I think it's of a design that truly is so far ahead of its time that it almost seems alien. It's crazy to think that the craziest aircraft that looks most like a spaceship capable of warp speed was designed using slide rules back in the early 1960's.
It is still to this day mind boggling to know that this magnificent piece of a enginuity was built from the mind, slide rules, calculators, and trial and error. No computer graphics design
We were smarter back then. I believe this to be true due to the fact that now a days, we rely on technology to remember things for us as to where back then, you remembered everything. For example, those old enough, think about how many phone numbers you knew as a kid. We all must have known at least 20 phone numbers. It also blows my mind how the SR71 never caught fight while waiting to take off considering it poured fuel out everywhere due to the airframe not being properly expanded due to the thermals of high speed flight
Came across this footage by chance and it brought back fond memories from long ago. That left seater is Captain Jerry Varner my aircraft commander during that Kadena deployment and I was the boomer MSgt Spike Bell. Both of us now long retired.
It’s amazing that a random TH-cam video of this beast has comments from the people actually working with it. Thanks for sharing! This must require a crazy amount of skill and concentration to pull off. How many times did you get to complete the refueling?
@@colinashby3775 when the SR is approaching half full on gas it will have to light a burner. It’s flying at a high aoa and has to stay in the flight envelope.
Can you imagine the first people who saw this in the 60’s who first saw this and what they must’ve thought- Looking at it in 2021 it still looks so far ahead of it’s time
Everything we have has been re invented. Before our time in the ancient days they had things that would shock people today. Photos from thousands of years ago are beginning to make their way onto youtube though during this reset.
71 and 22 would need to be close to stall speed to allow the 35 to be in formation with them.. But good news the 35 will be be with the other two birds no longer manufactured..
I am fortunate to have seen the SR-71 refuel from inside the KC-135. I moved to the back of the aircraft, and set to the side of the boom operator. As the SR-71 closes distance, I remember thinking “Holy shite this is really happening!”
A close enough "bird's eye" view of an incredible and iconic machine. The SR-71 Blackbird is probably the most beautiful airplane ever created and people would rather see it in flight like this. I'm just absolutely floored by the magnificence of this wonderful creation by man.
You could put any other aircraft up in the sky, anything that man has built before or after, you can even throw a UFO in there if your that way inclined, with all their alleged wizardry, but nothing will ever capture my attention like that aircraft. For me, there is just some unexplainable awe that they invoke.
My stepfather was a Skunkworks engineer. He was so brilliant that he was just bizarre. He had a triple Doctorate; Physics, Philosophy, Religions. That alone seemed off the wall to me. He had several Patents that paid him well, and Lockheed kept him on Retainer when he retired. Interesting character!
Advance satellites, drones, and an active intelligence agency. While the SR-71 is one of my favorite planes, there isn’t too much of a need for these types of planes.
Lived at Beale as a kid and marveled on a daily basis as the SR would fly around with the T38 chase plane right behind. Early 70's to the early 80's. We'd go to the Beale airshow every year. Incredible flybys and one on display with canopy covered of course. Never saw them when I was active duty but, was flying over Sydney, NE, in 93 and heard a Blackbird call sign radio that he was entering SLC and calling out an outrageous time to over Sydney. I was in a Huey so, could not get any altitude to see him. Never saw him but his radio traffic was indicative of the incredible speed he was moving at. Great video!
I saw the SR-71 at an airshow in Europe. It was something I can never forget. It was the clearest day you can imagine, and you could see the snow capped Carpathians from Bucharest, as well as the Black Sea, and watching him go out until you couldnt see anything, then a dot, then a silently growing silhouette, low fly by and Mach...only he knows (and ATC lol). The benefit of air shows in a former communist bloc country, right after 89. No FAA or any kinds of regs so these guys knew they could do stupid cool stunts. Did windows break? Yes. Did your ears ring? Yes. Did some people feel their guts rumble so much they puked? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes. What happened to you America? XB-70, SR-71, 747, F-14...Younger kids will never know this growing up.
I was fortunate to be part of ground support for the SR-71 at Beale AFB Ca in 1965/66. Biggest thrill was when I did an engine start on the run up pad for the first SR-71 delivered to Beale. On the run up pad we trimmed each engine in afterburner. What a thrill.....
@@DavidEVogel i worked in airfield management and was around the u2 a lot. Loud as fk. I used to hate when they would depart at 5am waking the whole damn base up 😂
I spent 4 years as a kid at Beale, from 88-92. My step dad was ground crew for the SR. I feel so fortunate to have spent that time at Beale. I think about it all the time. It was a magical place for me.
