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What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

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Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#101

Post by nyolfen »

jotm wrote: post #9

" The U-2 can still fly higher than the Global Hawk, carry a greater payload, and its sensors have more of a slant range. The Global Hawk also lacks de-icing equipment and countermeasures against Russian SAMs. We may be entering the age of drones, but old-fashioned piloted planes can still do a thing or two." Why not just copy the U2 and make an improved, unmanned version?

this is a bit tangential, but my grandfather flew U-2's in the late 50s over china. a few months ago my aunt sent me a photocopy of a small essay he wrote about some of his experiences during his time flying, and particularly technical details about flying them. i transcribed it and put it on my blog here:

https://hyperstition.al/u2-james-black/

Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#102

Post by wallace_f »

WalterBright wrote: post #99
wallace_f wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, note the Vanguard rocket. We lost the space race due to politics. We had the people who knew how to build it--who later built the Saturn V--and after they did, were promptly kicked out. The Soviets had childish, despicable politics of their own going on, with important rocket engineers like Korolev being accused by his colleague Glushko of treason, sending Korolev to the gulag for Glushko's professional advanta…

The way I read it, there was some question that orbiting spacecraft would violate airspace, and with itchy fingers on the launch button, Eisenhower was unwilling to provoke the Soviet Union. He delayed the space program until the Soviets launched Sputnik, which settled the issue. If that's true, it was a good, pragmatic decision.

I have heard that as well, but to the best of my knowledge I don't believe it is accurate. Here is Wikipedia, from the Space Race page.

>The Space Race began on August 2, 1955, when the Soviet Union responded to the US announcement four days earlier of intent to launch artificial satellites for the International Geophysical Year, by declaring they would also launch a satellite "in the near future". The Soviet Union beat the US to this, with the October 4, 1957 orbiting of Sputnik 1, and later beat the US to the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961

Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#103

Post by grkvlt »

asmithmd1 wrote: post #80
pklausler wrote: post #69

The thing that really amazes me is that these badass planes were designed with slide rules, drafting tables, and wind tunnels. No fluid-flow simulations; these things predate the CDC6600. The engineering was as badass as the product.

And no wind tunnel can produce Mach 3 flows. Test pilots had to slowly expand the flight envelope of prototype aircraft.

Supersonic wind tunnels have existed since the 1920s and Mach 3+ versions were built in Germany during World War 2 for the V2 project. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_wind_tunnel

Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#104

Post by [deleted] »

Murdodc089 wrote: post #88
dmoy wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a running gag on some websites now (apparently including hacker news) that whenever there's a mention of the sr71, that story gets posted. I still read it every time too.

I'm almost certain someone created a bot on Reddit that automatically posts the story when anyone, anywhere on the site mentions the SR-71.

[deleted]

Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#105

Post by grkvlt »

itsgreene wrote: post #60
cellularmitosis wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"tough to replicate with computers" I was under the impression that computers can fly planes which are impossible for humans to fly (e.g. the F-117, or any fighter with forward-swept wings). Since the U-2 is much closer to a "conventional" aircraft, and can be stick-flown by a human, wouldn't it be a walk in the park for a compute to fly it?

I'm not saying a computer can't fly the U2, but I do think it'd be more complex than a conventional aircraft. It has some pretty unique flight characteristics. From Wikipedia: "...To maintain their operational ceiling of 70,000 feet (21,000 m), the early U-2A and U-2C models had to fly very near their never-exceed speed (VNE). The margin between that maximum speed and the stall speed at that altitude was only 10 knot…

This speed management is actually handled by an autopilot (i.e. computer) in U2s, using 'mach hold' mode.

Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#106

Post by joshvm »

strictnein wrote: post #8

If you like the SR-71, and are interested in other Skunk Works projects like the U-2 and F-117, the book Skunk Works is a great read (and also a great audio book). https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/...

Also if you're in the DC area, it's really worth going to the National Air & Space Museum, as well as their 'oversize' Udvar Hazy centre. The out of town place is special and hardly gets any tourists, even though they have an SR-71 and the Shuttle, Discovery. Other things include an X-15, the Enola Gay (feels weird if you've visited Hiroshima too), an exhibit on the Keyhole satellite program, a U2 and tons more. I don't think they have an F117, sadly.

Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#107

Post by lostlogin »

dmoy wrote: post #54
jonah wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my favorites. Here's Brian Shul telling the story live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg73GKm7GgI

It's a running gag on some websites now (apparently including hacker news) that whenever there's a mention of the sr71, that story gets posted. I still read it every time too.

I like to think I’m part of next best part - posting the ‘low and slow’ story that has to come second.

Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#108

Post by jacobush »

aladoc99 wrote: post #95
eesmith wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That story is from Ben Rich's book "Skunk Works". https://hipandthigh.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/blackbird/ describes it as "Lt. Colonel William Burk Jr., who shares about a particular mission he flew over Lebanon back in 82." That link also has the full account, ending "What he had given him was “the bird” with his middle finger" - that is, it was not sent by radio signals but by visual light to the Mark I eyeball of…

digital signalling

Ahem - digit signalling.

Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#109

Post by throwaway456321 »

Consider that not much more than a decade before the SR-71 project started the state of the art in plane design was canvas over a wooden frame with a V12 engine that went at 300mph.

How much technology did they have to invent from first principles to build a plane which flew at Mach 3 at the edge of space? Using slide rules and chalk boards?

Re: What Made the SR-71 Blackbird Such a Badass Plane (2015)

#110

Post by throwaway456321 »

I read the Ben Rich book "Skunk Works" about 15 years ago. I've never forgotten the ending.

Towards the end of his life Kelly Johnson suffered from dementia.

They wheeled him out on a runway and there was a fly-past of SR-71s.

Ben asks Kelly "Did you see that? They were saluting you!" I was bawling when I read first that and I am tearing up now. Talk about Epic Men.

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