I live). We pass by there every time we head out to Palm Springs. I need to stop by there again with my son sometime soon.
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Definitely, make the trip. I've seen two. One at the SAS Museum west of Omaha. The other at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas. Both museums are worth the trip for air and space enthusiasts. (Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo is also excellent, another good reason to make the trip for those with kids.)

We visited the SAS Museum several times, mostly in its original location next to Offutt AFB on the southeast side of Omaha. It was then called the SAC Museum, and most of its planes, including the SR-71 were parked on a tarmac with no fences or ropes to keep visitors at a distance. We were able to walk up and touch the planes, and only good manners kept one from climbing up into the wheel wells. Very cool. In the new SAS Museum location, the SR-71 is mounted inside, on display in their main lobby, and sadly safe from curious hands. But, I still get a thrill every time I see it.

Hmm. Sounds like time to make another trip west, see what's new.
 
I know there isn't a need for a plane like this really anymore, but it's crazy that from day 0 (wright bro's) it only took 61 years to get the SR-71. Now, 51 years later, we really haven't done much better. Just shows you how amazing it truly was.
 
Those of you that mentioned the XB-70, get out to Wright Patterson museum to see it of you get the chance. Many other cool planes there in that hangar too. One of a kind experimental planes fill the hangar, all under the wings of the XB-70.
 
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