Still remains the KING of SPEED. So ahead of it's time...even in Sep, 2022. I got to see one in the Boneyard Museum in Arizona and physically touch it. It is like seeing a UFO from Omicron Seti 5 or some other Sci-Fi dreamed up world. It is one sexy machine -- out of this world looking air/spacecraft. It doesn't belong on the ground aging away...it belongs in the sky breaking it's own records. I know the economics and technological advances killed it off...but, the KING of SPEED deserves better IMHO.
What also killed it off was the advent of satellites. Remember: SR 71 had no offensive or defensive capabilities. It was there to take pictures at a high altitude for reconaissance purposes.
Same, I am from Australia and visited the states many years ago, and stopped by the museum in Houston Texas and they have or had one out the front. It was the most beautiful aircraft I have ever seen, I remember reaching out and touching it like in a dream. Just amazing.
Everything about the Blackbird was just awesome. I have always been fascinated with this aircraft. I had the opportunity to to listen to actual pilots and techs talk about their experiences in the SR program a few years ago at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in Mcminnville OR. I hung on every word these guys said.
God I love this video. I work at Tinker AFB in Okc, Oklahoma. I've always loved planes and the best one to be 100 yards away from on takeoff on a roof 80ft up is the B1B lancer, its deafening.
I once worked with a boom operator on KC135 tankers. He said you would be laying on your belly at the boom controls and aircraft would appear out of nowhere like humming birds coming to a feeder...
Airforce- What's the MPG on that model? KellyJohnson- Not sure...but it gets better the faster you go?! God bless all the test pilots and engineers at Skunkworks.
KC-135 “Q” Model. With the itty bitty J-57 water injection engines. Round dials with the old APN-59 Radar. 2nd generation fuel panel with the “little switches” (for the boost pumps, override pumps and A/R pumps). Digital FSAS display next to the radar scope. Glad I flew the A model briefly, but I’ll never miss it. The R model was a whole lot more fun (and safer) to fly! Got to see several SR-71 launches out of Mildenhall RAFB back in the late 80s. Magnificent aircraft.
Im sure most of you know, this bird had ductwork that bypasses the compressor stages of the engines at high enough speeds, this "ram air" was fed directly into the combustion section for mix with fuel and burning, this increased engine power, all the while reducing fuel consumption! GENIUS, ... eFFing GENIUS!!
This is a slight misnomer. In actuality compressed air was bled out from the 4th stage of the compressor into bypass tubes which led to the afterburner
@Big truck The giant No, it can't even do low earth orbit. Very high altitude hypersonic heights. Most aircraft would stall and crash the air is too thin.
SR-71 is an amazing combination of mathematical metallurgy, aviation, chemistry, and engineering marvel . I put it up there with the Luftfwaffe Horten's Ho 229 Bomber flying wing as being so far advanced and game changing in their respective Era. Alien and majestic both. Just imagine the jaws dropping of common people and adversaries watching these aviation miracles fly upon the blue yonder.
It's really amazing that the engine inlet cones, at maximum speed, take 2,000mph air & slow it down to less than 700mph air so the engines can use it to push the plane past 2,000mph.
My now 84 y.o. father was in the AF Security Service on TDY to SAC during Linebacker II from McConnell AFB. According to his records he flew onboard a special equipment "Aerial Radio Relay" aircraft a KC-135Q orbiting high over Hanoi, North Vietnam with the "D" models at lower altitudes & SR-71 much higher above. I ask him did he mean to say a EC-135 or a RC-135 no a "KC-135Q" we had JP7 onboard for Blackbird ops and some regular JP fuel in case someone else needed it. However they were not part of the primary "Young Tiger" refueling aircraft... his "135Q" served as a huge communication relay platform of some type for the Blackbirds.
I don't know what's more precise in terms of all elements in order to execute this kind of perfection. A F1 pit crew on a 2 second pit stop or these pilots and refuelers. Amazing.
The SR-71 was the aircraft that made me want to join the Air Force and become a pilot to actually fly one. Being nearly impossible to become a pilot of one by the time I would have become eligible they decommissioned it sadly. Thank modern satellite photography for its retirement.
@@danielbunger6201 yes, exactly. Satellite imagery as i said. But it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s sad that such a fantastic airplane was mothballed.
@@danielbunger6201 oh I know, I wasn’t trying to sound snide or anything. I’m in total agreement with you why it was decommissioned. The ironic part is that it’s still the fastest aircraft in history but being it has no other function than taking pictures is a shame.
I laid in a body cast for 8 weeks during the summer of 1989. I built a Testors model blackbird while sitting there. It hung from my ceiling for years and years on some 10lb stren.
