2006 Prius next to our old spy plane SR-71 (Mach +3)

The Blackbird, right? and a (navy) trainer in the background? How did you get 'em to let you drive you car out on the tarmat? Was it an air show? I learned in a Beech Skipper. I don't even think they make 'em anymore. Really loved to fly the Bonanza though, and the Baron.

Anyway, thanks for the pic..... really cool......

 

Neat!! nice photo, too.

You know, there was a cool display of a Blackbird in Palmdale, CA (this was the early 1990's)...another one at the Boeing museum in WA.

At the latter, they've also got the starting cart used to get each jet engine going placed under the plane itself...the cart was custom built using two Buick 'nailhead' racing engines, geared together to drive a vertical shaft coming out of the cart and going into the engine nacelle...

It was definitely cobbled together; the throttle levers were standard Morse items, normally for marine use, and the instruments were standard S/W automotive faire.

The coolest thing of all was this little red jewel-style warning light on the cart's instrument panel...underneath it was a Dymo label which read, "metal in transmission."

Metal in transmission? On a Dymo label? Nice.

I *love* this kind of stuff!!
[smile]

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P.S., looking more closely, that appears to be a cart under the aircraft, behind your car...?

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P.S.P.S. Didn't North American Aviation design, build and fly the first P-51 Mustang in fewer than 120 days...?? They did. We are, indeed, a capable people if only we let ourselves be.

 

Really beautiful shot. Megan and I recently had the pleasure of walking under an SR-71 hanging from the ceiling of the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson Kansas after Christmas. It's just one of the coolest looking planes ever made. Great to see a Prius beside it. Thanks for posting.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Jan 8 2007, 08:47 PM) [snapback]372818[/snapback]</div>

Pinto Girl- The bredth and depth of your knowledge never ceases to amaze me.

 

I really like the picture - Reminds me of the Tortoise and the Hare. (The SR-71 is my favorite aircraft of all time.)

 

cool photos! I am a instrument rated pilot and fly a 1995 Piper Saratoga. Any other pilots on the board?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tech_Guy @ Jan 8 2007, 09:13 PM) [snapback]372836[/snapback]</div>

 

I have a 1993 Commander 114B. I really enjoy flying - probably more than anything else. However, from a financial perspective, owning and operating an airplane is like every month taking a stack of $100 bills and throwing them up into the air....

 

I am an ex Australian Air Force jet jockey. Most of my flying was as a fighter pilot and test pilot.
Sure would have liked to fly the SR-71.

 

Great photos, thanks for sharing them with us. Let's see, 10 gallons of fuel moves the Prius around 500 miles, would that even get an engine started on an SR-71? Beautiful plane, still looks futuristic even after 40 years.

 

I try not to think about it...

You know the old saying about what keeps airplanes in the air...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tech_Guy @ Jan 8 2007, 09:23 PM) [snapback]372840[/snapback]</div>

 

That's a really neat photo and story. Thanks for sharing!

 

Great pictures. I saw the SR-71A at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio a few years ago. If you ever get in the Dayton area the Air Force Museum is a must see, IMHO. I usually don't like museums but this one and the Air & Space in DC are tops. I used to spend a lot of time in DC, and most weekends were at the Air & Space.

Thanks for sharing.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tech_Guy @ Jan 8 2007, 09:23 PM) [snapback]372840[/snapback]</div>

I can't remember the man's name, but the chief test-pilot with North American Aviation, who had the most time of anyone in the B-70 (that proposed mach-3 cruise, zip-fuel burning replacement for the B-52), said (upon concluding the remaining prototype's final flight), "...I'd do anything to keep this plane in the air...except pay for it myself..."

Oh, and cairo94507, thank you!
[smile]

 

When I used to live in LA in the early 90's, there was this guy at the office who somehow found out beforehand when the SR-71 might be leaving Edwards AFB.

He'd spread the word that one of them would be taking of sometime that night or in the early morning, and we'd all get in the car together and wait outside the perimeter to see it fly...

Sometimes we'd luck out and be right there at the end of the runway; the image of this aircraft taking off will always be with me.

I can still hear the roar of the afterburners in the distance, punctuating the early morning...then the plane would appear as the sound rose to a deafening level...it would rotate to a high angle of attack, climb out slowly at first with a rather nose high attitude...then fly directly overhead almost within arm's reach (or so it seemed) as we winced and plugged our ears, before gaining speed and climbing out of sight (but not out of hearing range!)

Then we'd all just stand there, stunned, as the roar trailed off and the sounds of the high desert returned. Finally someone would say something to break the reverie, and we'd return to the moment.

Wow. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it...that we as humans figured something like this out with no help from anyone else.

 

Actually from your last picture there, it bears a striking resemblance to the F117 Nighthawk, don't ya think? Canopy almost looks stealthy..... just part of the reverse engineering that started with the crash at Roswell in 1947 I'm sure :lol:

Then, one of my Fav's in the background, the F-4. Can you actually believe guys were dog fighting in those in Vietnam? They turn like a freaking bus..... Dam good thing for Miramar huh???

And who ever mentioned the P51 above, my favorite plane of all time. Way ahead of its time, but just in time, sort of like the Prius. Thanks for the photos Gary. Like PintoGirl, it has brought back some good memories. Reminds me of some of the old books by Richard Bach I used to read... the barnstorming, flying for fun in open cockpits, dam, and its snowing like crazy here..... good afternoon to reminisce and surf on the computer.

 

Great pics. Saw one in the museum just outside of Salt Lake City.

My favourite aircraft. And it's practical too!

Did you know they have to preheat the (special) fuel it burns? It uses, as I recall, JT9, because the fuel tanks don't have rubber bladders, as they can't take the heat the wings run at at supersonic speeds (over 400 deg F). So the tanks leak at the seams. In order to avoid bad things (like really exciting fires) the fuel was made "less flammable". Each SR71 was parked in its' own quonset hut, so if it did catch fire, it would only involve one plane.

Also, the hydraulic fluid had to be preheated, as it had to operate at elevated temps. and was too thick to work at room temp.

In the beginning it was a real handful to fly, as the pilot had to keep adjusting the "cones" at the front of the engines (there to keep shock waves from extinguishing the fire in the engine). The engines are so powerful if one "flames out" in flight, the aircraft will turn sideways, burning the pilot (he gets pressed against the cockpit wall, which is often above 300 F temp.). Later, they added electronics to handle the engines (once electronics grew up enough). The aircraft was way ahead of its' time!

I laughed when the North Koreans tried to shoot one down. The SR71 told the missile "I'm over there". The missile coarse corrected, and at the speed it and the SR71 were travelling, when it re-corrected the plane was gone!

Main reason I like the plane. It carried no weapons! Yet was never shot down, even though it often operated over "enemy" territory.

There are plans to use the engines in a new aircraft. And that's all I know about that project, because it is also being done in the "skunk works".

Finally, there is still one being flown. It's operated by NASA, out of Edwards. Very high altitude and supersonic research. The air force ones were operated out of Beal Air Force Base.

 

Were you going to draft behind that?