SR-71

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Oldgator73

Oldgator73

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Had the pleasure a few times in my Air Force career to see this plane fly. While at Mt Home, ID we were riding around in the HVAC DIN (do it now) truck and just so happened to have our radio on the tower channel. We heard an SR-71 was on approach. We hurried out to the flight line and waited. We heard he was on approach and asked if he could perform a flyover it?s full afterburners. Oh boy! One of the coolest things I witnessed in 24 years. The Youtube video is a talk a former SR-71 pilot gave. A little long but worth watching when you have time.

https://youtu.be/6nuAZfKSvvg
 
Spent 5 years of my Air Force career working and supporting the SR-71.


I was on the support team when they made the record setting flight from New York to London in 1 hour 55 minutes 42 seconds and then came back from London to Los Angles in 3 hours 47 minutes 39 seconds. As far as I know that record still stands. Those times included slowing down to refuel.
 
Coolest aircraft related thing I saw was at Osan AFB in S Korea. I was in a comm squadron. Air traffic controllers were too. One day one of the ATCs  called the barracks and told us to come down to the tower for a show. The show turned out to be a squadron of Navy F4s coming from a carrier. Well we were sitting there waiting, the ATC was talking on the radio. He turned and told us they were coming in. We couldn't see anything. Then all of a sudden a plane dropped out of the sky right in front of the tower. He went about a quarter of the distance to the end of the runway and parked on the side. Then the others came in the same way.
A few days later, they left similarly. Short takeoff and straight up right in front of the tower. The AF pilots would use the entire runway. These guys used maybe 1/4 of it. Those Navy pilots are awesome.
 
I spent 4 years on an aircraft carrier. Old joke, Navy pilots thought they were the best in the world because they could land on a carrier, Air force pilots knew they were the best in the world because they weren't stupid enough to try and land on a carrier.
 
sadixon49 said:
I spent 4 years on an aircraft carrier. Old joke, Navy pilots thought they were the best in the world because they could land on a carrier, Air force pilots knew they were the best in the world because they weren't stupid enough to try and land on a carrier.
Click to expand...

;D ;D ;D
 
When I lived in Albuquerque back in the mid-70s, I was about 8-9 miles west of the Sunport (ABQ Int.) listening to tower (it's also Kirtland AFB). Tower told an aircraft landing to "expedite" because there was an SR-71 waiting for takeoff. Shortly after, the SR-71 was cleared for takeoff. Shortly after liftoff he made a left hand pattern back around to align with the departure runway (Rwy 26), then over the field he raised the nose rather steeply and climbed so fast that he was out of sight vertically well before he got over the where I was.

Exhilarating!!!!!
 
It sure is a beauty. Here is the one in McMinville...
 

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sadixon49 said:
I spent 4 years on an aircraft carrier. Old joke, Navy pilots thought they were the best in the world because they could land on a carrier, Air force pilots knew they were the best in the world because they weren't stupid enough to try and land on a carrier.
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Well, that didn't work. I lost my text somewhere along the way. I was just going to say I spent a little time on carriers, too. 1st on the Midway with A3Ds, 2nd on the Kittyhawk with A6 Intruders and 3rd on the Roosevelt 2x (FDR) with F4Bs.

 

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Was stationed in the Navy at Kadena AFB around 74/76 timeframe.  My office had a window that faced the hanger that these AC were in.  The only thing I can say is WOW!!!!!!!  What an AC.
 
I was stationed at Offutt AFB in Omaha Nebraska when the SR-71 to retire there landed.  I worked right on the flightline, so I had front row seats.  It was a thing of beauty to watch that black silhouette coming down and do a couple of fly-by's, then land for the last time.  I also had a job at my first duty station in Misawa Japan when the SR-71's flew their active missions.  This was back in the early 80's during the cold war.  I still can't talk much about it, so I won't, but it was pretty exciting when we heard the SR was "coming to town".  Everybody was on alert, and if you were the lucky one to actually work the mission, you were a rock star.  For about 45 minutes!!  I do miss those days in the military.
 