They have one on display indoors at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. They have it displayed with the gear down, and it sits' on pedestals that bring the tires up to about waist high. I actually got to touch the airplane, and was thinking that if I got this close to one 25 years ago, I would've been shot on the spot. They also have one of the D-21 drones they launched off the back of the 71. Awesome musem...it's right across the street from Davis-Monthan AFB. The musem offers boneyard tours in buses. If any of you ever are in the Tucson area, this museum is a MUST visit. They have a huge collection, and many are outside. They have alot of one-of-a-kind stuff too.
From Naha AB , Okinawa I saw one approaching Kadena AB a few miles up island . Didn't know they were there , but it's profile is like none other . CHILLS ! Lovely people there .
While refueling it became fairly unstable. The weight increased significantly to the end of sometimes 15 minutes of refueling. The crew had to use one afterburner to keep up with the tanker.
Remember those planes had two types of engines built into one it doesn't engage the part of the engine that makes it really fast until it hits a very high altitude where the air is really thin requiring them. That's where it goes really fast.
We had 57's stationed at Eielson AFB when an SR landed and went straight way into a shed near the end of the runway, just across from the F4 shacks. It was funny, there were 2 F4s at the end of the runway that were about to take off when the SR came out of its hiding. It must have excited them because they took off at max power and did their version of a vertical take off. The SR did nearly a true vertical ascent right past them and then disappeared for about 1/2 hr before "cruising" by. I think I counted 10 rings flaming out behind it. Then our 57's took off. Not sure if they got permission because of the strain on the wings, but they did their own version of a vertical take off. Much more elegant though also much slower. NASA still uses one or two of the 57's as well.
4:58 What he's talking about here is the fact that as the SR-71 gets close to full it starts to have trouble maintaining adequate airspeed at maximum throttle without afterburners ("military power"), so the pilot would have to light one afterburner and for the last minutes of refueling fly with one engine at minimum afterburner, carefully controlling the other engine's thrust to maintain the desired airspeed, and using the rudder to compensate for the skewed thrust. I'm not sure why they can't just refuel at a lower speed, but my guess would be they're already uncomfortably slow for the SR-71 and slowing down even further would just be unsafe (and more unsafe than having to light an afterburner during this nerve-wracking procedure). Another thing that puzzled me for a bit is why increased fuel would cause it to slow down in the first place. -The only plausible explanation I could come up with is that refueling causes the centre of gravity to shift in a way that changes its pitch and increases drag as a result. I know it can move fuel between fore and aft tanks to adjust its centre of gravity but the range of adjustment would obviously decrease as the tanks fill up completely and the centre of gravity when completely filled up has no reason to be optimzied for efficiency at subsonic speeds.- (EDIT: that was silly in retrospect. more fuel means more weight, hence more lift required, which means airspeed and/or angle of attack would need to increase, and more thrust would be required either way.)
I think part of the reason is the engines don’t really work below a speed. Also the speed they refuel at was as you’ve said close to the threshold for control of the 71
Gee, when the Blackbird entered the view and got closer, for a second I felt like watching some science-fiction movie, or one of those fake alien craft sighting video, so out of this world plane was. And heck, even the footage was similar, with all that shaking.
Kelly Johnson and the Skunkworks will never be outdone. Maybe some day a predecessor will happen. Doubtful. Brilliant minds, brilliant aircraft. It's the equivalent of a Shelby Cobra with wings. Timeless, ruthless performance, decades ahead.
As a new Marine (1980s), I was on the rock driving btwn bases. Going along the Kadena runway fence line in the old style JEEP, my driver tells me to pull over and "eyes left" to see a SR-71 take off, go vertical, then level off to a vapor trail I could only assume was a refuel point. Until then, I thought they were only "CIA aircraft". The runways sound did not reach us until we saw it vertical in the sky.
Such a long refueling cycle, many times that of the more mundane aircraft that visit the station in the sky. Just imagine what it was like for the boom operator in that KC-135Q to just watch that amazing aircraft as the JP-7 flowed into it's cavernous tanks. This is just one of the coolest videos I have ever watched.
@Phillip Banes Uh, yes, isn't that what I just said ("cavernous tanks")? Was your reply made to ensure that me, a woman, was correct in making my comment? Or perhaps did you not understand the word cavernous? Typical mansplaining.
Brilliant piece of engineering, no country on earth has possessed such a powerful machine except America and to think it's already old skool technology.
With all the vintage jets that fly at air shows, You would think they would fly this beauty, I bet people who grew up with the SR-71 would come from miles around.
