Some cool turbine machining international images:
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: SR-71 Blackbird (nose view)
Image by Chris Devers
See far more photos of this, and the Wikipedia report.
Information, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in much more hostile airspace or with such comprehensive impunity than the SR-71, the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s functionality and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments in the course of the Cold War.
This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time for the duration of 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its final flight, March 6, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight’s conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane more than to the Smithsonian.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
Designer:
Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson
Date:
1964
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (5.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (five.638m x 32.741m x 16.942m)
Components:
Titanium
Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft airframe constructed largley of titanium and its alloys vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-variety material) to decrease radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines function big inlet shock cones.
Extended Description:
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in much more hostile airspace or with such full impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird’s functionality and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a complete-blown crisis in the mid-1950s. U.S. military commanders desperately required precise assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, especially close to the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s subsonic U-2 (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an able platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this comparatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the fast development of surface-to-air missile systems could place U-2 pilots at grave risk. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile more than the Soviet Union in 1960.
Lockheed’s initial proposal for a new higher speed, higher altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a style propelled by liquid hydrogen. This proved to be impracticable simply because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design and style for standard fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), already flying the Lockheed U-two, issued a production contract for an aircraft designated the A-12. Lockheed’s clandestine ‘Skunk Works’ division (headed by the gifted design and style engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson) made the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.2 and fly effectively above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these difficult specifications, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges. Flying much more than three times the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are sufficient to melt conventional aluminum airframes. The design and style group chose to make the jet’s external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two standard, but quite effective, afterburning turbine engines propelled this outstanding aircraft. These power plants had to operate across a massive speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of 334 kph (207 mph) to a lot more than three,540 kph (2,200 mph). To stop supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson’s group had to design a complex air intake and bypass technique for the engines.
Skunk Functions engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section design to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to obtain this by meticulously shaping the airframe to reflect as small transmitted radar power (radio waves) as possible, and by application of particular paint created to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves. This therapy became a single of the initial applications of stealth technologies, but it by no means totally met the design objectives.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, soon after he became airborne accidentally throughout higher-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed excellent promise but it necessary considerable technical refinement ahead of the CIA could fly the very first operational sortie on May 31, 1967 – a surveillance flight more than North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as component of the Air Force’s 1129th Specific Activities Squadron beneath the "Oxcart" plan. While Lockheed continued to refine the A-12, the U. S. Air Force ordered an interceptor version of the aircraft designated the YF-12A. The Skunk Operates, nonetheless, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This method evolved into the USAF’s familiar SR-71.
Lockheed built fifteen A-12s, such as a special two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s have been modified to carry a unique reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s were redesignated M-21s. These had been created to take off with the D-21 drone, powered by a Marquart ramjet engine mounted on a pylon in between the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds higher sufficient to ignite the drone’s ramjet motor. Lockheed also constructed 3 YF-12As but this sort never went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed for the duration of testing. Only 1 survives and is on show at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one particular of the "written off" YF-12As which was later utilised along with an SR-71A static test airframe to manufacture the sole SR-71C trainer. A single SR-71 was lent to NASA and designated YF-12C. Which includes the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The very first SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Since of extreme operational charges, military strategists decided that the much more capable USAF SR-71s need to replace the CIA’s A-12s. These were retired in 1968 soon after only a single year of operational missions, mainly over southeast Asia. The Air Force’s 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (element of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) took over the missions, flying the SR-71 beginning in the spring of 1968.
Following the Air Force started to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird– for the specific black paint that covered the airplane. This paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the tremendous airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft against the dark sky at high altitudes.
Encounter gained from the A-12 program convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely required two crew members, a pilot and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO). The RSO operated with the wide array of monitoring and defensive systems installed on the airplane. This equipment incorporated a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) program that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of sophisticated, higher-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry gear created to record the strength, frequency, and wavelength of signals emitted by communications and sensor devices such as radar. The SR-71 was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude. It could operate safely at a maximum speed of Mach three.three at an altitude far more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth. The crew had to wear stress suits similar to those worn by astronauts. These suits have been required to shield the crew in the occasion of sudden cabin pressure loss even though at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird’s Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines have been designed to operate continuously in afterburner. Whilst this would appear to dictate high fuel flows, the Blackbird really achieved its best "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, for the duration of the Mach 3+ cruise. A standard Blackbird reconnaissance flight may well call for several aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Each and every time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker’s altitude, normally about 6,000 m to 9,000 m (20,000 to 30,000 ft), and slow the airplane to subsonic speeds. As velocity decreased, so did frictional heat. This cooling effect caused the aircraft’s skin panels to shrink considerably, and these covering the fuel tanks contracted so much that fuel leaked, forming a distinctive vapor trail as the tanker topped off the Blackbird. As soon as the tanks had been filled, the jet’s crew disconnected from the tanker, relit the afterburners, and once more climbed to high altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, all through its operational profession but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, also. The 9th SRW sometimes deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other places to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown directly from Beale. The SR-71 did not begin to operate in Europe till 1974, and then only temporarily. In 1982, when the U.S. Air Force based two aircraft at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall to fly monitoring mission in Eastern Europe.