Molaker said:
Well, that didn't work. I lost my text somewhere along the way. I was just going to say I spent a little time on carriers, too. 1st on the Midway with A3Ds, 2nd on the Kittyhawk with A6 Intruders and 3rd on the Roosevelt 2x (FDR) with F4Bs.
Click to expand...

Those A6 Intruders were way past their time when they were retired.  And speaking of hearing them coming and going,  you can hear them coming for sure as they pass slowwwwwwly by.  A lot were lost in Vietnam by simple ground gunfire. 

And thanks to all you "concrete jungle guys" too that's posting here.  ;) :))
 
retusn said:
Was stationed in the Navy at Kadena AFB around 74/76 timeframe.  My office had a window that faced the hanger that these AC were in.  The only thing I can say is WOW!!!!!!!  What an AC.
Click to expand...

Our son was stationed at Kadena. He loved it there.

edjunior said:
I was stationed at Offutt AFB in Omaha Nebraska when the SR-71 to retire there landed.  I worked right on the flightline, so I had front row seats.  It was a thing of beauty to watch that black silhouette coming down and do a couple of fly-by's, then land for the last time.  I also had a job at my first duty station in Misawa Japan when the SR-71's flew their active missions.  This was back in the early 80's during the cold war.  I still can't talk much about it, so I won't, but it was pretty exciting when we heard the SR was "coming to town".  Everybody was on alert, and if you were the lucky one to actually work the mission, you were a rock star.  For about 45 minutes!!  I do miss those days in the military.
Click to expand...

We were at Misawa from 89-92. Great assignment. Still have Japanese friends we keep in touch with.
 
I remember one air show I went to in Reno during the 80s. They had an F-16 about 50 feet off the ground doing a few hundred mph. When it got to the center of the viewing stand the plane made a 90 degree turn that was almost impossible to believe. It went straight up like a rocket launch.
 
I used to develop aircraft electronics. Some of that work was at the old McDonnell Douglas facility (now Boeing) at St. Louis next to the airport. When the F-15s finished final assembly and went to flight test, they did a V  take-off which is basically going straight vertical to clear the commercial airspace. Pretty impressive! Another time we were in the engineering building when someone yelled ?It?s a Harrier!? and everyone ran to the Windows. Even in the McAir facility, these were rare enough that people stopped to watch. Fascinating to see the vertical landing. They took it very slow, spending time to completely blow the landing site clear of any foreign object debris.
 
When I was in Okinawa in the late 60s It was fun watching the U2s and Sr-71 take off. One time I timed a Sr-71 From the time he went to full afterburner to start his takeoff to out of sight (clear day) was 70 sec. Yes the F-16 can accelerate strait up. I built F-16s and F-22 and F/A-35s. Our test pilot for the F-16 use to do the full power climb to altitude on the first flight. I asked him about that one time and he said "you guys built it and said it was good to go. Besides if it breaks and I have to eject I am over the field and I don't have to walk home. :eek:
The F-35 can take off vertically faster than the harrier. They like to use the little jump ramp to save fuel.
Bill 
 
One of my wow moments when I was a child was seeing a Harrier perform at our local fleet grounds annual event. It was amazing.

We also used to go to the Navy Days at the local dockyard where my father worked and get to tour some of the boats and the odd non nuclear submarine!
 
I forget where we were but we visited a museum and they had a Blackbird. I was able to touch it. A machine that that could fly 85000 feet at over 2000 MPH is amazing. The pilots that flew those planes were amazing as well.
 
"A machine that that could fly 85000 feet at over 2000 MPH is amazing. The pilots that flew those planes were amazing as well."
Keep in mind that it was all done with 1960s technology. We always wondered what it could do using state of the art technology. The F-22 can fly faster than the speed of sound without using afterburners.
Bill
 
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