The Maint. and operating costs are literally astronomical. It's a shame, but at least they have a few set up all over the country to see. There's one we visited on the Aircraft Carrier Intrepid in NYC that you can just about walk up to. Very cool birds.
I protected her several times in the Habu area at Kadena Air. I was also there when we lost one and I guarded her also which ultimately gave me cancer. By the grace of God, I beat that and I’m still here however we lost a few good folks over year. Two sources were ultimately identified.
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2020 and this is still the strangest, yet most beautiful machine that mankind has ever conceived.
That we know of so far.
no, my coffee machine it is😂😂
I would argue B2 looks a bit stranger than sr-71😂 that thing looks just like an 🛸 if we are not told
I have to agree.
I think it's of a design that truly is so far ahead of its time that it almost seems alien. It's crazy to think that the craziest aircraft that looks most like a spaceship capable of warp speed was designed using slide rules back in the early 1960's.
It is still to this day mind boggling to know that this magnificent piece of a enginuity was built from the mind, slide rules, calculators, and trial and error. No computer graphics design
That and no one had ever built anything out of titanium before.
Thank Kelly Johnson for that!! One hell of a math guy!!
and done in record time. something like 6 months.
We were smarter back then. I believe this to be true due to the fact that now a days, we rely on technology to remember things for us as to where back then, you remembered everything.
For example, those old enough, think about how many phone numbers you knew as a kid. We all must have known at least 20 phone numbers.
It also blows my mind how the SR71 never caught fight while waiting to take off considering it poured fuel out everywhere due to the airframe not being properly expanded due to the thermals of high speed flight
@@DrMurdercock most of the JPs IE 5 and 7 do not light up very easy.
Came across this footage by chance and it brought back fond memories from long ago. That left seater is Captain Jerry Varner my aircraft commander during that Kadena deployment and I was the boomer MSgt Spike Bell. Both of us now long retired.
It’s amazing that a random TH-cam video of this beast has comments from the people actually working with it. Thanks for sharing! This must require a crazy amount of skill and concentration to pull off. How many times did you get to complete the refueling?
So you were actually the one operating the boom in this video?
What a great mission. I’ve flown with both of these characters and they’re both top notch. Ed Jarrett, Beale alumni.
Amazing that the tracker is going flat out and the sr71 has to almost idle and juggle power as it gets heavier.
@@colinashby3775 when the SR is approaching half full on gas it will have to light a burner. It’s flying at a high aoa and has to stay in the flight envelope.
Can you imagine the first people who saw this in the 60’s who first saw this and what they must’ve thought- Looking at it in 2021 it still looks so far ahead of it’s time
Everything we have has been re invented. Before our time in the ancient days they had things that would shock people today. Photos from thousands of years ago are beginning to make their way onto youtube though during this reset.
The introduction of the SR 71 could almost be compared to that of the Jaguar E type.
Yes it's like a Spaceship/Space Ghost?
The SR-71 looks relevant as 5th-gen jets today; was decades ahead of its time.
Just imagine an airshow flyby of a SR-71 flanked by a F-22 and F-35.
Imagine what they have today we don't know about.
Yes, please!!!
@@suunto61 Yes but drone type A/C aren't near as exciting compared to the Habu.
@@suunto61 Nah, all you gotta realize is the kinds of people that go to college today. They can hardly design paper airplanes
71 and 22 would need to be close to stall speed to allow the 35 to be in formation with them..
But good news the 35 will be be with the other two birds no longer manufactured..
One of the most almost magically engineered projects of the period. The half - century? No matter, forever incredible.
I am fortunate to have seen the SR-71 refuel from inside the KC-135. I moved to the back of the aircraft, and set to the side of the boom operator. As the SR-71 closes distance, I remember thinking “Holy shite this is really happening!”
Still the most beautiful aircraft ever built. Great video.
The pilots are so blessed
A close enough "bird's eye" view of an incredible and iconic machine. The SR-71 Blackbird is probably the most beautiful airplane ever created and people would rather see it in flight like this. I'm just absolutely floored by the magnificence of this wonderful creation by man.
@@Dan.d649 👍👍👍
I agree!👍👍
You could put any other aircraft up in the sky, anything that man has built before or after, you can even throw a UFO in there if your that way inclined, with all their alleged wizardry, but nothing will ever capture my attention like that aircraft.
For me, there is just some unexplainable awe that they invoke.
It was beauty and power. They will never make its equal.
I agree Dave. Like a classy lady, brandishing an M16.
UFOs went back home and reported seeing the SR-71. Got reassigned to mental institution.
Me too
It was a thrill to watch it take off and land at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. Unforgettable.
