SR-71 landing at AF Museum Dayton OH2.wmv
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2012
- SR-71 landing on 6000' runway at the AF Museum (now called the National Museum of the USAF). To be put on display inside the Museum, which is free to all, located just east of Dayton, Ohio.Makes two low passes before landing..Estimates were that 20,000 people came out to see it arrive. It took two -three weeks to sanitize it before going on display.
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Between October '74 and March '76 I was stationed at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. Kadena is a huge installation where all branches of the military conduct flight operations. The roar of aircraft landing and taking off 24/7 was just part of the background soundtrack of living on a busy air base. However, there was no mistaking whenever a Blackbird was taking off: it shook the earth like rolling thunder. If you were outside, the intense low frequency rumbling literally vibrated your body. Then, when the aircraft cleared the runway, the pilot stood it on its tail and, spewing plumes of fire and black smoke, it shot straight up like a rocket, like a bat out of hell. In less than a minute, it vanished in the hazy sky and all was quiet. Still gives me shivers just recalling it. Just before I rotated stateside, the Air Base hosted an air show with flight demonstrations and static displays including the SR-71. The general public was allowed to get up-close-and-personal with this amazing flying machine. Pity it's no longer in service.
On Okinawa, the Blackbirds acquired a nickname: Habu, venomous snakes found on this subtropical island. When SR-71s were first flown to their new remote base at Kadena, the local population thought this strange and wicked-looking plane was shaped like the habu snake. They started calling it the habu airplane, and later, just habu. Crews who flew the airplane were also called Habu, and the name came to be associated with the blackbird program and was even incorporated into the insignia worn by crews on their uniforms. Over time, Habu has come to be associated with all Blackbird pilots and crews, but in the truest sense of the word, it represents only those who flew operational sorties. Only those crews were awarded the Habu patch.
I was in the Air Force for 8 years stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona and I maintained F-15 aircraft and I could hear the jet start anytime of the day or night and take off. you knew exactly who was taking off. Wow for being near that base and get to see that many different types.
My father was stationed there as well and same time, he was a Crew Chief Jet engine mechanic for the f-15. I was born in Okinawa. We lived off base in Kadena Circle before we got base housing. They would shake the earth on take off early in the morning.
David Morrison: Many thanks for your interesting discussion of the Blackbird on Kadena. I was stationed on Kadena with the U.S. Army in1954 before moving on to Iwo Jima in 1955. Many pleasant memories of that big base and the great guys I served with. I watched several B-29's take off and land on Iwo and saw one B-36 on Kadena. Okinawan men would put a Mongoose and Habu snake together in a cage and bet on which would win. The Mongoose would usually kill the snake unless distracted by the furious chatter. Interesting to learn about the Blackbird's "Habu" nickname.
This 1st flew in 1961 amazing
@@davidvogel6359 My dad took my older sister Michele and I out to Luke in about ‘71. We were right outside the base fence looking right down the runway. We were watching Corsairs, Phantoms and Starfighters land. Dad had binoculars and you could see the tail of the Blackbird. My sister was curvy and blonde. A Corsair came in and the RIO looked over at us as they came over the fence. Shortly after full afterburner and a go-around. When they came around they were LOW over the fence. Thought they were going to hit the RR Crossing post. BOTH pilot and RIO looked over and waved. Perfect landing. They were deploying chutes to slow planes. Dad looked over at me and said “I don’t think that wave was for us Scott”. My sister Michele blushed and smiled. A GREAT memory.
All those lucky people who got to see this beauty in flight.
I've seen the Blackbird twice, once in flight (near Eglin AFB, Florida) and once at a static display at an Open House (Wings over Houston, if I remember correctly). At the static display, it was fenced off to keep spectators at a distance, and was patrolled by an armed guard with a sentry dog (German Shepard).
And hear the bird live
@@RadioactiveSaddam In my mention (above) about seeing one near Eglin AFB, at the time I was on the playground area of the school I was attending (Edge Elementary, which is where aircraft coming in for landing at Eglin passes over), I just happened to look up at one point and spotted the Blackbird about 5,000 feet up, it was making a 180 left turn, yet strangely it was very quiet, I could hear no jet engines (like the hundreds of F4's that always flew overhead as well). I assume they (the Blackbird) must have set the engines on idle prior to landing.
