SR-71 "Sled" stories...

[HawkerHurricane]

In his book, Sled Driver, SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes:

"I'll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day
as Walt (my backseater) and I were screaming across Southern California 13 miles high.
We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft as
we entered Los Angeles airspace. Though they didn't really control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope".
"I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its groundspeed."
"90 knots," Center replied.
"Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same."
"120 knots," Center answered.
"We obviously weren't the only ones proud of our groundspeed that day
as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, 'Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests groundspeed readout.' There was a slight pause, then the response, '525 knots on the ground, Dusty.' "
"Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a
situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my backseater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison."
"Center, Aspen 20, you got a groundspeed readout for us?"
There was a longer than normal pause . . .
"Aspen, I show 1,742 knots."
No further inquiries were heard on that frequency.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a
request for clearance to FL 600 (60,000 ft).
The incredulous controller, with some disdain in his voice, asked,
"How do you plan to get up to 60,000 feet?
The pilot (obviously a sled driver), responded,
"We don't plan to go up to it, we plan to go down to it."
He was cleared.
-------------------------------------

The pilot was sitting in his seat and pulled out a .38 revolver. He
placed it on top of the instrument panel, and then asked the navigator, "Do you know what I use this for?"
The navigator replied timidly, "No, what's it for?"
The pilot responded, "I use this on navigators who get me lost!"
The navigator proceeded to pull out a .45 and placed it on his chart
table.
The pilot asked, "What's that for?"
"To be honest sir," the navigator replied, "I'll know we're lost
before you will."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

More tower chatter:

Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!"
Delta 351: "Give us another hint! We have digital watches!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------

One day the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold
short of the runway while a MD80 landed.
The MD80 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the
Cherokee. Some quick-witted comedian in the MD80 crew got on the radio and said, "What a cute little plane. Did you make it all by yourself?"
Our hero, the Cherokee pilot, not about to let the insult go by, came
back with: "I made it out of MD80 parts. Another landing like that and I'll have enough parts for another one."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

There's a story about the military pilot calling for a priority
landing because his single-engine jet fighter was running "a bit peaked."
Air Traffic Control told the fighter jock that he was number two
behind a B-52 that had one engine shut down.
"Ah," the pilot remarked, "the dreaded seven-engine approach."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

A student became lost during a solo cross-country flight. While
attempting to locate the aircraft on radar, ATC asked, "What was your last known position?"
Student: "When I was number one for takeoff."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Taxiing down the tarmac, the 757 abruptly stopped, turned around and
returned to the gate.
After an hour-long wait, it finally took off.
A concerned passenger asked the flight attendant, "What was the problem?"
"The pilot was bothered by a noise he heard in the engine," explained
the flight attendant, "and it took us awhile to find a new pilot."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Flight 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 degrees."
"But Center, we are at 35,000 feet. How much noise can we make up
here?"
"Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 747 makes when it hits a 727?"

[GOPisEvil]

1. I love aviation humor!

I should have been a pilot.

I know, I still can, maybe when I win the lottery. :-)

[wtmusic]

2. Is that a new book?

Dang, another one I've got to buy!

If you haven't already be sure to check out 'Skunk Works', by Ben Rich. Rich was the CEO of Lockheed during the development of the SR-71, and the book has more great stories.

One of my favorite: the plane was original named the RS-71 for 'Reconaissance Ship'. At the rolling-out ceremonies LBJ referred to it as the 'SR-71', and because no one felt like correcting the president, the name stuck.

Also stories of pilots crisscrossing the USSR and being able to see surface-to-air missiles flaming out and falling back to earth some 20,000 feet below.

My own story: I live in Burbank, CA, the original home of the Skunk Works. In 1992 I was working at home and heard a tremendous roar outside. When I went out and looked up I saw the unmistakable silhouette of the SR-71 (the so-called 'final flight' for inclusion at the Smithsonian) just revving up for a 48-minute trip to DC. What a sight!

[ewagner]

9. Read that

Great insight.

[Robb]

22. RS = Reconnaissance-Strike

actually. Much of the original funding came from the notion that it would be an excellent post-strike recce asset (e.g., "what did we hit?").

I've got bits of one on the wall in my office. Finally made contact with the pilot that flew it, very nice man. :)

(edited to corral the wayward "n")

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

36. So, Robb, let's see the bits on the wall as they are now, huh?

And, what does the USAF think of your possession of these trinkets?

