I suppose I go through what I might term “phases of interest” and some of those interests would include videography, photography, the RMS Titanic, XB-70 Valkyrie and B-58 Hustler.
The Lockheed SR-71 was, at one time, another heavily elucubrated point of interest for me and, with this post, I hope to share my limited knowledge but expanding passion for this remarkable aircraft.
I found myself most recently interested in telling the SR-71 story when, on November 19th of this year at work, a beautiful and exceedingly rare Lockheed Martin TR-1 trainer variant (called the CT-2) came to shoot landings at the former USAF airfield where I work (see this post and my resulting photographs of the aircraft here, please).
For those of my readers who may be unfamilar with the nomenclature, the SR-71 looks like this (click on the image for a magnificent large resolution photo — though it’s of the SR-71B two-seater, it still makes a great desktop!):
Now that you’ve seen the photograph, I’m certain many of you are saying “sure, I’ve seen pictures of that airplane.”
NEED FOR THE YF-12/SR-71:
CLARENCE “KELLY” JOHNSON’S SKUNKWORKS:
END OF THE SR-71:
WHAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW:
IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE SR-71 VIDEOS:
Burnt Hotdog Oxide:
A history of USAF high speed here:
Very admirable presentation of stills in this video:
Last flight of the SR-71:
SR-71: The Record Breakers:
Black Ops, a digital SR-71 mission:
Nice flybys, including an SR-71:
RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo) show in England:
The SR-71 Blackbird, in perhaps the most beautiful audio track yet created (Vangelis: “Rachel’s Song“):
No flaps, no spoilers, designed by late 1950s young engineer wonks with completely analog slide rules, thick plastic glasses, buzz cuts and pocket protectors.
Recommended SR-71 Reading:
1. Sled Driver by Brian Shul; the penultimate personal SR-71 story, with amazing photographs by the author! Visit the author’s site for his book here. Visit his overall gallery here.
Recommended SR-71 Related Links:
1. SR-71 Blackbirds home page (only persons directly linked with the program post here).
“Too bad she won’t live. But then again, who does?“
– Gaff to Deckard, Blade Runner, 1982
BZ