I was lucky to maintain the avionics on the SR-71 and the U-2, Beale AFB, California.
Tracked their flights into Russian air space in Misawa air Base...russian migs would alert on them.... and they'd be gone before Migs could get wheels up !!!
An old plane that still looks literally like something out of a sci-fi movie. 👀👌
I cannot wait until the constantly misused fad word "literally" finally goes the way of "Not!"
The hell are you talking about..
@@generalyellor8188 That's Literally Swag. #Yolo Bruh. *Dab*
I saw the one at Udvar-Hazy in person a few years ago after growing up with that as "THE plane of planes"; it was really surreal staring that thing down. It's quite large, but not as big as a passenger jet, so it's really odd wandering around the thing that was so secret that "you get shot if you get too close" when we were younger.
And yes, it still looks like it's out of a sci-fi movie.
@@generalyellor8188 well, seeing as the SR71 is the inspiration for the X-Jet from the X-Men series, which is sci-fi, and has been featured in both X-Men movies and Deadpool 2, it does literally, and I do mean literally, look like something from a sci-fi movie.
SR71: "SR71 Request FL750"
ATC: "If you can get up there, you can have it."
SR71: "Roger. Descending."
Don't you mean slumming ?
ROFL. great comment my man
Ha! Nice. 😄
100% without question, the most badass plane every built.
No, that's the Spitfire
Yes You Are So Correct!!!!!!
There are 3 planes on my top shelf. This and its variants, the Vulcan and best of all, the valkyrie(most beautiful plane ever built for my money).
yea, I like this one and the B-2, also the F-117A that looks straight out from a junkyard
No.
Not just the fastest but the sexiest bird to ever fly the Skies this plane still looks modern
Would love to have seen it fly! Seen Concord twice and the B1B Lancer ( hope I got that right ! )
Gene Drakes the b1, the bone, is probably the one plane that came close to the 71 as far as speed. The 71, although no one knows, had a speed in excess of 2,300 mph. Both just great planes.
@@sherrysetliff2502 Throw in that this was built with slide rules (?) and trial and error what could be hidden away with today's tech ??😁
Gene Drakes yeah buddy, just think what the skunk boys had when they built this. Amazing.
@@sherrysetliff2502 he said not JUST the fastest. You misread.
I was a cross country truck driver for 26 years and I visited this Museum probably about 5 or 6 times over the years. I used to park out at the end of the parking lot which is actually an old runway. I never saw all of the museum perfectly because there are like 4 hangers to see and once you get to reading you lose track of time. I liked the restaurant up stairs thou. They have good food. Once I happened to be there when General Thomas Stafford was there plugging his book about his Apollo Missions and I sat in the auditorium and listened to his speech. That was pretty cool.
I medically retired from the US Air Force in early 1990 after serving as a Navigator on a KC135 Stratotanker for 8 years. My primary aircraft was the SR-71 Blackbird out of Beal AFB, Marysville, CA. We also supported the U2 and TR1 Reconisence aircraft. I am very blessed to have served alongside such amazing people and equipment. She is missed,...
There is not another aircraft in the world which could get my heart beating so fast as the SR 71 taking off. It was one that I would feel in my core when the afterburners lit. There are many that get me excited, but none beat the Blackbird.
All the early supersonics were great. I saw the SR71 fly at Farnborough and honestly the Vulcan set of more car alarms during its display, maybe the SR71 was crusing that day but a Vulcan going vertical was so amazing. For a 1956 design it could still do M1.5. We were lucky to see them when they could fly hard.
See a F22 it’s amazing but it’s not the SR71 though
One Blackbird did a flypast at the Abbotsford Air Show many years ago. It was a Saturday and I was doing work alone at the shop when this incredible roar filled the building. I was a few feet from the parking lot door but too slow to catch it. "Was that the Blackbird?" I yelled to a guy across the alley on a loading dock.
"I dunno."
"Was it big and black?"
"Uh-huh."
I kept at the ready, and when I next heard the roar building, I raced for the door, but was already too late. A black rear profile was climbing to the west; two blue flashes and the afterburners lit. It looked like the Millennium Falcon going into warp, and I figured it was probably halfway to Hawaii by the time I was settled back at my desk.