When the SR-71 became operational, orbiting reconnaissance satellites had already replaced manned aircraft to collect intelligence from websites deep inside Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover every single geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a important tool for global intelligence gathering. On a lot of occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 offered data that proved crucial in formulating productive U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews supplied essential intelligence about the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath, and pre- and post-strike imagery of the 1986 raid carried out by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-primarily based SR-71 crews flew a quantity of missions more than the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened industrial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the efficiency of space-based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-primarily based air defense networks, the Air Force started to drop enthusiasm for the high-priced system and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. In spite of protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling over operating budgets, even so, quickly led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the one particular SR-71B for higher-speed research projects and flew these airplanes until 1999.
On March six, 1990, the service profession of a single Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This particular airplane bore Air Force serial number 64-17972. Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and his RSO, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Vida, flew this aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour, four minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging a speed of three,418 kph (two,124 mph). At the conclusion of the flight, ‘972 landed at Dulles International Airport and taxied into the custody of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. At that time, Lt. Col. Vida had logged 1,392.7 hours of flight time in Blackbirds, more than that of any other crewman.
This distinct SR-71 was also flown by Tom Alison, a former National Air and Space Museum’s Chief of Collections Management. Flying with Detachment 1 at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Alison logged far more than a dozen ‘972 operational sorties. The aircraft spent twenty-4 years in active Air Force service and accrued a total of two,801.1 hours of flight time.
Wingspan: 55’7"
Length: 107’5"
Height: 18’6"
Weight: 170,000 Lbs
Reference and Additional Reading:
Crickmore, Paul F. Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 1996.
Francillon, Rene J. Lockheed Aircraft Considering that 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: Far more Than My Share of It All. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Miller, Jay. Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Functions. Leicester, U.K.: Midland Counties Publishing Ltd., 1995.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
DAD, 11-11-01
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Photomontage of SR-71 on the port side
Image by Chris Devers
Posted via e-mail to ☛ HoloChromaCinePhotoRamaScope‽: cdevers.posterous.com/panoramas-of-the-sr-71-blackbird-at…. See the complete gallery on Posterous …
• • • • •
See more photographs of this, and the Wikipedia report.
Information, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in a lot more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71, the world’s quickest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s efficiency and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments throughout the Cold War.
This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time throughout 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its last flight, March six, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, four minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kilometers (two,124 miles) per hour. At the flight’s conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
Designer:
Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson
Date:
1964
Nation of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
All round: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (five.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (5.638m x 32.741m x 16.942m)
Supplies:
Titanium
Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft airframe constructed largley of titanium and its alloys vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-type material) to lessen radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines feature huge inlet shock cones.
Long Description:
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in much more hostile airspace or with such full impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the quickest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird’s overall performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments for the duration of the Cold War. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a full-blown crisis in the mid-1950s. U.S. military commanders desperately necessary precise assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, specifically close to the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s subsonic U-2 (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an in a position platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this reasonably slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the rapid improvement of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-2 pilots at grave danger. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile more than the Soviet Union in 1960.
Lockheed’s initial proposal for a new higher speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a design and style propelled by liquid hydrogen. This proved to be impracticable simply because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design for traditional fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), already flying the Lockheed U-two, issued a production contract for an aircraft designated the A-12. Lockheed’s clandestine ‘Skunk Works’ division (headed by the gifted style engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson) made the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.two and fly nicely above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these difficult specifications, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges. Flying far more than 3 occasions the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are adequate to melt standard aluminum airframes. The design team chose to make the jet’s external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two traditional, but quite strong, afterburning turbine engines propelled this exceptional aircraft. These power plants had to operate across a large speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of 334 kph (207 mph) to more than three,540 kph (two,200 mph). To prevent supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson’s group had to design a complex air intake and bypass technique for the engines.
Skunk Operates engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section style to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to achieve this by cautiously shaping the airframe to reflect as tiny transmitted radar power (radio waves) as achievable, and by application of special paint developed to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves. This therapy became 1 of the initial applications of stealth technologies, but it never ever totally met the design goals.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, soon after he became airborne accidentally throughout high-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed wonderful guarantee but it required considerable technical refinement before the CIA could fly the 1st operational sortie on May possibly 31, 1967 – a surveillance flight more than North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as portion of the Air Force’s 1129th Specific Activities Squadron beneath the "Oxcart" plan. Although Lockheed continued to refine the A-12, the U. S. Air Force ordered an interceptor version of the aircraft designated the YF-12A. The Skunk Performs, however, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This method evolved into the USAF’s familiar SR-71.