[Robb]

45. Finders Keepers!

They took what they wanted in 1967, and left the rest on private land. I gave the more interesting stuff to the rancher that owns the land (he was tickled, being part of the story as it were), kept a few for myself, and the rest remains out there.

USAF was actually a big help researching and finding the site... their own records were woefully off. :)

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Some good stuff in there!

I especially loved the "We plan to go down to it".

[trof]

4. Good stories. I remember the T-38

which had close to a 1-to-1 thrust-to-weight ratio and climbed like a homesick angel. It held the time-to-climb record for a while.

(Just after take-off): "Center, this is Speedy 11, requesting Flight Level four-niner-zero." (49,000 feet, for the uninitiated)

"Roger, Speedy 11. You're cleared to Flight Level four-niner-zero. Call passing one-eight-zero, and two-niner-zero."

"Roger center, Speedy 11 understand cleared to Flight Level four-niner-zero, call passing one-eight-zero and two-niner-zero. I am through one-eight-zero, and two-niner-zero, leveling at four-niner-zero."

Just about that fast.
Oh, man.
:-)

[trof]

5. Here's a pic.

[HawkerHurricane]

6. T-38 Talons...

Trainer versions of the F-5 Tiger II, and a favorite of the Thunderbirds for many years...

Dad worked in the early 60's on the planes the Talon replaced, the T-33 Converter (converts jet fuel to noise) and the T-35 'Screaming Mimi'. (T-33 were trainer versions of the P-80 Shooting Star, BTW).

[GOPisEvil]

7. I used to watch those zip around overhead.

My folks still live about 5 miles from Randolph AFB. The T-38s just LOOK fast. In comparison the T-37s looked so pokey.

Now they have TA-1 (Beechcraft 400), C-21, T-43s and all other manner of crapola in addition.

One of my scoutmasters was a PIT, and he got us into the T-38 simulators. Yeah, you could say they climb fast. :D Oh, but don't hit anything - the camera lens would actually smack the model, breaking it. :o

[trof]

8. T-37 was my first airplane.

It looked like it was designed by Walt Disney.

[GOPisEvil]

10. Are you sure it wasn't Warner Bros.? (Pic inside)

Since it's called the Tweet and all. ;-)

[trof]

11. Could be.

Friendly looking little bugger, ain't it.

They tried to use a "counter-insurgency" version called the A-37


I dunno, somehow it just didn't instill fear.
;-)

[GOPisEvil]

12. Maybe they were trying the "wolf in sheep's clothing" idea.

It's awfully hard to run and hide from something when you're laughing at it.

[HawkerHurricane]

13. A-37's...

were actually pretty good at 'counter insurgency' work, but were very vulnerable to ground fire.

So they built the A-10 to replace it... and then put that 30mm supercannon on it to justify the expense.

[GOPisEvil]

14. I thought they just designed the plane around the gun.

;-)

[HawkerHurricane]

19. Checking my info...

The A-10 was intended for counter-insurgency...
To justify the cost, they added the GAU-11 so it could kill tanks...
But to add the GAU-11, they had to build the plane around the gun...

[GOPisEvil]

20. Wow...I thought someone just made that up because of how the A-10 looks.

LOL!!! Wow, it's the truth! I'm amazed!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

38. Well you know it was not for close air support.... the USAF

hates that mission... too close to the ground for them.

But that's okay, cause they suck at it anyway.

[HawkerHurricane]

46. Truth

In spite of the Treaty of Key West, that requires them to provide it for the Army, they've been selling it short... so short that the Army, in desperation, invented ground support helicopters to get around the Treaty of Key West provisions that they have no combat airplanes.

And they suck at it. Marines do it best, because pilots are forced to be infantry and see it from the grunts eye view...
Navy is second best, because they refuse to let the Marines be best at anything without competition.

[trof]

15. Guns & stuff

I went to Forward Air Controller school down at Eglin in the mid-60s. After several days of classroom instruction we all went out to the field for some live fire war games.

Called in an F-4/C, armed with the "Gatling Gun", to take out a target.
The fire rate was amazing. I expected rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat and it went "brrrrrrrrrr".

[GOPisEvil]

16. Yee-haw...

...I've heard the same thing. Probably watched "Wings" or something. "Vrrrrrrrrrp"

[HawkerHurricane]

18. 20mm vulcan...

sounds like a chain saw.

Ships use them for the CIWS Phalanx anti missile weapon.

[SOteric]

17. Great Stories Hawker,

and a good way to start the day. Thanks!