There can be only one. And the name is X15! There is no debate.
yep this and valkayre.
I was lucky enough to be there that day! Got the pilots auto and dripped on with JP7 by the beautiful lady! What a Day!
@@Richard1861
in k'
I am so insanely jealous, you blessed dude, you!!!
I would love to see one
I was stationed on Okinawa for a year in 1986, and there's was still a tactical SR-71 at Kadena AFB at the time.
Yep. She would leak fuel while not at operating speed and altitude.
I was there and enjoyed every moment of it. Except the fact that we were retiring such a great plane.
Makes me so sad
so fun to read that when they reactivated it they set up a project office and had to go out collecting reassigned and retired veterans (some, I guess from their bungalows in Alaska or so) to assemble a team that can handle the old lady :)
Look on the bright side. If they are retiring this thing, just imagine what is replacing it.
Queen of the skies. All others must bow before it.
That's the 747
@Bernie lomaxs Mustache no, that would be your wife fired out of a circus cannon
Truly an amazing air craft. Even more amazing when you consider the fact that one of the most advanced tools in its design was a slide rule.
The SR71 always has a foam truck next to it when it lands. The fuel tanks leak like a sieve when it’s on the ground. Going Mach 3, the skin expands and seals the tanks, on the ground fuel leaks out of the plane. One of the drawbacks going Mach 3 using 60’s technology.
I tell people all the time, if you’re into aircraft, ya have to visit the AF museum.
Absolutely! Even if you're not into aircraft. A buddy of mine, that's not into aviation even a little bit, went with me to Columbus, OH to pick up some stuff, and we spent a few hours at the museum in Dayton on the way there. He cannot wait to go back and see it again! What an amazing place.
@@throngcleaver yep, I live in Boston now and I tell anyone that may pass through Dayton about it. You could literally spend the whole day there. No charge, not even for parking. Incredible
@@nmaddog4689 👍
I met some of the pilots in Palm Dale California at the static display there , there were so many A/C you could easily spend half a day there
@@throngcleaver check out the Smithsonian air and space museum. Absolutely amazing. Enola gay is there. One of the space shuttles... truely amazing
I’d give this 2 thumbs up if I could. I worked at Beale AFB and never got tired of looking at this work of art.
I am an ex air force captain. Was active duty when this happened but I was stationed in Los Angeles at the time. I have been to the AF Museum and seen the fleet there. Beautiful machines. I was at Beale just after they stopped using SR 71s. Did see a U2 take off, more like float off as the thing climbs like a balloon straight up
Ive been on the flight line as they landed, being chased, by aero techs, to keep wings from dragging on the tarmac. U2s were built with a purpose in mind, to fly!
I was there that day. My office was across the road from the museum and I walked over to see the landing. I have pictures of the landing through the chain link fence, but I'm glad someone captured it on video. It was so cool to see it land using less than 2/3rds of the runway (the PA announcer made a big deal about the fact that they usually land on longer runways than the closed museum runway). The Blackbird is my favorite aircraft and I have had the fortune to see several (including at Eglin AFB, NY Intrepid Museum, and Smithsonian).
thanks for the comment on the "closed museum runway". as I watched the video I was thinking the yellow markings on the runway appeared to be big X's indicating that was a closed runway and could not imagine why the plane landed there.
There is one here at the Richmond, VA Science Museum. It used to be outside of the Richmond Air Museum, but that closed down, unfortunately, so the SR-71 was disassembled and reassembled inside at the Science Museum!
Brings a tear to the eyes knowing that this magnificent flying beast is being parked, only to be gawked at …. Not ripping holes through the skies, as she was born to do 😢
I hear you. I was cheering on the two aborted landings, thinking that the ol' bird didn't want to die.
If it helps, I was admiring her just the other day as were quite a few children. She's still serving, trust me. ;-)
The plane cares not whether she's in the sky or on the ground. Many folks have and continue each day to look at her up close in awe.
She just didn't want to touch down yet.
I would imagine the crew really didn't want to finally land!
She still doesn't want to be on the ground
Yes
Too much fuel left to touch down.
@@larrydrum7317 I know
this plane and the concorde are the two most beautiful and fantastic planes that have been built!
a shame to 'retire' this aircraft. Who cares about the money it costs per hour to fly? KEEP it available, half a dozen, to put in the air at any time I say.
