Wow! It's even sexy on the inside!
It needs an INGO sticker though
Photoshop.
But where would you put it
Wow! It's even sexy on the inside!
It needs an INGO sticker though
At Mach 3, the plane would expand several inches because of the severe temperature, which could heat the leading edge of the wing to 1,100 degrees.
Qaddafi had established a 'line of death,' a territorial marking across the Gulf of Sidra , swearing to shoot down any intruder that crossed the boundary. On the morning of April 15, I rocketed past the line at 2,125 mph.
I would like to note, while expensive, it is cheaper than retasking the flight of a satellite, or sending a new one up when you need coverage in a specific spot.The SR-71 was an expensive aircraft to operate. The most significant cost was tanker support, and in 1990, confronted with budget cutbacks, the Air Force retired the SR-71.The Blackbird had outrun nearly 4,000 missiles, not once taking a scratch from enemy fire.
The spikes are full aft now, tucked twenty-six inches deep into the nacelles. With all inlet doors tightly shut, at 3.24 Mach, the J-58s are more like ramjets now, gulping 100,000 cubic feet of air per second.
And I thought I had it bad.
This photo is captioned wrong.
"Hey, what's the gauge on the left for? No, not that one, no no, not that one, no, the other one. There, right there! THAT one, what's it do?"
There was some form of computation going on. It may have only been mechanical analogue computation, but the aero-spikes were highly sensitive to a myriad of physical qualities, not the least of which was indicated air speed and air density. Early examples suffered from high-speed flame-out when the shockwave entering the intake was not properly reflected between the intake and the aero-spike before hitting the combustion chamber.
Classic Military: SR-71 Blackbird Pilots Troll Navy Pilot and Civilian Aircraft With Ground Speed Check
Just ran across this. Good read.
Thank you Fenway for posting that picture. That is my favorite plane of all time. Just 3 years ago I saw it with my own eyes when my Dad and Brother in Law went to the Wright Paterson museum. It was breathtaking to say the least. I don't know why it is my favorite but it is. I have a picture if it in my home office. Also, thank you Bigtanker, that was a fun read. -Jason
My favorite too. When I was younger I read everything the Library had on it. Been to Wright Pat a couple times.. I ignored the sign, i touched it