My father was a Major Air force pilot,C-141. We lived in Sanabe over looking Kadena air base 70,72. My brothers and I knew the sound of every aircraft. When the SR-71 started we ran out to watch it take off. It was AWESOME. Saw it at night take off,saw landings when the red dragchutes popped out. My 3 brothers and got fly in the C-5A 3 times, Okinawa to Alaska to Japan back to Okinawa. We were lucky. Dad passed away 5yrs ago 82 Lt Colonel. He was in and out Vietnam for 10 years of his 20yr service. My hero!
I knew the sound also. Stationed on the rock USMC 1978-1979. Flew there is a C141 starlifter after they ran out of room on a flying tiger airplane. Great times they were.
@@josephhann8844Japanese called it "Habu" the only snake on the island. my oldest brother was bitten by one, spent 2weeks at Ft.Buckner hospital. Yes it is poisonous!
I heard it on takeoff several times in the middle of the night im 50 miles south of beale afb and it rattled the windows on my house. This was in the 80s. Incredibly powerful
OK I must point out that that wet floor, it's not water, it's jet fuel! at ground level the SR-71's tanks leaked like a sieve. That's why they had to climb to altitude fairly quickly, so the tanks would expand and stop leaking.
@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 They had to catch the tanker first so they could fill up. Altitude didn't make the tanks expand, the heat from traveling at M3 + made the whole aircraft expand.
The start up is quite a task, taking time. Those fuel leaks on the ground won't seal up until the plane is going really FAST , heat builds up and the titanium stretches, and THEN the fuel lines are tight for the duration of the fast time at altitude. So love watching a night 'launch' as they correctly label this video,,when those burners ignite and va-VOOM it's rocketing down the runway and those guys are 'astronauts' half an hour later when they reach their altitude. It still is the most amazing plane - ever. Analog computers, hand calculated in design, and still the best ever. No wonder people believe in alien technology being reverse engineered when we come up with a plane like this. Just look straight at the front of the plane on the runway with the heat waves coming off the pavement. It's dam spooky.
Watching the SR-71 take off with the Afterburner lit is just like watching my Toyota 4 Runner Limited drive down the interstate early in the morning going to work.
From 1972-1975, I was a navigator on C-141's in the 20 MAS out of Dover AFB. Our "West trips" to Viet Nam overnighted at Kadena on the way back to Dover. One evening as we were taxiing out for a departure to Elmendorf AFB, an SR-71 followed us out. We watched him pass us as we were climbing out to the north. We heard him on the ATC radio being cleared to 60,000 and above and "to have a nice ride" Was something to see and experience.
In Sept. of 1968 I was scheduled to fly to Viet Nam on Braniff Airlines. We were all excited about flying on Braniff and then something happened that they had to cancel the flight so they loaded us up on a C-141 Starlifter and flew us over on that. We had stops on Hawaii, Wake Island and the Philippines. It was a beautiful silver bird not painted camouflage like present day aircraft. I remember stepping out of the aircraft in Hawaii and marveling at the huge amount of condensation dripping off of the shiny surface of the plane.
My former business partner was an SR-71 mechanic. He said the fuel leaking on the ground was by design to provide gaps for thermal expansion as the airplane heated up from its airspeed. They were required to use special tools when working on the airplane that had no magnesium in their alloy, since any scrape on the plane could leave magnesium that at that speed could ignite and burn a hole.
CRAZY THAT TILL THIS DAY THEY NEVER FIND AWAY TO DEAL WITH THOSE LEAKS KELLY JOHNSON WAS ANS STILL IS THE BEST AIRCRAFT DESIGNER IN HISTORY GO SKUNK WORKS LOL
Wow. This video of the SR-71 is pure gold. No "Discovery Wings" narration or music, just the footage & sounds of the actual preflight operations, taxi, & take off of this amazing aircraft. Thanks very much to whoever took this video & to who posted it to TH-cam! This video could be as good as it gets for watching SR-71 ground operations & take off, short of actually watching it all in person.
Was stationed at Camp Foster, Oki 79-80, lived near Kadena AFB and saw quite a few Habu takeoffs and landings over our apartment. Unforgetable sight and chest pounding feeling.
And so loud we could hear them in the office of the hangar just opposite the taxiway they took out of the hangar. I always came out to watch when I heard them fire up. We however were not allowed to point a camera at it.
When those afterburners lite I get chills. I have seen several of these birds in Museums. Something to behold. Built with sliderules and sheer genius imagination.
Awesome. I am pretty sure we all watched the Biggest Afterburners in Uncle Sams War Machine Lite off. Very Impressive. I dont remember ever seeing Afterburners Flame On bigger than what we just saw. And I worked F-4 C/D and F-16C in the USAF.
In the mid 1980's, I was a young Marine Captain on Okinawa that was lucky enough to see all of this live. I had my camera and was told that no pictures could be taken in the hanger, and certainly no pictures of the gentlemen there in civilian clothing. We got into the chase vehicle, an old Chevy station wagon, and led the Blackbird to the runway. We were only about 50 yards away when the afterburners lit and the heavens opened. Was fortunate to go out to dinner with the backup crew and then returned to see it return from its mission. Fabulous experience.
I was fortunate to see it parked and then take off.Was on deployment to Kadena with Marine Fighter Squadron with Ordnance support. Loved the chow at Chappy James Chow Hall.
@@larrywilliams5490 I worked for the DCM upstairs center hangar I had to listen to that noise for four years.....lol I was ready to leave. (78-82) AF Retired :)
I recently went to the Air Museum in Kalamazoo, Mi. just to see the blackbird and the staring cart with the 2 Buick Nailhead engines. Warms my heart seeing that stuff. The Blackbird they have there is the one with two canopies that I think was built for NASA, by the way. I saw a video about the carts with a Pratt & Whitney engineer who loved the Buicks in those carts. He explained how those V8s would blow up if they weren't disconnected quickly enough as the Blackbirds engines were getting up to idle speed.
I lived out Gate 4 on that side of the base and the first time I heard one of those Buick engine's running I couldn't figure out why I heard that unmistakable sound (I worked on cars in high school) coming from the base then found out later where it came from.
Yes I agree. Was it too good? I'm looking at the fuel leaking out of the aircraft. I have heard of these things but, who ever did this video did an incredible job. All of the prep to get htis thing in the air is incredible.
Being 9 years old and knowing my dad had to go to work every day to work on the bird was so awesome, just standing on the side of the runway and feeling the power of it as it took off , I can still remember the first time, and the first time sitting in it. Knowing it can go from LA TO NEW YORK IN 65 MINUTES AND NOTHING COULD CATCH IT. SO AMAZING .
I was stationed at Kadena Air Base 1980-82 and was so privileged and thrilled to see "The Habu" take off and land many times. When that thing did a night launch, everyone on the island knew it. Absolutely incredible!
@@rugerdern1554 Yes, the locals thought the shape of the SR-71 looked like a venomous viper called a Habu which is a species of snake in Okinawa, Japan. The name stuck so the pilots and crews also called it the Habu. It seemed fitting for Okinawa. I loved it!
@@hugejohnson5011 I wasn't lucky enough to interact with any of the flight line crews or pilots but I do remember a patch that actually had the word HABU and an image of the SR-71 but honestly can't remember the snake image. I pretty much had to stand along the fence and drool as I watched it take off and land. Of course the F15's conducting touch and gos were pretty awesome too.
@@janekilmer9610 Some neat memories to have for sure. Until 2019 my employer was situated directly abutting Westover AFB in Massachusetts, and I would see the C5 Galaxy in and out nearly daily, as this was a main base for them here in the Northeast U.S. It awed me to see something that big floating in to land! Let alone taking off! They make my tractor trailer seem like a flea by comparison! Thanks for the feedback!
The image quality of this video is amazing. You can tell its been stabilized and de-noised, but still, for the late 80's? This has to be one of the nicest pieces of SR-71 footage ever released. What a moment.
The engines actually had a tendency to go out when flying at hypersonic speeds, and the pilots would have to restart them. Air wouldn't always flow into the engines correctly at those high speeds. Starved of oxygen, the engines would shut down.
Until they review the no the next generation of that airplane that airplane will remain the hottest airplane that was ever built but I couldn’t believe they got something a lot better than that now and we’re not gonna live long enough to see it revealed I know they say the aurora which is a hypersonic aircraft with scram jet engines is way faster but I’d like to see it
Way ahead of its time the J 58 was the most extreme hybrid engine ever built dude if you wanna see what that was all about Golden click on J 58 that engine was three different types of jets all combined into one the faster it went the less fuel it burned it 90,000 feet that thing burned 20% of the fuel any other jet would’ve burned to go with that speed incredible incredible engine Kelly Johnson was a genius that’s all there is to say about him
Greatest? By what measure? Great? Oh ffs yes! Ahead of its time? No. Exactly what was needed at the time. They were retired 20+ years ago for a reason. What I mean is stop the hypperbole. Amazing plane, but there were plenty other planes just as groundbreaking.
Indeed. An engineering marvel but terrible overkill and required piles of cash to keep flying. That and the fact that the Russians made it obsolete with the Mig25/31s patrolling the skies at approximately the same altitudes.
When I was a Flight Engineer on C-141s in the 80s, I saw this exact same takeoff at the same time of day. We had just landed and were taxing in when the tower told us to hold short of the runway that we were about to cross, an aircraft was taking off. It was the SR-71, it went past us with the long blue afterburner flames shooting out the back that look almost as long as the aircraft itself. It took off and started to climb out at a very steep angle. Beautiful, never forgot it.
I was in the Army as a firefighter stationed at Ft. Riley KS, back in 1970-71, and I used to fly home (to Sacramento) on an Air Force hop out of Offutt AFB in Omaha. An LSM (logistical support mission) courier flight that left and returned every Monday and Friday. It would drop me off at Beale AFB, and we used to come in and pass right by the hangar where the SR-71 was parked. It was out-of-this-world. Always loved that plane.
These people in this video will forever be the ones that worked on and flew the coolest aircraft that will probably ever be made. That machine is a work of art.
That green flame is caused by an explosion of TEB (Triethylchloroborane) being injected into engine to ignite the fuel being pumped into the afterburners.