I grew up near Beale AFB in the 80's so this was a regular thing for our town.
Castle AFB in Atwater was a divert base. I have seen a few myself.... never worked on one
@@francisschweitzer8431 yeah I heard that the SR’s deceleration “u-turn” pattern from normal operating speed and altitude was about 100 miles wide. They would start their turn to base leg around Pyramid Lake in Nevada, turn final over Redding, hitting the numbers at Beale about 15 minutes later. The 9th RW’s T-38’s were the only ones painted black.
I'm with you Bryon. My dad was stationed at Beale from 1972-1976 and we lived on base. I saw that plane everyday and I never get tired of it. She is a masterpiece.
We’ll touch you mr. One-up.
The half century old plane still futuristic! Excellent work and amazing plane👍.
Not to belittle the Blackbird at all, but what could be a more futuristic aircraft than those that will be in service up to about 2050?
The Air Force is phasing out the B-1 and B-2 bombers in favor of the new B-21. It's easy to see why this aircraft should be called futuristic. Like the B-2, it's a flying wing. Like the B-1 it's supersonic. It's covered with the latest stealth technology and has the latest computers and combat communications gear.
But what about the bomber that will complement the B-21 until 2050? That futuristic bird is known as the B-52. Yes, that B-52. It seems you just can't kill them and it's easier and less expensive to upgrade them than to scrap them. Some of these airframes will be closing in on a century of service before they retire. That is, unless they are extended yet again. That's what a futuristic plane looks like.
@@Yooper_eh Thank you - it was very interesting👍. I am from former USSR there are was no information about such wonderful planes and other technic achievement of west side. USSR and RF, can't reach such level. For example, they can't made such effective jumping planes, like Harriers, till nowadays. Also, when USA reach the moon, they don't show it on TV, whether all other world saw this amazing moment on it.
After all these years, this is still an amazing looking aircraft. Totally fantastic.
While stationed on Okinawa while in the Army, these flew over my house out from Kadena AFB. Boy could they rattle the windows. 👍
Yes it was a beauty over there. 1981 - 1985 got to see the 7 rings in exhaust climbing to altitude every take off.
Many of us were there to see the worlds fastest and highest flying Jet powered aircraft. SR - 71Mighty Blackbird.
I'll never forget watching an SR-71 take off from MacDill when I was stationed there in 1969 and '70. Never, ever forget.
Lucky to see many a fly by , take off, landings and shows at Nellis AFB for 50th, and 60th USAF celebrations.
@@alpha51omega38 You are lucky. Most of my own life has been spent on the East Coast except for Kansas, France and Taiwan when my late father was career Army. However, Thailand and Nam were great for watching everything from RB-57s to BUFFs to Phantoms. But Nellis would be C O O L!
@@wrightflyer7855During my teacing days, I was lucky to take summer classes at the Air Force Adademy, and a side trip to DMAFB to spend 3 hours crawling through old BUFF's out in the boneyard for study and photos.
I've lived fairly close to this museum for 18 years and am now moving away. I wanted to visit before moving and am glad I did. It's an incredible place with the entire history of flight visible to us mere mortals. Hats off to the brave men and women who serve.
Such a beautiful jet, I fell in love with it as a kid and now I’m 41 and still thinks it’s the sexiest jet ever
I've seen it in person and this plane is MASSIVE. Leaves you in awe.
So Lucky. There's a time I want to fly this Jet when I Grow up as a pilot
Only a jet of that stature can gather a crowd befitting a kings arrival.
Once in a lifetime event for most of us, thanks for the post!
Thanks so much for the memory! I watched the arrival from the roof of my office building on Col Glenn Highway, which looked down on the field. It was amazingly smooth and low, like an air hockey puck. And every time it throttle up, it set off car alarms down in the parking lot :)
I must have witnessed the greatest flyby that will never occur again at the air show at Pt Magu many years ago. B52, B1, B2, Stealth fighter and SR71 all flew by together. Love to see a video of this event. Nothing quite like a SR71.
It is one thing when a plane lands and is parked and then through the whim of fate it never flies again, but to bring this sexy lady in, knowing that it will never take to the air again, must have been a very hard task indeed! Nice video- taken on my 29th birthday! The museum is wonderful too!