[DemoTex]

21. I met a couple of SR-71 "Habu" drivers at the Kadena, Okinawa "O" Club ...

They had the "Habu" patch on their flight suits. I did not know at the time that "Habu" was the SR-71. They could not tell me. However, they had had just enough beer to tell me that they had just done McDill AFB (Tampa, Fl) to Kadena, Okinawa in a little over four hours (including a couple or three drop-downs to in-flight tankers).

SR-71s regularly flew missions over Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. They staged out of Kadena. I saw some of their amazing mission products in briefings for some of my Ho Chi Mihn Trail missions.

The SR-71 owned by the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum set a record on its last flight. They flew from Edwards AFB, California to Washington's Dulles Airport (KIAD) in 58 minutes, if my memory serves me correctly.

I saw the SR-71 fly at the Paris Air Show in 1989. It took off from an air base in England, made a few passes over Le Bourget, and then headed back to California, non-stop.

[HawkerHurricane]

23. Record breaking flight...

was from over LAX to over Dulles.

They took off from Edwards, flew over the ocean to top off the fuel tanks, went to full throttle so they were already at max cruise speed when they passed over Los Angeles, flew at that speed to over Dulles, flew over the Atlantic (to slow down and top of the tanks again) then came in to land at Dulles...

Yes, they set a record. But it wasn't 'take off to landing'.

[DemoTex]

29. Yep, I remember that now.

I still impressed, though.

BTW: I am in the record books for a PIT-PHX flight in a Boeing 737-400. I flew with a guy who was into that kind of stuff. However, we set a record, we did not break one. I have a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) certificate lining a drawer somewhere around here. There are many, many records out there to be set.

[trof]

31. OK, what's "HABU"?

I feel so stupid.
High Altitude _ _?

[DemoTex]

32. 9th SRW "Habu" (Habu is a poisonous snake found in SE Asia)

What is a Habu?
http://www.habu.org/what-is-habu.html

[jmowreader]

60. SR-71s used to fly tracks over North Korea

IIRC they went up every Tuesday and Thursday night. They were probably staging out of Kadena just because the Pacific SR-71 wing had always been at Kadena.

When the plane broke the sound barrier, you always heard a double sonic boom--two booms really close together, like baBoom! Twenty-seven minutes later, it had flown all the way to the Soviet border, turned around, flown back into friendly airspace and slowed down.

[DS1]

24. You should read "Skunk Works", it's an amazing book!

[TheMightyFavog]

25. Doesn't NASA have a couple SR-71s?

IIRC, NASA was given one ot rwo SR-71s for high altitude research. Or was that the U-2?

[HawkerHurricane]

27. Yes to both.

NASA uses U-2's for research; they were supposed to get a pair of SR-71's, but I never heard if they actually did.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

37. NYC owns one too.

Well, it is parked on the USS Intrepid. I don't think there are enough JATO's in the world to get that baby airborne off that deck.

[HawkerHurricane]

47. There is also one in front of the

San Diego Aeronautical Museum.
Along with a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis, that was built in San Diego.

[Beaker]

51. There's one at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, too.

they have a lot of cool planes there, plus it's just amazing the amount of mothballed fighter jets there are in the whole area around Tucson...(at least there were the last time I was there). makes you wonder why they ever even have to bother making more.

http://www.pimaair.org/pasmhome.shtml

[Xithras]

64. One at Castle Air Museum also

When they first obtained it, they parked it out in the front of the museum in the parking lot as a "lure" to get people to visit...no fences, guardrails, or signs around it. Me, being a typical kid, did what any red blooded teenager would do to such a monument of American ingenuity...I climbed on top of it and straddled the cockpit. It was a neat sensation sitting on top of an aircraft that only a few years previously had been one of the most classified in the world.

Of course, it only took about a minute for the museum staff to come chase me off :)

Wisely, they have long since http://www.elite.net/castle-air/sr71.htm">moved the jet to a safer location inside the fenceline.

[northzax]

26. and we're supposed to believe

that the Air Force voluntarily retired the Blackbird without anything to replace it?

**cough**aurora**cough**

[HawkerHurricane]

28. cough indeed

Sattelites... RPV's... other tricks...

[jmowreader]

30. But satellites suck for time-sensitive intel

All reconnaissance satellites, no matter who owns them (many countries do, and several commercial firms as well), sit less than 200 miles from the surface of the earth. This means they move.

If the bad guys in Iraq are going to do something from 10AM to 11AM, and the bird will be over the United States at that time, it will give you no coverage.