I was right next door in the Navy P-3C hangar, 79 & 80. I got to talk to these guys. I’ll never forget seeing those twin AB light up the night sky! HOOYAH!!
i was hired by Lockheed at a job fair at Georgia Tech in '82 a few weeks before I walked for my undergrad Computer Engineering degree. I started at Burbank in Jan. '83. One of my first assignments was to fly out to Okinawa with a couple other engineers and upgrade the Nav computers on two of the 71's at Kadena. The security around the hangars was what first caught my attention...Air Force MP's at the gates and then what looked like a platoon of Marines closer to the hangars. What a beautiful and incredibly capable aeroplane the 71's were (a retired Principal Aerospace/Computer Engineer with Lockheed Martin's Aero and Missile Systems companies).
I was just an A1C when I was stationed at Kadena. One night a group of friends took us over to Habu Hill to watch the last SR71 take off from the base forever. The pilot put it into AB before letting up on the brakes. You could see every stage of the afterburner. It was awesome!! It’s been over 35 years now and I still remember it like it was yesterday
Oh man, that thing is a beast, and not just because of its capabilities. It required an army of people to look after and prep it, with everyone giving 100% to the effort. Such an impressive machine, but even more impressive people! Salute to the mechanics, technicians, engineers, and of course pilots and WSOs.
When I was a kid living on Beale USAF base in California these SR-71’s used to take off right over our Air Force quarters. It was an amazing experience! I loved running outside to watch them roar over our house as they soared into the sky. Later, when I was an Operations Specialist (Radar man) in the United States Navy stationed on the guided missile destroyer USS Towers (DDG-9), I tracked an SR-71 doing at least Mach 3.0 flying at an altitude of 80,000 feet. It was only visible on our air search radar for one sweep - then it was gone. Amazing aircraft.
I happened to come across your story while a kid at beale AFB, noticed the name Duffy,Did you happen to go to Wheatland Bear river or Wheatland Highschool ,l grew up during the SR-71 Close to the base
I was stationed down the road from Kadena at MCAS Futema in 1975. You could hear it take off from halfway across the island. We went up to Kadena several times to watch the "launch". Absolutely F'ing Amazing!!!
I worked on the RC-135's, and KC-135Q's and A's. I also watched them taking off from a hangar right next to the SR-71. We used to call them Habu's after a venomous snake on Okinawa.
Saw one take off on a morning run about that same time frame. Just got off the midwatch at Hanza and on my way home. I saw the tankers taxiing. Got home and got my son and his two friends and drove to the observation point by the runway. The pilot must have known he had an audience. When he passed us he was already wheels up about 20 ft off the runway. Once he got to the end he went almost vertical. The afterburner flame is almost as long as the plane, and LOUD!
I “rode launch” nearly every time one flew from Beale. We followed the Sled to the hammerhead. When those afterburners lit, it violently shook the walls in our van. We were required to be 200 feet away, but the absolute thunder was still painful. In the years I was there, it just did not get old!
I'm a Phantom Phixer stationed @Kadena 1976(TAC side) who worked across the runway from the Habu(SAC side) hangers, night take off's were the best. One night while towing a plane to the paint shop on the SAC side we were stopped in the middle of in-between the two main runways so Habu could take off, it was awesome when Habu went pass us gear up.
July 1985 Dayton Ohio i was up close and personal with a NASA SR-71 landing for the united states airshow and i have one of the best pictures of it with the orange chute fully deployed. THE most prettiest planes every built. and i was able to get to see the cockpit too. wow what a memory!!!!!
I was with 12th Marines on Okinawa from 1986 to 1990. I was fortunate to have seen the “Habu” depart and arrive many times, to include once below us when we were arriving by air coming into Futenma MCAS. At one point we lived outside Kadena Gate 1 in Sunabe (end of runway on East China Sea side); a great place to see, hear, and feel her take off. The afterburners at night on the video were quite nostalgic for me. But it is hard to describe the deep rumble you hear and feel...that lingers on and on when she takes off. We had many items fall off shelves in our apartment courtesy of the Blackbird. Closest thing for sound maybe a rocket launch. Thanks for the video.
Stationed at Camp Kuwae Hospital from late '71 to early '72. We were just south of Kadena. Every now and then I'd catch one of these taking off. Very impressive.
I used to ride launch truck for the KC-135's from 1979 to 1982 at RAF Mildenhall in England. When the SR-71 would launch before dawn, we would park the truck at the end of the taxiway just a few hundred feet away. Watching that great ringed purple flame strip the paint off the runway was a thrill no matter how many times I watched it!
I saw one take off at night from Kadena (ze spyplane base) while on the N edge of camp Foster on Okinawa around 1985. It was loud then I saw the blue afterburners ignite and the whole aircraft seemed to blip out of existence! Amazing!
My father was an Air Force (then Commercial) pilot and flew many aircraft, with the F-4 being his favorite ride. He was a big fan of the SR-71 and always told me stories of the rumors that fellow pilots would share about the YF / SR. When I was younger, he bought me an Audio CD that was sounds of the SR-71, and if I recall, Track #2 and was the audio of the V8 cart starting the port engine. I lost him last year at the young age of 77, suddenly, and I really regret that I wasn't able to share this video with him. He would have enjoyed this footage. One of my favorite stories he shared: While stationed at Macdill, early in his flying days, an SR-71 had needed to land there one evening (he said most likely due to a mechanical, or perhaps training). He mentioned nobody was allowed to be outside, and they were never able to see the aircraft, but they did hear it. None of the pilots ever got any info out of the MPs or maintenance. The only reason they knew it was an SR-71 (he did say it could have been a YF) was that they wouldn't go through the trouble of locking the base down and shutting the flight line for anything else at that time. This was back when Cuba was still a hot topic. If anyone knows pilots, they love to be modest, so I'm sure the actual experience was pure excitement at the base.
Former AF Major here. I was TDY at Elmendorf AFB, AK in 1981 and stayed in VOQ right on the runway. I never saw a SR-71. A colleague told me that at that time they started the plane in the hanger and taxied directly to the runway and take-off after getting clearance. So, they were in the air within one minute after leaving the hanger. So I never saw one take off. That Colleague also told me that a typical flight was leave Elmendorf and hit a tanker. Fly to San Diego and hit a tanker, Fly across Mexico and Cuba. Photograph Cuba. Hit a tanker near Key West, FL; fly to Maine and hit a tanker. Fly to Alaska. Total time 4 hours.
This brings back memories for me. I got to participate in Team Spirit and Cope Thunder exercises in the mid eighties. While heading back to the states from Clark AFB, the C5 we were riding had a windshield bird strike and we had to land at Okinawa overnight for repairs. Got to see the blackbird take off the next day. What an awesome sight!...will never forget it.
I was stationed with the 376th Avionic Maintenance Squadron from 1971 to 1973, across the street from the Beale Detachment of SR-71s and many times stopped to listen to the unmuffled sound of the big block V8s running in tandem to pump enough air to fire up the giant engines of the SRs. They sounded like they were about to float the valves when all of a sudden they were overshadowed by the sound of the Jet Engine starting. What an awesome sound as it's revs rose to cover the sounds of the car engines doing their very best. They could be heard briefly again just before the second engine started as the V8s were maxing out. From across the street we didn't hear all the various noises that masked the sounds in this video. Many were the graveyard shifts I rode the launch truck to do any last minute repairs to the KC-135s we were launching, up to 110 sorties a day. Then once in awhile they'd light up the night with the beautiful exhaust as they accelerated down the runways and pulled up in what looked like about a 40 degree climb and I swear we could see the exhausts for several minutes till they finally winked out as they leveled off to be refueled. That's just a guess, I know they leaked a lot of fuel till the skin got hot and sealed up the tanks. But what a magnificent thing to have seen. I would love to see a video of the launches at 3 AM. There's nothing like the view and I don't expect there's ever going to be a more impressive takeoff of any aircraft nor any aircraft ever as impressive as the SR-71s. It's a shame they cost so much to operate and (as far as I know) mothballed.
Saw her once as a kid in mildenhall or lakenheath. My dad was with 99th Strat Wing Det 1 on RC’s. Loudest bird ever and those afterburners rattled everything on base. Loved every second of it all. Being a SAC BRAT was the best life
This is probably the best video I have seen of the SR71. I don’t know why it hasn’t blown up like the other SR videos. Everything that made that plane unique, it showed it. My father was a mechanic on one in Vietnam. It really kinda brings it all to light, everything he told me over the years. Right down to the guys putting thr screws in the body with their manual drills, to the leaking fuel everywhere, and the afterburners.
@@josephastier7421 Same thing. Speed wrench, speed handle, some old timers called them speed cranks or crank handle. I have even heard them called an "offset" handle at a yard sale.
US Army, 1969. Driving a jeep along the road in Kadena City that paralleled the runway. Felt a vibration then heard the roar of the engines and an SR71 took off right next to us. Most amazing thing I'd ever seen at the time. Heard it for quite a while after it left. In the '80s, had a neighbor in CA who had been an F-4 REO and AF Academy graduate that had volunteered for a back seater class for the SR71 but dropped out because of claustrophobia.
My Dad worked at Edwards AFB and we got to go out and watch the SR-71. I was in awe as a 9 year old. We even got to watch the first time the shuttle was loaded on the back of the 747. We couldn't take any pictures but my Dad got some from a Col. I hated the desert but loved being at the base when my Dad could take us.
I hope whoever filmed this lived a long and happy life. My Grandpa had a picture of the SR-71 framed on his wall when I was a kid. Could've sworn it was a spaceship back then. Loved this jet ever since.
So many lucky people to have actually seen this beast fly. Just saw one in person the other day, a retired one at a museum. Jaw dropping stunner. What a beauty. Imagine being in it at near space 90,000 feet going over Mach 3. 🤯
I grew up in the Sacramento area in the 70s and we would see Blackbirds come and go from Beale all the time. When ever we saw one, everyone would stop and watch as it flew over.
@@FlashCadallic now I could be mistaken it could have been Beale that I was around, been a long while. The only thing I remember is driving out in the desert, and there was an aqueduct a few miles away we always stopped at, and I remember a fuel dump area across the road.