I know, I was thinking the same thing.
as an airforce brat / grew up along several overseas USAF runways, my visits to this museum brought me back to the pride and wonder of my childhood, and service life of families, and a small slice of my dads time in the USAF.
SR-71 alone makes America Great! Thanks for sharing.
They have one indoors at the Air and Space Museum Annex in Chantilly, VA. The thing is spooky beautiful. It was donated to the Smithsonian and flown from L.A. to D.C in 64 minutes, 20 seconds, setting a record for the aircraft.
Very moving footage with the crowds at the end....
I've touch the nose of the Blackbird before, it's such a beautiful aircraft, if you think it looks cool on video try seeing it in person at the musuem. I am lucky to live only a few miles away and plan on going this summer to see the new 4th hangar and I can't wait.
+Corbin Aalderts IYou are right! We are lucky to live so close to the museum. I visit it regularly to see "my RB-47H" in the Cold War Gallery (I actually flew the one in the Museum). I also spend time in the Gardens, especially at the Memorial I helped design and create (55th SRW Association).
John, as a young Army MP on Okinawa (1973-1974) and traffic accident investigator, I tried to "clock" the "Habu" as it was called there on my SpeedGun one day taking off from Kadena AFB. As soon as I turned the SpeedGun on, the electronics were fried by the ECM equipment on the -71. Provost Marshal wanted to court-martial me; thank God my patrol supervisor talked him out of it. Avionics section at Kadena AFB repaired it at no cost to us.
Mike: That's interesting..thanks for sharing
Corbin Aalderts I live near as well! Taking my kids to the museum this Friday!
If I live in Dayton, I would literally go visit every weekend. It is free admission. Watching all those planes, absorbing their history is amazing.
Great video! That's the east-west runway parallel to Col. Glenn Hwy. He landed west to east. Took him two passes to get his descent approach right on the third time because 6000' is short for an SR-71. Smoke from his landing gear indicates he might have had a bit of a crossing tailwind. Prevailing winds are from the SW. That runway used to be 1500 feet longer running right up the hillside at the east end to where the Area B access from I-675 was built in the mid-1980s. Notice he pulls up sharply on his two passes to avoid the rising ground at the east end of the runway. Unlikely he would have attempted to land east to west because the high ground at the east end of the runway would have made his descent too steep. Back in the day large heavy bombers were towed up to the high end of the runway for a rolling gravity assist when taking off to the west.
No, he took two passes to show off that beautiful lady to the crowd
If I remember right, this made the front page of the Dayton Daily News. I don’t think you’ll ever see a crowd like that again out there, unfortunately.
They had pretty big crowds for the 3 Tokyo Raiders Reunions I attended at the museum as people came to see all the B-25 Mitchell bombers take off.
probably the two most powerful engines on any aircraft in history, so far. what a machine.
::Laughs in space shuttle::
Which is a hell of a thing. That’s the only other aircraft I could come up with. Which is a spacecraft. Fitting though, because the blackbird pilots wore spacesuits.
There is no finer aviation museum in the world, than this. It is still free for all to enter. Every single type of aircraft the US Air Force ever put in the sky is there. I've probably been through there over 100 times since 1973. The Smithsonian doesn't even hold a candle to it, IMO.
Thanks for sharing. I was in the Mead building downtown and saw it come in that day. Very exciting!
I was there the day this bird landed. I was a SRA working at the Foreign Technology Division but lived in base housing near Area B. I am so glad that someone filmed this! I was later at Osan and saw the U2 almost every day, but this was the first and only time I ever saw a Blackbird fly.
I was there that day as a member of the media. As I recall, we were set up in the grass on the right side of the runway from this POV, but farther back from the vehicles seen in this video. It was incredible. Every time I go back home, I try to visit the museum. So cool to see this plane on display, but (gasp!) hard to believe it was 30 years ago.
We can all thank Mr. Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works projects!!
And Ben R. Rich and company.
That was an amazing achievement by Lockheed Martin
Yeah, Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich were genius.
Martin had nothing to do with the Blackbird.
@@samsignorelli OK, just Lockheed back then
@@frankobrien1371 Yep....I get miffed when someone refers to the F-16 as a Boeing plane.