The sweet thing about airbreathers is that if you know the bad guys are going to do x at y time, you can task the recon unit and they'll put an asset on target then. Can't do that shit with a satellite.

I love RPVs because they're cheap and they work.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

39. Low orbit satelities... hello? Heard of those?

No pilots required, up 24/7 and out of range of everything.

[ProudGerman]

41. and usually predictable

Satellites are trackable, and can be predicted. Hypersonic, highflying planes are the only reliable way of getting photo-intel whenever you want it.

It's also kinda crazy to think the greatest plane to ever fly is 40+ years old with nothing topping it.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

42. Oh, I think there are satellites that can be nudged here and there

it would not suprise me at all.

[northzax]

53. low orbit satellites that can adjust themselves in orbit?

oh, ok, no. it would suprise me greatly if the USAF in conjunction with NASA have managed to violate the laws of physics. Low orbit satellites have two good things going for them:

1: they have incredible optics
2: they are relatively cheap.

They have three bad things as well:

1: they are predictable (anyone with a space radar system can tell you where they are at any given time)
2: They cannot be moved around very much (after all, anytime you move a satellite, it loses a little bit of orbital height. too much loos of orbital height, and you being looking roughly like MIR or Spacelab)
3: The move very quickly

[northzax]

55. what I meant to say in the last one

editing expired whilst I fixed my computer up...

Because they orbit very quickly, it can be difficult to get very much in the way of longer term photo intelligence, most of the low orbit sats cross the horizon in only 20-30 minutes, not a lot of time to take snaps while overhead.

[jmowreader]

61. You can, but you usually can't

Yes, satellites have positioning motors on them. If the bird is supposed to overfly Washington and goes over Gaithersburg instead, they can make a correction that will put it on the proper track.

But any serious repositioning--to get it to go over Baghdad this hour when it would normally go over London, for instance--is called retasking, and that's hard to do. (I've posted about this before--you almost have to call the Director of Central Intelligence to retask a satellite, because you're not the only one using it.)

An easy and fun way to understand overhead assets: Intelligence is like the news. Satellites are like a morning newspaper. Aircraft are like CNN Headline News.

[Snow]

43. SR-71 wasn't the 'hottest' plane, though, was it?

X-15? But then how old is the X-15, with nothing to top it..

[HawkerHurricane]

48. X-15 is technically not a plane...

but a manned rocket.

Also, the X-15 was incapable of taking off from the ground, and some other things that put it out of the competition.

Yes, it is much faster and higher flying... but it's more like a early version of the space shuttle than a airplane.

[Snow]

54. Guess I've watched too many reruns of "The Right Stuff"

but I've always thought of the X-15 as a plane despite the rocket motor, and thought the change in direction with capsules and then the Dyna-Soar to space shuttle as an unfortunate choice of forks in the road. I'd think Bert Rutan's latest efforts as a lot more closely related to the X-15 than the space shuttle is. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have the impression that the X-15 has more atmospheric handling capability than the space shuttle. And could it truly not take off from the ground, or was that simply to save gas?

[HawkerHurricane]

56. It was designed to be dropped

from a 'mother plane' (a B-52, iirc).

No wheels on the landing gear. Just skids.

Also, the rocket was a 'all or nothing' type motor... either full throttle or off. Not really suited for normal operation.

It was a experiment, and medium sucessful.

[Snow]

58. Ummmm, I always thought that sucker had a throttle -

are you sure of that, Hawker? I think they even had a throttle on the later X-1's.

But back to topic, sort of.....isn't Rutan's space ship cool? I like that a lot better than the riding a firecracker sort of thing the shuttle does.

[HawkerHurricane]

68. I will plead ignorance.

My memory says they had little throttle control, just on/off... but it's been a while since I've read up on it.

[jmowreader]

59. Hello? I was a spook for twelve years!

Of course I've heard of low-orbit satellites. Can't say I like 'em much.

Low-orbit satellites are the ones that are only usable for strategic reconnaissance because you can't put them where you want them when you want them. It is possible to retask a satellite to cover your area, but you can't do it too much because you'll burn up all the positioning fuel on it before they can get you a new bird up, and you can't do it at all without clearance from guys with stars on their shoulders--other people are using that bird, and they need it to be somewhere other than where you need it.

Real-time reconnaissance can only be done with airplanes. Whether manned or remotely-piloted, airplanes will go where you need them and when you need them.

There is a time and a place for everything, but total reliance on satellites will screw you.