@@FlashCadallic yeah, we moved up to the Sacramento area from San Jose in 1985, and my elementary school was in a small town called Shingle Springs, El Dorado County. We spotted them frequently, since we were only about 60 miles south of Beale.
@@madmax2069 If you are mentioning a desert, Beale wasn't the place, as it's in a farmland which yields to the Sierra foothills. You might be thinking of Edwards, down in SoCal, which was another AFB that the Blackbird flew in and out of.
What an absolutely incredible flying machine. I remember being at Ontario Place for the Air Show during the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in the70's when the SR71 flew directly overhead. I remember looking up into the engine exhaust and hearing the crackle of the engines and feeling of the vibration in the ground on which I was sitting as it started its climb. It was something I will never forget. Apparently, on its way back to California it also did a fly-by at an air show in Cleveland before continuing on to its home base in California. Imagine, how ludicrous would this seem 100 years ago: flying from California to Toronto to Cleveland and back to California in only a matter of a few hours? As I said, it was something I will never forget.
What a beautiful aircraft! I worked on these (DAFICS tech) at Beale AFB from 1984 to 1987. I NEVER got tired of watching them launch, especially at night. What memories! Thanks for posting this awesome video.
I was there 81 - 84 in the 9th AMS (comm tech). I did go out to the end of the runway in the AMS truck for night takeoffs a couple of times. Loudest sound I've ever heard.
I used to stand in the school yard at Mercy Elementary School, in Ginowan City, Okinawa, and watch "The Habu" (as it was called on Oki) take off from Kadena AFB, for daylight missions of Vietnam (or Laos, or Cambodia, or...). This was in '68 and '69 when I was just a lil, ili kid. I will NEVER forget that experience.
Sitting in my c-123k, 15:30, waiting on time to go home.. then this beautiful aircraft landed and taxied up directly behind my plane. I was in a stupor, thought I knew all usaf aircraft..but what the heck was this? This was in 1966…. I think only those lucky folks assigned to the blackbird knew about it. I walked down the ramp of my 123 and talked with the pilot. Lost power and decided to land at nearest base, which was us, England afb in Louisiana. Pilot said if I want to check out the cockpit be quick about it, the AP’s will be here any second. Several minutes later here they came with lights and siren. The bird stayed there a few days and several support folks from Beale I think came and repaired it. We swapped our air commando hats for sr 71 coffee cups. Watched it take off and it was some impressive. Got in trouble for swapping our hats for cups,but it was worth it. Still have mine today. By the way, pilot was the nicest pilot I ever met…
In the late 1980's I deployed to Kadena AFB, Okinawa with a US Navy P3B Orion unit. One afternoon I was on bus driving on the perimeter road around the runways when we watched a SR71 Blackbird, known in Okinawa as the Habu, a deadly black snake, doing a fast taxi to the end of the runway. It didn't even even slaw down when it turned on to the runway and firewall it. The bus windows shook as flame shot out of the exhaust and the plane rotated and climbed like a homesick angel. A couple of days later we were on the bus going around the end of the runway and I saw an SR71 on final approach. Both times, my camera's were in my flight bag. Imagine an SR71 coming straight at you getting larger every second. Never get two chances at that!
This videos is beyond cool! I grew up near Edwards AFB in the 80s and remember seeing nearly every military jet under the sun…even as a kid I knew it was special. Sonic booms abound too with so many different tests happening. My father worked at Edwards AFB for several decades and I remember all the awesome air shows they used to hold back then. So cool, so many memories, so many planes. A bunch of our family’s friends were in the aviation industry too, so it was like a bit of a subculture of its own out there. Our neighbor was a Blackbird maintainer and was married to a lady from Okinawa. I would love to go back and experience it all again. Truly special!
Lol we'd have been neighbors then I imagine. I don't remember much outside of this giant hill we used to ride cardboard boxes down when it rained lol. My dad used to take me to see the sr71s take off from time to time, was exceptionally cool.
@@craiglizt8074 lol, it definitely helped ignite my passion for planes as a child. I think i remember the beaches most fondly, nothing like that in america lol. But yea, as a kid, I didnt realize how rare it was being able watch these things take off... hell how *close* we were able to be as well lol. My dad flew those RC-135s, which he would swear were "just as cool" but try telling that to a 5 year old haha.
I remember being sent to Kadena TAD from Iwakuni for a couple months in '76. We were housed on the same side as the 71. We used to watch it taxi by and take off. We always knew when it was heading out because there would be 3 KC-135s taking of prior at different intervals to set up the fueling stations. It would take off and do almost a max climb up past where we could see. The Okinawans called it The Habu, for that black snake. Loved watching this video. Brought back many memories!
I was TAD with a VP-4 P3 crew on Diego Garcia in 1980 or so. We would park our plane about midway with respect to the runway after our missions. All the way at the southern end of the runway was a medium sized hanger that we could not really figure out. First night we were there at about 0300 we were woken up by an enormous roar. When we asked about it the next day, a CB (the vast majority of the sailors on the island at the time) told us, "oh that is just the SR-71 guys". Pre-flight times for our missions were never that early so we did not get a chance to see it happen but it sounded way awesome!!
I was at camp foster 88/89. We could hear that wonderful bird light up so many times! It was so loud! I remember seeing it across the flight deck in its own hanger at the end of the runway. So dang cool!!!!
It was designed to fly the whole mission with the afterburners on. The heat was 7/10 on these Pratt and Whitney engines that they actually expanded 6 inches in length. Jp7 fuel was needed for this engine. The engineers were geniuses.
@@thomasschmitt1141 sorry Thomas. The way it drank JP7 it would have been out of fuel within an hour with full burners. Actually, once it got to altitude and they balanced the Shockwave in the inlet they bled 80% of the Air thru thr forward bypass doors and it reentered into the exhaust for most of its thrust.
It's a great aircraft, exceptional design but the sheer time required for prep and fuelling has made it insanely expensive to keep running. But as described by so many below the ultra brain-shaking boom as those awesome ramjet afterburners light up is breath-taking. I 1st heard and saw it at Lakenheath in the UK, at an air show when I was 10 I think, before then I'd only seen it in the books my dad used to keep. Utterly awesome aircraft.
My dad took us every year throughout the 80s and early 90s to Lakenheath and Mildenhall air shows. I always remember the smell of America with all the bbqs and jet fuel smells. 😂
One of these is hanging in the entrance of the strategic air command museum in Ashland Nebraska outside of Omaha . These things are a crazy sight in person , the most unique aircraft ever built.
“Many people believe we refueled after takeoff because the aircraft leaked fuel so profusely that we needed to fuel up quickly,” says Col. Richard H. Graham. “We had to refuel right after takeoff for only one reason, and it wasn’t because we leaked JP-7 fuel on the ground. Yes, the plane does leak fuel, but not enough to require refueling after takeoff. “The JP-7 fuel reaches temperatures well over 300 degrees F. during Mach 3 cruise. , making the fumes in each of the six fuel tanks very volatile and potentially explosive. The metal skin of the aircraft approaches 400 degrees F., adding to the volatility of the fuel inside the tanks. One of our aircraft limitations was a maximum speed of Mach 2.6 without an inert atmosphere inside the fuel tanks. “The aircraft had three liquid nitrogen Dewar flasks containing 260 liters of liquid nitrogen, located in the nose wheel well. The only way to ensure 100 percent inert atmosphere in each fuel tank was to refuel the plane inflight completely full of JP-7, allowing ambient air in each fuel tank to vent overboard. Once full of fuel, gaseous nitrogen would now dominate each fuel tank’s empty space above as it burned off JP-7. The nitrogen gas pressurized each fuel tank to 1.5 psi above ambient pressure and inerts the space above the heated fuel to prevent autogenous ignition. This is why we refueled after takeoff." "Then we could safely accelerate beyond Mach 2.6.” “There was one other way of achieving tank inerting, called a Yo-Yo. but this was a maintenance nightmare. A few of our missions required the SR-71 to accelerate to Mach 3+ right after takeoff with a 65,000-pound fuel load. The Yo-Yo procedure had the crew chief completely refuel the plane to full tanks of 80,000 pounds of fuel. Then, with the nitrogen pressurization system working, they de-fueled 15,000 pounds of JP-7, ending up with a 65,000 pound fuel load and a plane that was capable of going immediately to Mach 3+.”
I was in Cryogenics 1970-1971 at Kadena AFB. Many a night SR-71 would take off and "rattle" the base. Our plant facility was very close to the flight line. Nice memories of SR-71 and Kadena AFB.
How amazing this video would be if it were filmed in 4k or by a cell phone of todays capabilities. Regardless, still an amazing video of an incredible aircraft. My favorite aircraft of all time by far. I wish I could have see and experienced her awesome power in person. I’m thankful we have TH-cam.
Best Blackbird footage ever. The crew looks like they are about to go into outer space, and i guess...they almost are! What an incredible machine ; notice at the beginning that the plane appears to be leaking fuel all over, and that's because on the ground the airframe had to be "loose" as at altitude and speed it expanded!
I did a 6 month TDY on Okinawa at Kadena rebuilding J75's for the F106 unit from Dover that was up in Korea. I got to see a 71 come in for a landing when I was at the end of the runway it passed low right overhead. Later got sent to Udorn Thailand for F4's and from there to Mather in Ca to work on B52's and KC135's. Beal AFB was down the road where the SR71's were stationed and got to see it a few times more. It was an incredibal aircraft.
I had the honor of working with the guys that invented the spy radar that went in the nose of the SR-71, also a few of the maintenance personnel that worked on the plane when it was stationed in Germany (I think). It did leak fuel on the ground but at mach 3.2 (2300 mph) and 80,000+ ft everything got hot and sealed up. The Pratt and Whitney J-58 at altitude and speed was designed to run at full afterburner for as long as they liked. The air could be 45 below zero but the shock wave at the inlet of the engine would heat up to 800 deg F and the engine would swell up a couple of inches in diameter and 6 inches in length! An engineering masterpiece! Fantastic stuff!