Uhhh...no. My father, who was an engineer at Convair and was on the F-16 project, did not work for Boeing....the F-16 was and always will be a Convair bird.
I was there. I was around a third grade student at Virginia Stevenson elementary, living in Paige Manor and they let us out to watch it. My distinctive memory was the parachutes deploying.
I was fortunate to be stationed at Beale from 1966-1967. Lived in the barracks at the south end of the runway. Blackbird taking off and arcing over the sierras for the tanker rendezvous was a majestic sight.
Every time I watch this bird, I’m stoned, amazed, overwhelmed etc. Fantastic jet.
I was there. I took my son who was 5 at the time and 2 little boys I was babysitting. My son just showed me this video. I love that he remembers this. I hope the other boys do too.
My grandparents used to live northwest of Daton. Back in the 1950’s I spent a good part of the summer with them... watching and hearing the B-36 bombers flying low over us was a the best and most awe inspiring experience of my childhood
Still an amazing piece of machinery. Unbelievable they managed to pull this off in the sixties.
Cost shut the program down
I live real close to Beale Air Force Base, and
was one of the fortunate ones to see the
S R 71 many times in its day!!
Kelly Johnson /Skunk Works Amazing Doings!!
And still is I have worked there
Drove over from Columbus to see this and very glad I did. What a beautiful aircraft!
I wish I'd have been old enough to see this marvelous aircraft fly. It holds a special place in my heart for many reasons, but more importantly it's a work of engineering art.
Visited this museum over 50 years ago as a boy. The most fascinating museum on Earth!
What a spectacular video! To have been old enough to drive out and watch that for myself...
Excellent video.
Although I wasn’t there that day, I’ve seen the Sr-71 fly once or twice in the 70’s. Incredible aircraft. I have also visited the museum and seen this proud bird on display.
Hi from New Zealand. America makes such beautiful military aircraft. Long may you do so.
I was with the support group for the SR-71 in 1985. We had the air show and it was amazing. Loved all of the aircraft that were already museum pieces. Best by far at that time was the XB-70. Now, with the SR-71 a permanent fixture, I would have to stay loyal to the aircraft that beat all of the records.
I have loved the XB-70 since I was a kid (I'm 60). But there is NOTHING like the SR-71!
Amazing aircraft! Saw this landing with my buddy, Bill that day. So cool! Local TV interviewed the pilot that afternoon. He said the multiple flybys were not planned. He said the runway looked like the size of a postage stamp and he just wasn’t certain the aircraft would be able to stop in that distance!
Skunk Works, all of you did a phenomenal job designing that aircraft!
It has to be the most beautiful machine man has ever created
Thank you very much for uploading this :-)
I saw it walking to RSS in Pensacola, FL. It was before the sun came up which made it so dramatic. It flew over the pine trees full afterburners ! That’s a Blackbird! Pretty amazing for a kid just out of boot camp in 1989. USN 89-95
Probably the most amazing sub-space aircraft to have ever flown.
Technically true, I suppose because it's flight is suborbital. On the other hand, the pilots wore astronaut suits and if they lost pressurization at altitude their blood would boil within seconds without these suits because of the lack of air pressure. The altitudes these beasts were capable of flying are "sub-space" on the thinnest of technical margins.
Great video, thanks for posting. What an utterly breathtaking machine.
I was in Okinawa when This bird came back from over seas on its last flight, I missed its launch thank you for posting this video. This brings back a lot of good memories.
An old aeroplane that looks straight out of science fiction even today, imagine what they have today that we don’t know about 😍
I used to fly my RC planes off of this very runway when I was stationed at Wright-Patterson
Such an amazing and beautiful aircraft.
In 2013 I was in Seattle and had the opportunity to see its sister A12MD hovering from the top ceiling in the Museum of a Flight at Pine Field. Ive entered the Concord there, unforgettable time. A must visit place for those who take aviation seriously. Like in this video plenty of pilgrims spotting it.
This is some really amazing footage, man; thanks for recording this, thanks for holding onto it so long, and thanks for stabilizing it. A++ -- 11 years on this is still worth watching!
Always will love the SR-71, the sky's are lonely since this beautiful bird landed.
Retired the 71, makes you think what they have next and what we won't know about till a major event or 20 years down the road!