[DemoTex]

71. Amen, Brother Spook

Manned ultra-high altitude (SR-71) and high-altitude (U-2 and derivatives) are hard to replace with relatively low altitude RPVs and satellites.

[trof]

33. I was a recce pilot.

"Fairchild Republic) - The first of the modern jets to be designed specifically for photo-reconnaissance, the Thunderflash was the first reconnaissance airplane equipped with a combination of standard aerial cameras and dicing camera for close-up photos of individual targets. It was also the first fighter-type aircraft to be equipped with the Tri-Metrogon camera which could take horizon-to-horizon pictures. Unlike the Thunderstreak, the Thunderflash had its air-intake ducts located in the wing roots rather than the nose, which was elongated and enclosed to permit installation of a sweeping variety of camera and electronic equipment. It was the first reconnaissance fighter to have a camera control system and a viewfinder for the pilot, who also acted as the cameraman. The aircraft was first tested in February, 1952, and 715 of the aircraft were produced."

My bird.
"Alone, unarmed, and unafraid."
or
"We killum with fillum."
What a time THAT was.

Over Cuba, seeing the missle sites and taking photos.
Oh yeah.

[jmowreader]

34. Couple of OV-1 stories

They call it the Mohawk.



(Incidentally, this particular Mohawk is for sale. The guy wants $199,000 for it and, assuming it's in real good shape and I had the money, I'd probably buy it. I'd put some cameras in it and use it for overhead photography.)

In late 1984, I was in the barracks in Korea having a beer and listening to Pink Floyd when the knock on the door came. "Wanna go take some pictures?" Sure, why not. "Well, get your BDUs on, get your camera and follow me." All the way to Camp Humphreys, where a Mohawk was attempting to fly north and blew both engines two hundred feet after rotation...our mission was to find all of the parts we could, photograph them where they sat, then bag them up for the Army Safety Center. The best one was the hole in the guy's roof. We knocked on the door and a hysterical Korean family answered. My Katusa turned to me and said "they're pretty pissed about something." Yeah, I figured that out, but what? They showed us quick. These folks had a toilet, and one of the propeller blades was sticking straight out of it. Fortunately, no one was sitting on the toilet at the time of the incident. (And yes, we fixed the hole in their roof the very next day.) Two days later, the Pacific Stars and Stripes reported that the plane had gone down just outside Pyongyang. Uhhh...not quite...Pyongtaek is where Camp Humphreys is; Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea.

One that was even worse: We had to guard the airfield at West Fort Hood every night. At guard mount the Officer of the Day always released one soldier as Supernumerary--the sharpest troop on the mount. One time we got a Mohawk pilot as OD. I knew this guy; he was the biggest wise-ass in the whole brigade, and considering what kind of a brigade it was, that's an achievement. He asked everyone three questions. Two questions were basic soldiering stuff. The third was "how many parts are in a Mohawk?" How the fuck am I supposed to know how many parts are in a Mohawk? One guy said a million. A couple of guys said "as many as it needs." I said I didn't know but I could tell you how far a Mohawk prop blade sticks out of a Korean toilet after it goes through the roof. (This got me named duty driver with the official responsibility of keeping the OD awake all night swapping Korea stories.) The supernumerary said that so long as he was a tracked-vehicle mechanic he didn't give a fuck how many parts there were in a Mohawk, in those words. The last kid he asked had been in the army three whole days, and he answered "Sir, you don't part a Mohawk." (This got him a shift guarding the ramp where they parked the Mohawks.)

[trof]

35. Goddam. Mohawk.

One of my best buddies in the Alabama Air National Guard was a civilian Mohawk instructor at Ft. Rucker.
He said the only reason he said he would instruct in the Mohawk was because it was the only aircraft the Army had with an ejection seat.

One of my squadron-mates in the F-84.
And one of my IPs, when I was doing my 84 checkout.
What a guy.

[HawkerHurricane]

49. F-84?

'Don't give me an F-84
I don't want a F-84!
The F-84 is a ground loving whore,
Don't give me a F-84!

Just make me operations
On a lonely Pacific attoll
Where the skies are all clear
And the Migs don't come near
Being a pilot just isn't my call!'

The song goes on with one verse for every fighter plane there is... I have the list for the WW2 planes somewhere; and my Dad added the one for F-84's for me...