@@mikewilkerson7619 I worked for Lockheed M&DS Reconnaissance. I worked with the old guys that help invent SAR. It was installed in the Blackbird and yes it can look down or sideways, reflect off the atmosphere and create images of stuff on the ground the size of a basketball. While I was at Lockheed we built Synthetic Aperture Radar systems and installed it in 6 "spy" reconnaissance planes for Korea. Sorry if I misspoke about Germany, its been 24 years ago I had that conversation.
My father stationed at Kadena '70-72. Piloted RC-135, Hog nose we called it. I was 10 yrs old when we lived there. Loved watching the Habu's taking off and landing.
worked in palmdale in early 80's. saw a 71 about to takeoff so I pulled over to watch. Perfectly clear blue sky day. from takeoff in front of me, turned north, became a speck , to out of my 20/20 sight in 30 seconds. I timed it on my watch.
I was in the Navy during this time attached to an Anti-Submarine Patrol squadron flying the P-3 Orion. We had a pretty much permanent Detachment stationed at Kadena Air Base and I spent a LOT of months there when on deployment. We knew when the Blackbird was going to fly because of the tanker aircraft that would take off some 30 minutes beforehand. Kadena had KC-135's at the time and they still had the original style engines, very loud and belching black smoke trying to lift all the fuel that the thirsty Blackbird would need. There would be five or six tankers go back to back to line up ahead of the '71 and that always got our attention. Our hanger was not too far from the Blackbird and we were able to see it taxi out, fuel pouring out of the cold leaky tanks. I witnessed a couple night launches and the light off of the afterburners was a sight to be seen. Thanks for posting this video, brought back some great memories for me. Funny that just yesterday a conversion with friends somehow turned to discussing the Blackbird, this video is exactly the "sea story" I was telling my buddies. I'll be showing them this video tomorrow! USN AMS2 85-93
I am a 66 year old Woman.... and this is the most magnificent, outrageously, awesome. wicked and beautiful but dangerous aircraft that makes my heart flip and brings me such joy! Crazy right? I don't understand it but I love it, seriously.
I was a young SP at Beale in the 80's. They often launched the SR in the early morning and I'd pull right up on the taxiway to watch. To this day, I've never seen a more impressive exhibition of power than the Blackbird lighting up at dawn.
When I was a kid, I sat in a green pickup with my friend and his dad to watch an SR71 take off at Beale around 1980. I wonder if you were the guy driving the truck?
I was stationed at March AFB in 1989 when the SR-71 'retired', supposedly, for the first time. My brother was visiting from Langley, he was Air Force too. We were both able to walk right up to it after it cooled down, No Touching! He wanted better pictures of the upper surfaces so I put him on my shoulders. SP inquired if we were trying to get on the aircraft. I responded by half turning with my brother and stating: 'No, I am just a bi-pod.' Brother shows camera and SP cracks up.
Late 80s. I was there at Kadena when Habu was there. Det 1. Got to see (and hear) that thing take off every time. The whole island shook. Spectacular marvel to behold.
Ironically In the late 80s I was holding short for take off in my USMC CH-46E at Kadena AFB…tower radios…”Hold immediately… traffic to your left”….”roger tower, holding short.” A few seconds later the Habu (SR-71) is passing my left side, enters the runway turning left and full throttles away she goes…into an almost vertical climb to meet the tanker for fuel. SR-71s burned so much gas on take-off an immediate tanker plug was required to continue their reconnaissance mission. I had my brand new Sony VHS Camcorder in the cockpit, but by the time I gave my co-pilot the sticks, and turned on the tape recorder, Habu had already rocketed toward the heavens. A truly remarkable Skunks Works group of genius engineers with simple slide rules designed and built the SR-71. A cornerstone in our long history of Democracy.
ECS mechanic 961st AWACS Kadena AB 82-83 we were on the SAC side by the SR-71 truly a amazing aircraft as well as the E-3A Sentry. I was blessed to have seen it as well as the U2 TDY at Osan AB Korea. I've worked on many fighter aircraft during my tour at Eglin AFB in the armament division 3211 FMS.
My neighbor on Kadena was a flight mech on the SR. He got me a tour of it so I was in that hanger in 1984. Wow what an experience. I was in a vehicle on the runway as it took off. Talk about loud. The fluid on the floor is the fuel. You could toss a match on it and it wouldn't ignite. Wish I could have got up to the cockpit but that wasn't allowed..lol...wonder why. Got a really good photo of it looking out at the East China Sea just before take-off. About a week before I left to return to the States my neighbor came by with a photo signed by the pilots and RSO. Still have it on my hallway wall in my house.
I would love to hear the starter carts revving to 6000RPM on IMAX, then the after burners kick in, I was up close and personal with an Sr-72 while I was stationed at Fairchild AFB in 1980 as I was selected to secure the aircraft over night in one of our hangers!! It was a two man policy posting as we marveled at the aircraft!!!
I was Kadena AFB in 1977 and 1978 with my Marine Harrier Squadron 542 Det B. Saw these takeoffs frequently and was awe inspiring as the blue flames climbed. Semper Fi!
My neighbor worked for the det, and one night before it flew off for the last time he grabbed me and took me to that hanger. The plane was in there ready to go, and I got to run the start cart. I remember the wreckage of the plane that had gone down near Luzon was stacked up on pallets and we checked that out. It was an ultra rare treat.
![[FUTURE MISSILES] Stealth and Hypersonic Weapons Are Coming! Inside MBDA](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q1Jags0Cbyk/mqdefault.jpg)
My father was a Major Air force pilot,C-141. We lived in Sanabe over looking Kadena air base 70,72. My brothers and I knew the sound of every aircraft. When the SR-71 started we ran out to watch it take off. It was AWESOME. Saw it at night take off,saw landings when the red dragchutes popped out. My 3 brothers and got fly in the C-5A 3 times, Okinawa to Alaska to Japan back to Okinawa. We were lucky. Dad passed away 5yrs ago 82 Lt Colonel. He was in and out Vietnam for 10 years of his 20yr service. My hero!
I knew the sound also. Stationed on the rock USMC 1978-1979. Flew there is a C141 starlifter after they ran out of room on a flying tiger airplane.
Great times they were.
@@josephhann8844Japanese called it "Habu" the only snake on the island. my oldest brother was bitten by one, spent 2weeks at Ft.Buckner hospital. Yes it is poisonous!
Brings back great memories while at Kadena 72
mine too❤❤
Mine, too, wish I'd could have known him.
The SR-71 still holds the world record for the coolest airplane ever built.
Sucker still looks like it’s from the future.
To bad it just took pictures.
F22: *coughNOTCOOLESTcough*
@@alexy6093 it’s an opinion let the guy be
Maybe not coolest but still fastest
@@alexy6093 What is cooler than the SR-71? Srsly I'm willing to change my mind on this one.
HOLY SHT! When he hit those afterburners!!! MY GOODNESS!
I. Had. A. Climax
This is just the most awesome plane on this planet.
Wow!
The sound of the afterburners kicking in must have felt insane in person.
I heard it on takeoff several times in the middle of the night im 50 miles south of beale afb and it rattled the windows on my house. This was in the 80s. Incredibly powerful
TBH you never heard the sound in the cockpit. The only thing you felt was the slight kick left then right as they kicked in asynchronously.
OK I must point out that that wet floor, it's not water, it's jet fuel! at ground level the SR-71's tanks leaked like a sieve. That's why they had to climb to altitude fairly quickly, so the tanks would expand and stop leaking.
@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 They had to catch the tanker first so they could fill up. Altitude didn't make the tanks expand, the heat from traveling at M3 + made the whole aircraft expand.
@@johnarnold893 Yes, you are right. I'd forgotten about that. But it was more about them working in a lake of jet fuel.
The start up is quite a task, taking time. Those fuel leaks on the ground won't seal up until the plane is going really FAST , heat builds up and the titanium stretches, and THEN the fuel lines are tight for the duration of the fast time at altitude. So love watching a night 'launch' as they correctly label this video,,when those burners ignite and va-VOOM it's rocketing down the runway and those guys are 'astronauts' half an hour later when they reach their altitude. It still is the most amazing plane - ever. Analog computers, hand calculated in design, and still the best ever. No wonder people believe in alien technology being reverse engineered when we come up with a plane like this. Just look straight at the front of the plane on the runway with the heat waves coming off the pavement. It's dam spooky.
Watching the SR-71 take off with the Afterburner lit is just like watching my Toyota 4 Runner Limited drive down the interstate early in the morning going to work.
My favorite jet ever! Just seeing those afterburners light up- you just know everything is going to be alright!
Got to see one take off very early in the morning in 1981 while I was stationed at Anderson AFB Guam. So Amazing!!
@@DonSmock-s5w Totally, I was a 5th grader in Northern California and they were a common sight, as we were about 30 miles south of Beale.
From 1972-1975, I was a navigator on C-141's in the 20 MAS out of Dover AFB. Our "West trips" to Viet Nam overnighted at Kadena on the way back to Dover. One evening as we were taxiing out for a departure to Elmendorf AFB, an SR-71 followed us out. We watched him pass us as we were climbing out to the north. We heard him on the ATC radio being cleared to 60,000 and above and "to have a nice ride" Was something to see and experience.
Welcome home thank you for your service. 👍👍👍
Love this comment Thankyou 👍
I live 2 miles from dover afb. The mobility command museum there now is very cool
In Sept. of 1968 I was scheduled to fly to Viet Nam on Braniff Airlines. We were all excited about flying on Braniff and then something happened that they had to cancel the flight so they loaded us up on a C-141 Starlifter and flew us over on that. We had stops on Hawaii, Wake Island and the Philippines. It was a beautiful silver bird not painted camouflage like present day aircraft. I remember stepping out of the aircraft in Hawaii and marveling at the huge amount of condensation dripping off of the shiny surface of the plane.
@@davidhile5363 Thankyou I enjoyed your descriptive comment. And that you were able to make it following & assuming your service in Viet Nam.
Man, when they said it leaked, they sure weren't kidding...lol
This video is an absolute treasure!!
They would monitor the drips per minute and re-seal a leaking seam when it got too bad.
@@Guysm1l3y Friggin crazy...I can't imagine we'll ever have such a legendary plane again.