Wow it nice to see this and glad someone filmed it !!! I was there when it landed at the Airforce Museum. It couldn't land at Area C where the main runways are due to all the bridges between it and the museum. Plus the museum is just west of the main gates in Area B, so moving would require taking it apart and disrupt traffic. They performed the multiple touch and go's because there are apartments and a street at the end of the runway where it came in. So they where making sure they could drop in over the apartments, street and tree's and not overrun the runway.
The pilot said it was one of his most challenging landings due to the reasons you mention.
I was really hoping the true story was that the crew knew it was the last flight, and just didn't want to land it permanently.
it's normal to do some recki passes and burn off gas before landing. this was all intentional and pre calculated and not affected by houses nearby. if it was gonna be a problem they would of installed a catch net at the end of the runway.
Other than the LEGENDARY aircraft, it is also legendary that there was NO shitty music being played on a loud speaker while it flew by... TRULY REMARKABLE!!!
I really want to watch this video for a long time after hearing this story during my assignment at WPAFB. Thank you for your upload.
I saw it at RAF Mildenhall on its first ever visit to the UK... amazing aircraft, met the pilots too. :-)
Thank you for sharing! We live only a few miles from the Air Force Base.
Im on my second edf model of it, the lx sr71, i love it great big fast sleek model aircraft
Look at all that people, so lucky to have seen that beautiful jet fly.
The best plane ever.. hands down.. respect for the slide rule that designed it .. NO computers!!
Kelly Johnson was a genius in A/C design
@@talkingrock7011 hell yeah he was. He was also a fellow Michigan native and went to the same high school I attended. A amazing man..
I was there on the hill at the other side of the landing strip. It's nice to see a video of it. It's something I will never forget.
So cool! I really enjoy looking at these
Landed that plane like a carrier pilot...hard.
That plane suffers from severe ground effect. You have to push it down to land it.
Exactly, I was attached to VA-34 Blueblasters A-6 intruder Squadron. Served on JFK CV-67 and Dwight D Eisenhower CVN-69. We broke in the IKE brand new in 1978. Thanks for opening some great memories. Blackbird is an amazing piece of history for sure.
Late 80s RAF cadet me helping out with "marshaling" @ the Mildenhall air show. To see the dots in the jets on take off was great. I got to "guard" my personal favourite A10 2 thunderbolt. That Canon still blows my mind 30+years later.
MY DAD AND I GOT TO SEE THE SR-71 IN FLIGHT THE DAY AFTER A AIRSHOW AT PAIN FIELD,WA.AFTER TAKE OFF AND GETTING UP TO ABOUT 200 FT, THE BLACKBIRD MADE 3 FLYBUYS AND THEY WERE NICE AND SMOOTH.ON THE 3RD ONE IS WHEN IT HAD LEFT,GOING UP TO A 45 DEGREE ANGLE UNTIL OUT OF SITE.THIS WAS BACK IN THE 1980'S.
This is Bird SR576. The ONLY SR-71 that had 2 different engines! Port engine GE Xf variant, & the Starboard, the latest GE Xh variant. The pilot that day was Dill ‘Dilly’ Drooper, after delivering SR576, he flew his own P51 back home, to Texas. Lucky guy!
I was lucky enough to see this wonderful aircraft at Mildenhall .The ground shook when it took off a moment that will.never be forgotten
Nice! We are lucky enough to have one at the museum in Central California where I live, at the old Castle AFB. The SR-71's and B-52's command respect when one sees them! Simply majestic if you ask me
We watched it from the 4950th Test Wing ramp as it performed touch and goes before moving over to this runway. It was sad to see its final landing as it had been a part of my life from high school days at Kadena AFB on Okinawa to our passing gas to it all over the world just two years prior to the making of this video.
Wow, incredible. I wish I was one of those fortunate enough to have seen this beautiful plane in flight. What a treat this must have been…
Breathtaking!!! Beautiful. Thanks
Gotta love the grainy vhs tape video. Even digitized, still looks 31 years old.
I was there with my 3 young children. i actually took them out of school to witness this.
I have my VHS tape here..sadly nothing to play it on now.
As it does its fly-bys you can just see the News Center 7 Helicopter, they got great footage of it too.
VHS to CD or digital converters are available. But "be kind and rewind".