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Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Photomontage of SR-71 on the port side
Image by Chris Devers
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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 total impunity than the SR-71, the world’s quickest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s overall performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technologies developments in the course of the Cold War.
This Blackbird accrued about two,800 hours of flight time in the course 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, four minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging three,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. (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-sort material) to reduce radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines function large inlet shock cones.
Long Description:
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in far more hostile airspace or with such comprehensive 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 technologies 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 accurate assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, especially close to the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s subsonic U-two (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an capable platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this relatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the rapid improvement of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-two 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 first proposal for a new higher speed, higher 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 style for traditional fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), currently flying the Lockheed U-2, 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) developed the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.two and fly nicely above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these difficult needs, Lockheed engineers overcame numerous daunting technical challenges. Flying much more than three occasions the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are sufficient to melt standard aluminum airframes. The style group chose to make the jet’s external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two conventional, but really potent, 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 far more than 3,540 kph (2,200 mph). To avert supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson’s group had to style a complicated air intake and bypass method for the engines.
Skunk Functions engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section style to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to accomplish this by meticulously shaping the airframe to reflect as little transmitted radar power (radio waves) as achievable, and by application of particular paint made to absorb, rather than reflect, these waves. This therapy became one particular of the 1st applications of stealth technology, but it by no means fully met the design ambitions.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, after he became airborne accidentally in the course of high-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed great promise but it needed considerable technical refinement just before the CIA could fly the first operational sortie on Could 31, 1967 – a surveillance flight over North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as element of the Air Force’s 1129th Specific Activities Squadron beneath the "Oxcart" program. 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, nevertheless, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This system evolved into the USAF’s familiar SR-71.
Lockheed constructed fifteen A-12s, such as a particular two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s had been modified to carry a unique reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s had been 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 amongst the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds high enough to ignite the drone’s ramjet motor. Lockheed also built three YF-12As but this kind in no way went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed during testing. Only one survives and is on show at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one of the "written off" YF-12As which was later employed 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. Such as the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The 1st SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Simply because of extreme operational expenses, military strategists decided that the more capable USAF SR-71s should replace the CIA’s A-12s. These were retired in 1968 right after only a single year of operational missions, mostly more than 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 starting in the spring of 1968.
Right after the Air Force began to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird– for the special 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.
Knowledge gained from the A-12 system convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely necessary 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 included a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) method that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of sophisticated, high-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry equipment developed 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 put on stress suits similar to these worn by astronauts. These suits were necessary to protect the crew in the event of sudden cabin pressure loss although at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird’s Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines were made to operate continuously in afterburner. While this would appear to dictate high fuel flows, the Blackbird in fact achieved its ideal "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, during the Mach three+ cruise. A typical Blackbird reconnaissance flight may well need several aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Every single time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker’s altitude, generally 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 impact caused the aircraft’s skin panels to shrink significantly, and those 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 higher altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, throughout its operational profession but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, too. The 9th SRW occasionally deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other locations to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown straight from Beale. The SR-71 did not begin to operate in Europe until 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 internet sites deep inside Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover each and every geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a crucial tool for international intelligence gathering. On a lot of occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 supplied info that proved vital in formulating profitable U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews supplied crucial 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 conducted by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-based SR-71 crews flew a number of missions more than the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened industrial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the performance of space-primarily based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-primarily based air defense networks, the Air Force began to shed enthusiasm for the high-priced plan and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. Despite protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling more than operating budgets, nonetheless, quickly led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the 1 SR-71B for high-speed research projects and flew these airplanes till 1999.
On March 6, 1990, the service profession of 1 Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This special 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 3,418 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, more than that of any other crewman.
This certain 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 2,801.1 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 Because 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: 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
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay” panorama
Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed P-38J-10-LO Lightning :
In the P-38 Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and his team of designers created a single of the most effective twin-engine fighters ever flown by any nation. From 1942 to 1945, U. S. Army Air Forces pilots flew P-38s over Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific, and from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Lightning pilots in the Pacific theater downed more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Allied warplane.
Maj. Richard I. Bong, America’s leading fighter ace, flew this P-38J-10-LO on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field, Ohio, to evaluate an experimental method of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller control levers. However, his right engine exploded in flight just before he could conduct the experiment.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Business
Date:
1943
Nation of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 390 x 1170cm, 6345kg, 1580cm (12ft 9 9/16in. x 38ft four 5/8in., 13988.2lb., 51ft 10 1/16in.)
Components:
All-metal
Physical Description:
Twin-tail boom and twin-engine fighter tricycle landing gear.
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Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay":
Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of Globe War II and the first bomber to property its crew in pressurized compartments. Even though made to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a assortment of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.
On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the 1st atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Bockscar (on show at the U.S. Air Force Museum close to Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance climate reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Excellent Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on each missions.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.
Date:
1945
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
All round: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 5/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)
Materials:
Polished general aluminum finish
Physical Description:
4-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and higher-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish general, common late-Planet War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial number on vertical fin 509th Composite Group markings painted in black "Enola Gay" in black, block letters on lower left nose.