Lockheed constructed fifteen A-12s, including a particular two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s had been modified to carry a special reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s were redesignated M-21s. These have been created to take off with the D-21 drone, powered by a Marquart ramjet engine mounted on a pylon in between the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds higher enough to ignite the drone’s ramjet motor. Lockheed also built 3 YF-12As but this variety by no means went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed in the course of testing. Only one survives and is on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one of the "written off" YF-12As which was later utilised along with an SR-71A static test airframe to manufacture the sole SR-71C trainer. 1 SR-71 was lent to NASA and designated YF-12C. Including the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The 1st SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Because of extreme operational expenses, military strategists decided that the a lot more capable USAF SR-71s should replace the CIA’s A-12s. These have been retired in 1968 following only one particular year of operational missions, mainly more than southeast Asia. The Air Force’s 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (component of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) took more than the missions, flying the SR-71 starting in the spring of 1968.
After the Air Force started to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird– for the unique black paint that covered the airplane. This paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the tremendous airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft against the dark sky at higher altitudes.
Experience gained from the A-12 program convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely needed two crew members, a pilot and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO). The RSO operated with the wide array of monitoring and defensive systems installed on the airplane. This gear integrated a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) technique that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of advanced, higher-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry gear designed to record the strength, frequency, and wavelength of signals emitted by communications and sensor devices such as radar. The SR-71 was created to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude. It could operate safely at a maximum speed of Mach three.3 at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth. The crew had to wear stress suits related to those worn by astronauts. These suits had been needed to shield the crew in the occasion of sudden cabin stress loss although at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird’s Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines had been created to operate constantly in afterburner. While this would appear to dictate higher fuel flows, the Blackbird in fact accomplished its ideal "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, throughout the Mach 3+ cruise. A typical Blackbird reconnaissance flight may require numerous aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Every time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker’s altitude, typically about 6,000 m to 9,000 m (20,000 to 30,000 ft), and slow the airplane to subsonic speeds. As velocity decreased, so did frictional heat. This cooling effect triggered the aircraft’s skin panels to shrink significantly, and these covering the fuel tanks contracted so considerably that fuel leaked, forming a distinctive vapor trail as the tanker topped off the Blackbird. As soon as the tanks were filled, the jet’s crew disconnected from the tanker, relit the afterburners, and once again climbed to high altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, all through its operational profession but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, too. The 9th SRW sometimes deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other locations to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown directly from Beale. The SR-71 did not commence to operate in Europe till 1974, and then only temporarily. In 1982, when the U.S. Air Force primarily based two aircraft at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall to fly monitoring mission in Eastern Europe.
When the SR-71 became operational, orbiting reconnaissance satellites had currently replaced manned aircraft to gather intelligence from websites deep inside Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover each geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a vital tool for international intelligence gathering. On numerous occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 provided details that proved important in formulating productive U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews offered critical intelligence about the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath, and pre- and post-strike imagery of the 1986 raid carried out by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-primarily based SR-71 crews flew a quantity of missions over the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened industrial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the functionality of space-primarily based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-primarily based air defense networks, the Air Force began to lose enthusiasm for the high-priced program and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. Despite protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling over operating budgets, nevertheless, soon led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the one particular SR-71B for high-speed research projects and flew these airplanes till 1999.
On March six, 1990, the service profession of 1 Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This particular airplane bore Air Force serial number 64-17972. Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and his RSO, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Vida, flew this aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging a speed of three,418 kph (2,124 mph). At the conclusion of the flight, ‘972 landed at Dulles International Airport and taxied into the custody of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. At that time, Lt. Col. Vida had logged 1,392.7 hours of flight time in Blackbirds, a lot more than that of any other crewman.
This particular SR-71 was also flown by Tom Alison, a former National Air and Space Museum’s Chief of Collections Management. Flying with Detachment 1 at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Alison logged more than a dozen ‘972 operational sorties. The aircraft spent twenty-four years in active Air Force service and accrued a total of 2,801.1 hours of flight time.
Wingspan: 55’7"
Length: 107’5"
Height: 18’6"
Weight: 170,000 Lbs
Reference and Further Reading:
Crickmore, Paul F. Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 1996.
Francillon, Rene J. Lockheed Aircraft Given that 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: A lot more Than My Share of It All. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Miller, Jay. Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works. Leicester, U.K.: Midland Counties Publishing Ltd., 1995.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
DAD, 11-11-01