My former business partner was an SR-71 mechanic. He said the fuel leaking on the ground was by design to provide gaps for thermal expansion as the airplane heated up from its airspeed. They were required to use special tools when working on the airplane that had no magnesium in their alloy, since any scrape on the plane could leave magnesium that at that speed could ignite and burn a hole.
@@HQBergeron It seemed that one panel took forever to bolt on on the right side after start up of the right engine.
CRAZY THAT TILL THIS DAY THEY NEVER FIND AWAY TO DEAL WITH THOSE LEAKS KELLY JOHNSON WAS ANS STILL IS THE BEST AIRCRAFT DESIGNER IN HISTORY GO SKUNK WORKS LOL
Wow. This video of the SR-71 is pure gold. No "Discovery Wings" narration or music, just the footage & sounds of the actual preflight operations, taxi, & take off of this amazing aircraft. Thanks very much to whoever took this video & to who posted it to TH-cam! This video could be as good as it gets for watching SR-71 ground operations & take off, short of actually watching it all in person.
Took the words right out of my mouth
The way it was intended
aint no question
Was stationed at Camp Foster, Oki 79-80, lived near Kadena AFB and saw quite a few Habu takeoffs and landings over our apartment. Unforgetable sight and chest pounding feeling.
Heyyyyyyyyy, this video is sick but so was Wings
Kelly Johnson at his best! Awesome!
Afterburners are like the gates of hell opening up
Incredible, goosebumps
and while in flight they are NOT momentary or burst, they are sustained afterburners for over an hour
Love the start carts. Dual unmuffled flamethrowing 400hp Buick 401 engines. Too cool.
And so loud we could hear them in the office of the hangar just opposite the taxiway they took out of the hangar. I always came out to watch when I heard them fire up. We however were not allowed to point a camera at it.
@@MaddogMike-444cool stuff, I was an AGE mechanic myself I didn’t fly a lot but I loved being out on the line.
Hearing those start carts must've been the same as being on a NASCAR track!
I had heard that if the start cart wasn't disengaged quickly after the jet engine started it would over-rev the Buick engine and blow it to pieces.
Were the start carts air generators to power air starters, or were they electric starters on the engines fed by generators on the start carts?
When those afterburners lite I get chills. I have seen several of these birds in Museums. Something to behold. Built with sliderules and sheer genius imagination.
I just pumped my fist when I saw the after burners light off on take off! Gives me chills too.
Yep, burner light gave me goose bumps....the sound and the immediate effect. Its a shame they didn't have 4K video back then.
@@michaellefevers4248 film can be digitized to 4k
...and screws. They used some screws.
Awesome. I am pretty sure we all watched the Biggest Afterburners in Uncle Sams War Machine Lite off. Very Impressive. I dont remember ever seeing Afterburners Flame On bigger than what we just saw. And I worked F-4 C/D and F-16C in the USAF.
Best film ever. Shows the whole start procedure and then the takeoff, which is just awesome.
Canada Russ here, WOW.. just WOW! in my next life im gonna be a sr71 pilot..
I remember watching the movie D.A.R.Y.L. and loving every min of it.
In the mid 1980's, I was a young Marine Captain on Okinawa that was lucky enough to see all of this live. I had my camera and was told that no pictures could be taken in the hanger, and certainly no pictures of the gentlemen there in civilian clothing. We got into the chase vehicle, an old Chevy station wagon, and led the Blackbird to the runway. We were only about 50 yards away when the afterburners lit and the heavens opened. Was fortunate to go out to dinner with the backup crew and then returned to see it return from its mission. Fabulous experience.
I was fortunate to see it parked and then take off.Was on deployment to Kadena with Marine Fighter Squadron with Ordnance support.
Loved the chow at Chappy James Chow Hall.
@@larrywilliams5490 I worked for the DCM upstairs center hangar I had to listen to that noise for four years.....lol I was ready to leave. (78-82) AF Retired :)
@@leonard5606 Like B.B.King. “The thrill is gone “ 😏
Marine Aviation Ordnance 79-90 🫡🇺🇸
Starting the SR-71 engines with V8 generators is the most American thing I've ever seen in my life.
I recently went to the Air Museum in Kalamazoo, Mi. just to see the blackbird and the staring cart with the 2 Buick Nailhead engines. Warms my heart seeing that stuff. The Blackbird they have there is the one with two canopies that I think was built for NASA, by the way. I saw a video about the carts with a Pratt & Whitney engineer who loved the Buicks in those carts. He explained how those V8s would blow up if they weren't disconnected quickly enough as the Blackbirds engines were getting up to idle speed.
LOL!! That's funnier than hell, two years later! 🤡
@@PhilipMcCaigI supposed they pumped compressed air into them.
I lived out Gate 4 on that side of the base and the first time I heard one of those Buick engine's running I couldn't figure out why I heard that unmistakable sound (I worked on cars in high school) coming from the base then found out later where it came from.
@@colinashby3775 They used a splined driveshaft.
This is hands down the highest quality SR-71 Flight Video I’ve ever seen.
I dunno, looks pretty bad to me. Very overdone AI upscale, all the straight lines are wobbling like jelly and nobody has a face lol.
Yes I agree. Was it too good? I'm looking at the fuel leaking out of the aircraft. I have heard of these things but, who ever did this video did an incredible job. All of the prep to get htis thing in the air is incredible.
@@1chrisanderson Agreed, this is the worst AI upscaling I've ever seen
Being 9 years old and knowing my dad had to go to work every day to work on the bird was so awesome, just standing on the side of the runway and feeling the power of it as it took off , I can still remember the first time, and the first time sitting in it.
Knowing it can go from LA TO NEW YORK IN 65 MINUTES AND NOTHING COULD CATCH IT. SO AMAZING .
More space ship than aircraft!
And yet your dad named you cifford....
@@Dragunov1111 his dad had the same name?
@@Dragunov1111 L comment
The space shuttle could
I was stationed at Kadena Air Base 1980-82 and was so privileged and thrilled to see "The Habu" take off and land many times. When that thing did a night launch, everyone on the island knew it. Absolutely incredible!
Is “habu” what the locals called the sr-71?
@@rugerdern1554 Yes, the locals thought the shape of the SR-71 looked like a venomous viper called a Habu which is a species of snake in Okinawa, Japan. The name stuck so the pilots and crews also called it the Habu. It seemed fitting for Okinawa. I loved it!
@@janekilmer9610Aren't there patches for the flight suits with the snake as an emblem?
@@hugejohnson5011 I wasn't lucky enough to interact with any of the flight line crews or pilots but I do remember a patch that actually had the word HABU and an image of the SR-71 but honestly can't remember the snake image. I pretty much had to stand along the fence and drool as I watched it take off and land. Of course the F15's conducting touch and gos were pretty awesome too.
@@janekilmer9610 Some neat memories to have for sure. Until 2019 my employer was situated directly abutting Westover AFB in Massachusetts, and I would see the C5 Galaxy in and out nearly daily, as this was a main base for them here in the Northeast U.S. It awed me to see something that big floating in to land! Let alone taking off! They make my tractor trailer seem like a flea by comparison! Thanks for the feedback!
The image quality of this video is amazing. You can tell its been stabilized and de-noised, but still, for the late 80's? This has to be one of the nicest pieces of SR-71 footage ever released. What a moment.
That's probably a japanese camera right there lol.
And, in the late '80s, video technology was pretty advanced. It's not as if an artist was chiselling the scenes into rocks.
I'd guess the original was captured on 16mm film, then later digitized. It has the look of 16mm in an a quality camera.
Was stationed at Kadena, Okinawa Japan back in 1977. The ONLY WOMAN Crew Chief on the SR-71's. I Loved those Blackbirds!
Thank you for your service, ma'am !!
@@Mamahabu The Habu!
The only snake on Okinawa, and poisonous. My oldest brother was bitten by one, spent 2weeks in hospital Ft.Buckner. The Habu.
So hot and humid in Oki. Loved watching the Habu take off. 45+ years ago already...
You rock!
So proud to have worked for Pratt & Whitney for 40 years. Dependable Engines Baby.
The engines actually had a tendency to go out when flying at hypersonic speeds, and the pilots would have to restart them. Air wouldn't always flow into the engines correctly at those high speeds. Starved of oxygen, the engines would shut down.
that's along time with the same mob
The genius of Kelly Johnson lives on. The SR-71 is still an awesome machine.
Kelly Johnson was The Second Coming. God made the Skunk Works! 😊
Greatest aircraft ever built. Decades ahead of it's time.
Until they review the no the next generation of that airplane that airplane will remain the hottest airplane that was ever built but I couldn’t believe they got something a lot better than that now and we’re not gonna live long enough to see it revealed I know they say the aurora which is a hypersonic aircraft with scram jet engines is way faster but I’d like to see it
Way ahead of its time the J 58 was the most extreme hybrid engine ever built dude if you wanna see what that was all about Golden click on J 58 that engine was three different types of jets all combined into one the faster it went the less fuel it burned it 90,000 feet that thing burned 20% of the fuel any other jet would’ve burned to go with that speed incredible incredible engine Kelly Johnson was a genius that’s all there is to say about him
Greatest? By what measure? Great? Oh ffs yes! Ahead of its time? No. Exactly what was needed at the time. They were retired 20+ years ago for a reason.
What I mean is stop the hypperbole. Amazing plane, but there were plenty other planes just as groundbreaking.
Indeed. An engineering marvel but terrible overkill and required piles of cash to keep flying. That and the fact that the Russians made it obsolete with the Mig25/31s patrolling the skies at approximately the same altitudes.
@@BigShooterUnaimed
No.
When I was a Flight Engineer on C-141s in the 80s, I saw this exact same takeoff at the same time of day. We had just landed and were taxing in when the tower told us to hold short of the runway that we were about to cross, an aircraft was taking off. It was the SR-71, it went past us with the long blue afterburner flames shooting out the back that look almost as long as the aircraft itself. It took off and started to climb out at a very steep angle. Beautiful, never forgot it.
great experience
Cool but for climb nothing beats the Viper and for cool ya gotta see the Hornet do the Tail Dance
I was in the Army as a firefighter stationed at Ft. Riley KS, back in 1970-71, and I used to fly home (to Sacramento) on an Air Force hop out of Offutt AFB in Omaha. An LSM (logistical support mission) courier flight that left and returned every Monday and Friday. It would drop me off at Beale AFB, and we used to come in and pass right by the hangar where the SR-71 was parked. It was out-of-this-world. Always loved that plane.