[trof]

57. Oscar Brand's "Wild Blue Yonder" album.

don't give me an F-84
she's just a ground loving whore
she'll whine & she'll wheeze
& make straight for the trees
don't give me an F-84
NO
give me operations
way out on some lonely atoll
for I am too young to die
I just wanna grow old

Go here
http://members.fortunecity.com/chippy3/wildblueyonder/
and click on some songs. Click on the little "click here" thingy for the actual performance.

[DemoTex]

67. Ah, the "Pine Cone-3 Departure"

I always hated the smell of resin in the cockpit.

Bwaa haaa haaa! Great song, trof. I can't post any of songs I remember from those days. Especially the version of Otis Redding's Dock of the Bay that we sang at Cam Rahn Bay.

[HawkerHurricane]

69. Missing some planes...

and it's a little different, but it's the same song.

Don't give me a P-51
It was alright for fighting the Hun
But when the coolant runs dry
She falls out of the sky
Don't give me a P-51

Don't give me P-61
For night flying is no fun
They say it's a lark
But I'm ascared of the dark
Don't give me a P-61

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

40. is that the same animal the USN/USMC calls a Bronco? IIRC

that was an OV-10... must be some kind of relative

[HawkerHurricane]

50. It is.

Leave it to the Navy to rename something with a perfectly good name.

[jmowreader]

63. Close but not exact

The OV-10 has two tailbooms and a very short fuselage, like a World War II fighter I don't remember--P-38? The Mohawk has a full-length fuselage.

Also, IIRC the OV-10 was used by forward observers, and the OV-1 was used to carry the AN/APS-94 side-looking airborne radar system and the AN/KSH-1 aerial camera.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

65. Yes, and the OV-10 was not quite a VSTOL bird, right?

I mean it did not do the verticle thing, but a very short take off and landing plane.
Come to think of it, I am not sure the USN ever had any... it was/is a USMC bird.

[DemoTex]

66. The OV-1 was designed by Grumman to US Army specs

The OV-1 was powered by the same gas-jet core Allison engine as the UH-1 Huey helicopter. The OV-10 design was driven by USAF and USMC FAC needs. The OV-10 was powered by two Garrett (now AirResearch or something else after mergers) TPE-331 turbo-prop engines. The TPE-331, which also powers the Mitsubishi MU-2 and other corporate aircraft and which also sits on oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico doing industrial duty, is also known as the Converter. The TPE-331 converts fuel into noise.

[HawkerHurricane]

70. P-38 is correct.

My second favorite plane name...
"Lockeed Lightning"

[DemoTex]

62. An "elected" president in an OV-1 Mohawk

Of course, this was taken when Jimmy Carter was the governor of Georgia. Jimmy Carter (US Naval Academy, Georgia Tech, honorable discharge after years in the Nuke Sub corps, Georgia governor, legally-elected President of the US, Habitat for the Humanities, and the Nobel Peace Prize) gets the dime-ride in a "Widow Maker."

[bubblesby2002]

44. This is the best thread.

Thank you for the stories. I saw the SR 71 at an Abbotsford Air Show a few years back, and I was in awe. Man, it was amazing. To read your stories and the ones later in the thread from all the pilots and the knowledgeable people is thrilling.

Where else but on DU could you find such interesting diversity?

[DemoTex]

72. Good point "bubblesby2002"

My theory is Duers are - generally speaking - doers, not sit-around wannabees. We are of the class that drive milk trucks, fight the wars, tail-stretch red hot aluminum in an extrusion plant, teach 13 year olds algebra, take pride in a ditch squarely dug, fly the B-737s that unite families and keep commerce alive, edit magazines and otherwise mind our business and love liberty. I have done all of the above, and much more. We are indeed diverse. Thank God!

[HawkerHurricane]

73. That's quite a list...

May mine be as long when I reach your age!

[DemoTex]

74. Ha! Sounds like the old curse, HH.

May you live in interesting times. The list goes on, BTW: Musician, paper boy, grocery stock clerk, drug store stock clerk, Boy Scout camp staff, gas-boy at airport, flight instructor, glider flight instructor, stunt-pilot flight instructor, jet flight instructor, corporate pilot, airline captain, ALPA accident investigator, draw bridge operator, welder-helper, pipe-wrapper, surveyor, editor (did I list that before?), bon vivant, and raconteur.

[bubblesby2002]

75. wow

I want to hear more from the raconteur, Please????

[Beaker]

52. blackbird site- with lots of links

http://www.wvi.com/~lelandh/sr-71~1.htm

[HawkerHurricane]

76. Kicked for my father, who is looking for it

Keep an eye open for Hawker Typhoon...

[alfredo]

77. Kick

great thread