The single greatest aircraft ever conceived and produced?
Yes.
No it was the PA-17 Vagabond
..by Piper...
@@truckingbob84 Haha
Runner up is the X-15??
XB-70
@@MakerBoyOldBoy B-58 Hustler?
These people in this video will forever be the ones that worked on and flew the coolest aircraft that will probably ever be made. That machine is a work of art.
Those Chevy V8 powered start carts sound pretty awesome. I love the green flame on ignition
That green flame is caused by an explosion of TEB (Triethylchloroborane) being injected into engine to ignite the fuel being pumped into the afterburners.
You know it's serious business when you walk to your plane in a space suit.
I was right next door in the Navy P-3C hangar, 79 & 80. I got to talk to these guys. I’ll never forget seeing those twin AB light up the night sky! HOOYAH!!
i was hired by Lockheed at a job fair at Georgia Tech in '82 a few weeks before I walked for my undergrad Computer Engineering degree. I started at Burbank in Jan. '83. One of my first assignments was to fly out to Okinawa with a couple other engineers and upgrade the Nav computers on two of the 71's at Kadena. The security around the hangars was what first caught my attention...Air Force MP's at the gates and then what looked like a platoon of Marines closer to the hangars. What a beautiful and incredibly capable aeroplane the 71's were (a retired Principal Aerospace/Computer Engineer with Lockheed Martin's Aero and Missile Systems companies).
I was just an A1C when I was stationed at Kadena. One night a group of friends took us over to Habu Hill to watch the last SR71 take off from the base forever. The pilot put it into AB before letting up on the brakes. You could see every stage of the afterburner. It was awesome!! It’s been over 35 years now and I still remember it like it was yesterday
Oh man, that thing is a beast, and not just because of its capabilities. It required an army of people to look after and prep it, with everyone giving 100% to the effort. Such an impressive machine, but even more impressive people! Salute to the mechanics, technicians, engineers, and of course pilots and WSOs.
When I was a kid living on Beale USAF base in California these SR-71’s used to take off right over our Air Force quarters. It was an amazing experience! I loved running outside to watch them roar over our house as they soared into the sky.
Later, when I was an Operations Specialist (Radar man) in the United States Navy stationed on the guided missile destroyer USS Towers (DDG-9), I tracked an SR-71 doing at least Mach 3.0 flying at an altitude of 80,000 feet. It was only visible on our air search radar for one sweep - then it was gone. Amazing aircraft.
I happened to come across your story while a kid at beale AFB, noticed the name Duffy,Did you happen to go to Wheatland Bear river or Wheatland Highschool ,l grew up during the SR-71 Close to the base
I was stationed down the road from Kadena at MCAS Futema in 1975. You could hear it take off from halfway across the island. We went up to Kadena several times to watch the "launch". Absolutely F'ing Amazing!!!
Yep. I was at Futema in 85-86. Went to watch a few times myself
The green glow of that TEB shot at 2:52 gives me chills every time
My dad piloted the rc-135s from kadena, but he'd take me out to see the sr71s takeoff and do their refuel, was pretty cool experience
I worked on the RC-135's, and KC-135Q's and A's. I also watched them taking off from a hangar right next to the SR-71. We used to call them Habu's after a venomous snake on Okinawa.
I was one of the Refuelers that you saw...
Blackbird singing in the dead of night...
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free.
Fly, you beautiful bird!
Been obsessed with the SR-71 since age 9, still the coolest aircraft of all time
And fastest
And built using a slide rule!!
Saw one take off on a morning run about that same time frame. Just got off the midwatch at Hanza and on my way home. I saw the tankers taxiing. Got home and got my son and his two friends and drove to the observation point by the runway. The pilot must have known he had an audience. When he passed us he was already wheels up about 20 ft off the runway. Once he got to the end he went almost vertical.
The afterburner flame is almost as long as the plane, and LOUD!
I “rode launch” nearly every time one flew from Beale. We followed the Sled to the hammerhead. When those afterburners lit, it violently shook the walls in our van. We were required to be 200 feet away, but the absolute thunder was still painful. In the years I was there, it just did not get old!
I'm a Phantom Phixer stationed @Kadena 1976(TAC side) who worked across the runway from the Habu(SAC side) hangers, night take off's were the best. One night while towing a plane to the paint shop on the SAC side we were stopped in the middle of in-between the two main runways so Habu could take off, it was awesome when Habu went pass us gear up.
i was at Kadena, 87-90, 15 TRS ! I was an imagery tech out in the PPIF.
Hi Ken, I was in Tanker phase then, saw them start and taxi out many times. I witnessed a double launch one time while I was there.
I was born in 1978. I had posters, books and models of the Blackbird all over my room. It was the coolest thing on planet earth for me.
it still is
July 1985 Dayton Ohio i was up close and personal with a NASA SR-71 landing for the united states airshow and i have one of the best pictures of it with the orange chute fully deployed. THE most prettiest planes every built. and i was able to get to see the cockpit too. wow what a memory!!!!!
I was with 12th Marines on Okinawa from 1986 to 1990. I was fortunate to have seen the “Habu” depart and arrive many times, to include once below us when we were arriving by air coming into Futenma MCAS. At one point we lived outside Kadena Gate 1 in Sunabe (end of runway on East China Sea side); a great place to see, hear, and feel her take off. The afterburners at night on the video were quite nostalgic for me. But it is hard to describe the deep rumble you hear and feel...that lingers on and on when she takes off. We had many items fall off shelves in our apartment courtesy of the Blackbird. Closest thing for sound maybe a rocket launch. Thanks for the video.
Stationed at Camp Kuwae Hospital from late '71 to early '72. We were just south of Kadena. Every now and then I'd catch one of these taking off. Very impressive.
I used to ride launch truck for the KC-135's from 1979 to 1982 at RAF Mildenhall in England. When the SR-71 would launch before dawn, we would park the truck at the end of the taxiway just a few hundred feet away. Watching that great ringed purple flame strip the paint off the runway was a thrill no matter how many times I watched it!
I saw one take off at night from Kadena (ze spyplane base) while on the N edge of camp Foster on Okinawa around 1985.
It was loud then I saw the blue afterburners ignite and the whole aircraft seemed to blip out of existence! Amazing!
My father was an Air Force (then Commercial) pilot and flew many aircraft, with the F-4 being his favorite ride. He was a big fan of the SR-71 and always told me stories of the rumors that fellow pilots would share about the YF / SR. When I was younger, he bought me an Audio CD that was sounds of the SR-71, and if I recall, Track #2 and was the audio of the V8 cart starting the port engine. I lost him last year at the young age of 77, suddenly, and I really regret that I wasn't able to share this video with him. He would have enjoyed this footage.
One of my favorite stories he shared: While stationed at Macdill, early in his flying days, an SR-71 had needed to land there one evening (he said most likely due to a mechanical, or perhaps training). He mentioned nobody was allowed to be outside, and they were never able to see the aircraft, but they did hear it. None of the pilots ever got any info out of the MPs or maintenance. The only reason they knew it was an SR-71 (he did say it could have been a YF) was that they wouldn't go through the trouble of locking the base down and shutting the flight line for anything else at that time. This was back when Cuba was still a hot topic. If anyone knows pilots, they love to be modest, so I'm sure the actual experience was pure excitement at the base.
Former AF Major here. I was TDY at Elmendorf AFB, AK in 1981 and stayed in VOQ right on the runway. I never saw a SR-71. A colleague told me that at that time they started the plane in the hanger and taxied directly to the runway and take-off after getting clearance. So, they were in the air within one minute after leaving the hanger. So I never saw one take off.
That Colleague also told me that a typical flight was leave Elmendorf and hit a tanker. Fly to San Diego and hit a tanker, Fly across Mexico and Cuba. Photograph Cuba. Hit a tanker near Key West, FL; fly to Maine and hit a tanker. Fly to Alaska. Total time 4 hours.
This brings back memories for me. I got to participate in Team Spirit and Cope Thunder exercises in the mid eighties. While heading back to the states from Clark AFB, the C5 we were riding had a windshield bird strike and we had to land at Okinawa overnight for repairs. Got to see the blackbird take off the next day. What an awesome sight!...will never forget it.
This is some of the best up-close and personal video of this magnificent machine that I've ever come across!
I was stationed with the 376th Avionic Maintenance Squadron from 1971 to 1973, across the street from the Beale Detachment of SR-71s and many times stopped to listen to the unmuffled sound of the big block V8s running in tandem to pump enough air to fire up the giant engines of the SRs. They sounded like they were about to float the valves when all of a sudden they were overshadowed by the sound of the Jet Engine starting. What an awesome sound as it's revs rose to cover the sounds of the car engines doing their very best. They could be heard briefly again just before the second engine started as the V8s were maxing out. From across the street we didn't hear all the various noises that masked the sounds in this video. Many were the graveyard shifts I rode the launch truck to do any last minute repairs to the KC-135s we were launching, up to 110 sorties a day. Then once in awhile they'd light up the night with the beautiful exhaust as they accelerated down the runways and pulled up in what looked like about a 40 degree climb and I swear we could see the exhausts for several minutes till they finally winked out as they leveled off to be refueled. That's just a guess, I know they leaked a lot of fuel till the skin got hot and sealed up the tanks. But what a magnificent thing to have seen. I would love to see a video of the launches at 3 AM. There's nothing like the view and I don't expect there's ever going to be a more impressive takeoff of any aircraft nor any aircraft ever as impressive as the SR-71s. It's a shame they cost so much to operate and (as far as I know) mothballed.
Saw her once as a kid in mildenhall or lakenheath. My dad was with 99th Strat Wing Det 1 on RC’s. Loudest bird ever and those afterburners rattled everything on base. Loved every second of it all. Being a SAC BRAT was the best life
This is probably the best video I have seen of the SR71. I don’t know why it hasn’t blown up like the other SR videos. Everything that made that plane unique, it showed it. My father was a mechanic on one in Vietnam. It really kinda brings it all to light, everything he told me over the years. Right down to the guys putting thr screws in the body with their manual drills, to the leaking fuel everywhere, and the afterburners.
Those manual crank thingies are socket set accessories for rapidly turning a fastener by hand while limiting torque.
They are called "Speed wrenches" .
@@c.blakerockhart1128 I googled those but they don't look like the thingie I'm referencing. "speed handle" got me closer.
@@josephastier7421 Same thing. Speed wrench, speed handle, some old timers called them speed cranks or crank handle. I have even heard them called an "offset" handle at a yard sale.
@@c.blakerockhart1128 Nice!
SR71 must be one of the most beautiful airplanes of all time. What a privilege it must have been to be one of the few pilots trained to fly it.
Fewer than 100 flew it... what an elite group.
@@gfrerking
89 pilots.
From my understanding NASA has informed that a SR-72 is being built.
Amazing airplane, superb video!
@@helloworld4371 If they were....you wouldn't know about it.
US Army, 1969. Driving a jeep along the road in Kadena City that paralleled the runway. Felt a vibration then heard the roar of the engines and an SR71 took off right next to us. Most amazing thing I'd ever seen at the time. Heard it for quite a while after it left. In the '80s, had a neighbor in CA who had been an F-4 REO and AF Academy graduate that had volunteered for a back seater class for the SR71 but dropped out because of claustrophobia.
My Dad worked at Edwards AFB and we got to go out and watch the SR-71. I was in awe as a 9 year old. We even got to watch the first time the shuttle was loaded on the back of the 747. We couldn't take any pictures but my Dad got some from a Col. I hated the desert but loved being at the base when my Dad could take us.
I hope whoever filmed this lived a long and happy life. My Grandpa had a picture of the SR-71 framed on his wall when I was a kid. Could've sworn it was a spaceship back then. Loved this jet ever since.
So many lucky people to have actually seen this beast fly. Just saw one in person the other day, a retired one at a museum. Jaw dropping stunner. What a beauty. Imagine being in it at near space 90,000 feet going over Mach 3. 🤯
I seen one coming in for a landing when I was near Edward AFB back in the 80s
I grew up in the Sacramento area in the 70s and we would see Blackbirds come and go from Beale all the time. When ever we saw one, everyone would stop and watch as it flew over.
@@FlashCadallic now I could be mistaken it could have been Beale that I was around, been a long while. The only thing I remember is driving out in the desert, and there was an aqueduct a few miles away we always stopped at, and I remember a fuel dump area across the road.
@@FlashCadallic yeah, we moved up to the Sacramento area from San Jose in 1985, and my elementary school was in a small town called Shingle Springs, El Dorado County. We spotted them frequently, since we were only about 60 miles south of Beale.
@@madmax2069 If you are mentioning a desert, Beale wasn't the place, as it's in a farmland which yields to the Sierra foothills. You might be thinking of Edwards, down in SoCal, which was another AFB that the Blackbird flew in and out of.
What an absolutely incredible flying machine. I remember being at Ontario Place for the Air Show during the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in the70's when the SR71 flew directly overhead. I remember looking up into the engine exhaust and hearing the crackle of the engines and feeling of the vibration in the ground on which I was sitting as it started its climb. It was something I will never forget. Apparently, on its way back to California it also did a fly-by at an air show in Cleveland before continuing on to its home base in California. Imagine, how ludicrous would this seem 100 years ago: flying from California to Toronto to Cleveland and back to California in only a matter of a few hours? As I said, it was something I will never forget.
What a beautiful aircraft! I worked on these (DAFICS tech) at Beale AFB from 1984 to 1987. I NEVER got tired of watching them launch, especially at night. What memories! Thanks for posting this awesome video.
spectacular afterburner, shame I never get to see this aircraft in flight
Something to be immensely proud of.
I was there 81 - 84 in the 9th AMS (comm tech). I did go out to the end of the runway in the AMS truck for night takeoffs a couple of times. Loudest sound I've ever heard.
@@dankeifer I was in that same truck. Great memories!
mad scientist aircraft, this is what the USA can do when the brakes are taken off.
Love the sound of those start carts, and the afterburners igniting is incredible
I used to stand in the school yard at Mercy Elementary School, in Ginowan City, Okinawa, and watch "The Habu" (as it was called on Oki) take off from Kadena AFB, for daylight missions of Vietnam (or Laos, or Cambodia, or...). This was in '68 and '69 when I was just a lil, ili kid. I will NEVER forget that experience.
Sitting in my c-123k, 15:30, waiting on time to go home.. then this beautiful aircraft landed and taxied up directly behind my plane. I was in a stupor, thought I knew all usaf aircraft..but what the heck was this?
This was in 1966…. I think only those lucky folks assigned to the blackbird knew about it. I walked down the ramp of my 123 and talked with the pilot. Lost power and decided to land at nearest base, which was us, England afb in Louisiana. Pilot said if I want to check out the cockpit be quick about it, the AP’s will be here any second. Several minutes later here they came with lights and siren. The bird stayed there a few days and several support folks from Beale I think came and repaired it. We swapped our air commando hats for sr 71 coffee cups. Watched it take off and it was some impressive. Got in trouble for swapping our hats for cups,but it was worth it. Still have mine today. By the way, pilot was the nicest pilot I ever met…
Fantastic story - considering the year!
In the late 1980's I deployed to Kadena AFB, Okinawa with a US Navy P3B Orion unit. One afternoon I was on bus driving on the perimeter road around the runways when we watched a SR71 Blackbird, known in Okinawa as the Habu, a deadly black snake, doing a fast taxi to the end of the runway. It didn't even even slaw down when it turned on to the runway and firewall it. The bus windows shook as flame shot out of the exhaust and the plane rotated and climbed like a homesick angel.
A couple of days later we were on the bus going around the end of the runway and I saw an SR71 on final approach. Both times, my camera's were in my flight bag. Imagine an SR71 coming straight at you getting larger every second. Never get two chances at that!
This videos is beyond cool! I grew up near Edwards AFB in the 80s and remember seeing nearly every military jet under the sun…even as a kid I knew it was special. Sonic booms abound too with so many different tests happening. My father worked at Edwards AFB for several decades and I remember all the awesome air shows they used to hold back then. So cool, so many memories, so many planes. A bunch of our family’s friends were in the aviation industry too, so it was like a bit of a subculture of its own out there. Our neighbor was a Blackbird maintainer and was married to a lady from Okinawa.
I would love to go back and experience it all again. Truly special!
Lol we'd have been neighbors then I imagine. I don't remember much outside of this giant hill we used to ride cardboard boxes down when it rained lol. My dad used to take me to see the sr71s take off from time to time, was exceptionally cool.
@@JgHaverty cheers, neighbor! Wasn't it special back then!
@@craiglizt8074 lol, it definitely helped ignite my passion for planes as a child. I think i remember the beaches most fondly, nothing like that in america lol. But yea, as a kid, I didnt realize how rare it was being able watch these things take off... hell how *close* we were able to be as well lol. My dad flew those RC-135s, which he would swear were "just as cool" but try telling that to a 5 year old haha.
I remember being sent to Kadena TAD from Iwakuni for a couple months in '76. We were housed on the same side as the 71. We used to watch it taxi by and take off. We always knew when it was heading out because there would be 3 KC-135s taking of prior at different intervals to set up the fueling stations. It would take off and do almost a max climb up past where we could see. The Okinawans called it The Habu, for that black snake. Loved watching this video. Brought back many memories!
I was TAD with a VP-4 P3 crew on Diego Garcia in 1980 or so. We would park our plane about midway with respect to the runway after our missions. All the way at the southern end of the runway was a medium sized hanger that we could not really figure out. First night we were there at about 0300 we were woken up by an enormous roar. When we asked about it the next day, a CB (the vast majority of the sailors on the island at the time) told us, "oh that is just the SR-71 guys". Pre-flight times for our missions were never that early so we did not get a chance to see it happen but it sounded way awesome!!
I was at camp foster 88/89. We could hear that wonderful bird light up so many times! It was so loud! I remember seeing it across the flight deck in its own hanger at the end of the runway. So dang cool!!!!
Amazing video.
At 11:08 when the afterburners ignite gave me chills
Thanks!
It was designed to fly the whole mission with the afterburners on. The heat was 7/10 on these Pratt and Whitney engines that they actually expanded 6 inches in length. Jp7 fuel was needed for this engine. The engineers were geniuses.
@@thomasschmitt1141 sorry Thomas. The way it drank JP7 it would have been out of fuel within an hour with full burners. Actually, once it got to altitude and they balanced the Shockwave in the inlet they bled 80% of the Air thru thr forward bypass doors and it reentered into the exhaust for most of its thrust.
That sound change 😮😮😮
Yeah holy shit that was epic. That sound wow
Wow is a great word to describe how these men took numbers off paper and came up with this fantastic machine.
It's a great aircraft, exceptional design but the sheer time required for prep and fuelling has made it insanely expensive to keep running. But as described by so many below the ultra brain-shaking boom as those awesome ramjet afterburners light up is breath-taking. I 1st heard and saw it at Lakenheath in the UK, at an air show when I was 10 I think, before then I'd only seen it in the books my dad used to keep. Utterly awesome aircraft.
Exactly where I first saw it too. It felt like my body was hollow with the roar 🦁 my grandmother worked at Lakenheath as a secretary 😊
My dad took us every year throughout the 80s and early 90s to Lakenheath and Mildenhall air shows. I always remember the smell of America with all the bbqs and jet fuel smells. 😂
True, though in reality it was satellite imagery and electronic intel that put a lot of airframes out of business.
Not to mention on the ground it just seeps fuel from every pour…. It’s meant to be at 80,000 ft screaming….. USA
It’s just government procedures that take so long, anything government runs glacier slow. Otherwise you could fuel it up, start her up, and take off.
One of these is hanging in the entrance of the strategic air command museum in Ashland Nebraska outside of Omaha . These things are a crazy sight in person , the most unique aircraft ever built.
I was there in '87 and it was awesome watching the SR-71 operate.
Just crazy how much fuel oozes from the seams of the craft during prep. No other aircraft can compare to the great SR-71. PERFECTION!!
“Many people believe we refueled after takeoff because the aircraft leaked fuel so profusely that we needed to fuel up quickly,” says Col. Richard H. Graham. “We had to refuel right after takeoff for only one reason, and it wasn’t because we leaked JP-7 fuel on the ground. Yes, the plane does leak fuel, but not enough to require refueling after takeoff.
“The JP-7 fuel reaches temperatures well over 300 degrees F. during Mach 3 cruise. , making the fumes in each of the six fuel tanks very volatile and potentially explosive. The metal skin of the aircraft approaches 400 degrees F., adding to the volatility of the fuel inside the tanks. One of our aircraft limitations was a maximum speed of Mach 2.6 without an inert atmosphere inside the fuel tanks.
“The aircraft had three liquid nitrogen Dewar flasks containing 260 liters of liquid nitrogen, located in the nose wheel well. The only way to ensure 100 percent inert atmosphere in each fuel tank was to refuel the plane inflight completely full of JP-7, allowing ambient air in each fuel tank to vent overboard. Once full of fuel, gaseous nitrogen would now dominate each fuel tank’s empty space above as it burned off JP-7. The nitrogen gas pressurized each fuel tank to 1.5 psi above ambient pressure and inerts the space above the heated fuel to prevent autogenous ignition. This is why we refueled after takeoff."
"Then we could safely accelerate beyond Mach 2.6.” “There was one other way of achieving tank inerting, called a Yo-Yo. but this was a maintenance nightmare. A few of our missions required the SR-71 to accelerate to Mach 3+ right after takeoff with a 65,000-pound fuel load. The Yo-Yo procedure had the crew chief completely refuel the plane to full tanks of 80,000 pounds of fuel. Then, with the nitrogen pressurization system working, they de-fueled 15,000 pounds of JP-7, ending up with a 65,000 pound fuel load and a plane that was capable of going immediately to Mach 3+.”
I was in Cryogenics 1970-1971 at Kadena AFB. Many a night SR-71 would take off and "rattle" the base. Our plant facility was very close to the flight line. Nice memories of SR-71 and Kadena AFB.
That SR 71 blackbird is so awesome I wish they were still flying today
How amazing this video would be if it were filmed in 4k or by a cell phone of todays capabilities. Regardless, still an amazing video of an incredible aircraft. My favorite aircraft of all time by far. I wish I could have see and experienced her awesome power in person. I’m thankful we have TH-cam.
the power was so great, that in a test cell with 100,000 pounds thrust beds it was tearing up the building.
I work in a hospital and recently met a former SR pilot as a patient. Cool guy. Told him I’d always been a fan of the SR since I was a child.
Best Blackbird footage ever. The crew looks like they are about to go into outer space, and i guess...they almost are! What an incredible machine ; notice at the beginning that the plane appears to be leaking fuel all over, and that's because on the ground the airframe had to be "loose" as at altitude and speed it expanded!
I did a 6 month TDY on Okinawa at Kadena rebuilding J75's for the F106 unit from Dover that was up in Korea. I got to see a 71 come in for a landing when I was at the end of the runway it passed low right overhead. Later got sent to Udorn Thailand for F4's and from there to Mather in Ca to work on B52's and KC135's. Beal AFB was down the road where the SR71's were stationed and got to see it a few times more. It was an incredibal aircraft.
I had the honor of working with the guys that invented the spy radar that went in the nose of the SR-71, also a few of the maintenance personnel that worked on the plane when it was stationed in Germany (I think). It did leak fuel on the ground but at mach 3.2 (2300 mph) and 80,000+ ft everything got hot and sealed up. The Pratt and Whitney J-58 at altitude and speed was designed to run at full afterburner for as long as they liked. The air could be 45 below zero but the shock wave at the inlet of the engine would heat up to 800 deg F and the engine would swell up a couple of inches in diameter and 6 inches in length! An engineering masterpiece! Fantastic stuff!
SR-71 were never stationed in Germany, they didn't have a "spy" radar unless you are speaking of the Side Looking Radar which was used for imagery .
@@mikewilkerson7619 I worked for Lockheed M&DS Reconnaissance. I worked with the old guys that help invent SAR. It was installed in the Blackbird and yes it can look down or sideways, reflect off the atmosphere and create images of stuff on the ground the size of a basketball. While I was at Lockheed we built Synthetic Aperture Radar systems and installed it in 6 "spy" reconnaissance planes for Korea. Sorry if I misspoke about Germany, its been 24 years ago I had that conversation.
That is in-SANE. I am zero kind of plane freak at all... but the Blackbird fascinates me deeply.
My father stationed at Kadena '70-72. Piloted RC-135, Hog nose we called it. I was 10 yrs old when we lived there. Loved watching the Habu's taking off and landing.
One of the best if not the best man made engineering projects in all of man kind.
worked in palmdale in early 80's. saw a 71 about to takeoff so I pulled over to watch. Perfectly clear blue sky day. from takeoff in front of me, turned north, became a speck , to out of my 20/20 sight in 30 seconds. I timed it on my watch.
I was in the Navy during this time attached to an Anti-Submarine Patrol squadron flying the P-3 Orion. We had a pretty much permanent Detachment stationed at Kadena Air Base and I spent a LOT of months there when on deployment. We knew when the Blackbird was going to fly because of the tanker aircraft that would take off some 30 minutes beforehand. Kadena had KC-135's at the time and they still had the original style engines, very loud and belching black smoke trying to lift all the fuel that the thirsty Blackbird would need. There would be five or six tankers go back to back to line up ahead of the '71 and that always got our attention. Our hanger was not too far from the Blackbird and we were able to see it taxi out, fuel pouring out of the cold leaky tanks. I witnessed a couple night launches and the light off of the afterburners was a sight to be seen.
Thanks for posting this video, brought back some great memories for me. Funny that just yesterday a conversion with friends somehow turned to discussing the Blackbird, this video is exactly the "sea story" I was telling my buddies. I'll be showing them this video tomorrow!
USN AMS2 85-93
I am a 66 year old Woman.... and this is the most magnificent, outrageously, awesome. wicked and beautiful but dangerous aircraft that makes my heart flip and brings me such joy! Crazy right? I don't understand it but I love it, seriously.
I got to see one of these beauties takeoff from RAF Mildenhall in 1982, a sight to see!
I was a young SP at Beale in the 80's. They often launched the SR in the early morning and I'd pull right up on the taxiway to watch. To this day, I've never seen a more impressive exhibition of power than the Blackbird lighting up at dawn.
When I was a kid, I sat in a green pickup with my friend and his dad to watch an SR71 take off at Beale around 1980. I wonder if you were the guy driving the truck?
@@bill8985 I was there 82-84 but I’m sure you saw my buddies out there because we all loved it. Those were good days.
I was stationed at March AFB in 1989 when the SR-71 'retired', supposedly, for the first time. My brother was visiting from Langley, he was Air Force too. We were both able to walk right up to it after it cooled down, No Touching! He wanted better pictures of the upper surfaces so I put him on my shoulders. SP inquired if we were trying to get on the aircraft. I responded by half turning with my brother and stating: 'No, I am just a bi-pod.' Brother shows camera and SP cracks up.
Late 80s. I was there at Kadena when Habu was there. Det 1. Got to see (and hear) that thing take off every time. The whole island shook. Spectacular marvel to behold.
Ironically In the late 80s I was holding short for take off in my USMC CH-46E at Kadena AFB…tower radios…”Hold immediately… traffic to your left”….”roger tower, holding short.” A few seconds later the Habu (SR-71) is passing my left side, enters the runway turning left and full throttles away she goes…into an almost vertical climb to meet the tanker for fuel. SR-71s burned so much gas on take-off an immediate tanker plug was required to continue their reconnaissance mission. I had my brand new Sony VHS Camcorder in the cockpit, but by the time I gave my co-pilot the sticks, and turned on the tape recorder, Habu had already rocketed toward the heavens. A truly remarkable Skunks Works group of genius engineers with simple slide rules designed and built the SR-71. A cornerstone in our long history of Democracy.
ECS mechanic 961st AWACS Kadena AB 82-83 we were on the SAC side by the SR-71 truly a amazing aircraft as well as the E-3A Sentry. I was blessed to have seen it as well as the U2 TDY at Osan AB Korea. I've worked on many fighter aircraft during my tour at Eglin AFB in the armament division 3211 FMS.
My neighbor on Kadena was a flight mech on the SR. He got me a tour of it so I was in that hanger in 1984. Wow what an experience. I was in a vehicle on the runway as it took off. Talk about loud. The fluid on the floor is the fuel. You could toss a match on it and it wouldn't ignite. Wish I could have got up to the cockpit but that wasn't allowed..lol...wonder why. Got a really good photo of it looking out at the East China Sea just before take-off. About a week before I left to return to the States my neighbor came by with a photo signed by the pilots and RSO. Still have it on my hallway wall in my house.
This needs to be IMAX. Mega sound. BIG SCREEN. We need chris nolan!
Indeed. It would look absolutely incredible if this was shot and projected in 15/70mm IMAX.
I would love to hear the starter carts revving to 6000RPM on IMAX, then the after burners kick in, I was up close and personal with an Sr-72 while I was stationed at Fairchild AFB in 1980 as I was selected to secure the aircraft over night in one of our hangers!! It was a two man policy posting as we marveled at the aircraft!!!
@@GM8101PHX -72?! That plane is a UAV and hasn't been put into service yet!!
I was Kadena AFB in 1977 and 1978 with my Marine Harrier Squadron 542 Det B. Saw these takeoffs frequently and was awe inspiring as the blue flames climbed. Semper Fi!
My neighbor worked for the det, and one night before it flew off for the last time he grabbed me and took me to that hanger. The plane was in there ready to go, and I got to run the start cart. I remember the wreckage of the plane that had gone down near Luzon was stacked up on pallets and we checked that out. It was an ultra rare treat.