My stepfather was a Skunkworks engineer. He was so brilliant that he was just bizarre. He had a triple Doctorate; Physics, Philosophy, Religions. That alone seemed off the wall to me. He had several Patents that paid him well, and Lockheed kept him on Retainer when he retired. Interesting character!
My dad was an engineer on the SR71 and Skunkworks Projects. Including X15 and the Bell aircraft. He also was involved with the F-111.
Yes sure he was.
My dad too!
@@chrissmith1360 stfu your just mad your dad didn't do anything cool like that
@@zynder5 go back to playing fortnite kid.
@@The300ZXGuru It was meant to, moron.
If we had technology in the 50s/60s to make that, imagine what we have now....
Aurora
SR-72
We can reach tripple the speed now, but we can't have it manned due to the g-forces. Check out the Nasa x-43. Also the new stealth fighter F-35 :)
corona
Advance satellites, drones, and an active intelligence agency. While the SR-71 is one of my favorite planes, there isn’t too much of a need for these types of planes.
Lived at Beale as a kid and marveled on a daily basis as the SR would fly around with the T38 chase plane right behind. Early 70's to the early 80's. We'd go to the Beale airshow every year. Incredible flybys and one on display with canopy covered of course. Never saw them when I was active duty but, was flying over Sydney, NE, in 93 and heard a Blackbird call sign radio that he was entering SLC and calling out an outrageous time to over Sydney. I was in a Huey so, could not get any altitude to see him. Never saw him but his radio traffic was indicative of the incredible speed he was moving at. Great video!
I saw the SR-71 at an airshow in Europe. It was something I can never forget. It was the clearest day you can imagine, and you could see the snow capped Carpathians from Bucharest, as well as the Black Sea, and watching him go out until you couldnt see anything, then a dot, then a silently growing silhouette, low fly by and Mach...only he knows (and ATC lol).
The benefit of air shows in a former communist bloc country, right after 89. No FAA or any kinds of regs so these guys knew they could do stupid cool stunts. Did windows break? Yes. Did your ears ring? Yes. Did some people feel their guts rumble so much they puked? Yes.
Was it worth it? Yes.
What happened to you America? XB-70, SR-71, 747, F-14...Younger kids will never know this growing up.
Huge respect to both pilots, and mad props to the cameraperson
I was fortunate to be part of ground support for the SR-71 at Beale AFB Ca in 1965/66. Biggest thrill was when I did an engine start on the run up pad for the first SR-71 delivered to Beale. On the run up pad we trimmed each engine in afterburner. What a thrill.....
I was also stationed a Beale AFB, but not until 1976. I moved with the U-2 aircraft from Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ to Beale AFB.
@@DavidEVogel i worked in airfield management and was around the u2 a lot. Loud as fk. I used to hate when they would depart at 5am waking the whole damn base up 😂
was a crew chief on the 135s at beale from 66 to 70 remember the sound of the buick wild cat engine used to start the 71 great times
I spent 4 years as a kid at Beale, from 88-92. My step dad was ground crew for the SR. I feel so fortunate to have spent that time at Beale. I think about it all the time. It was a magical place for me.
I wish I could have seen that. Maybe a little jealous. Lol. Tell your step dad I said thank you for the service. He was truly apart of history!
That boys and girls, is how baby-blackbirds are made.
@@danielrunyon8534 ikr 🤣😁
Yeah...a fledgling D-21 drone piggybacks momma.
@Lis wtf
😂😂😂😂👊
Lmao
Nice video. I like how the camera zooms in on the various parts of the aircraft. The SR-71 was such a beast.
Still remains the KING of SPEED. So ahead of it's time...even in Sep, 2022. I got to see one in the Boneyard Museum in Arizona and physically touch it. It is like seeing a UFO from Omicron Seti 5 or some other Sci-Fi dreamed up world. It is one sexy machine -- out of this world looking air/spacecraft. It doesn't belong on the ground aging away...it belongs in the sky breaking it's own records. I know the economics and technological advances killed it off...but, the KING of SPEED deserves better IMHO.
What also killed it off was the advent of satellites. Remember: SR 71 had no offensive or defensive capabilities. It was there to take pictures at a high altitude for reconaissance purposes.
Same, I am from Australia and visited the states many years ago, and stopped by the museum in Houston Texas and they have or had one out the front. It was the most beautiful aircraft I have ever seen, I remember reaching out and touching it like in a dream. Just amazing.
1989 and the quality is pretty good.
Everything about the Blackbird was just awesome. I have always been fascinated with this aircraft.
I had the opportunity to to listen to actual pilots and techs talk about their experiences in the SR program a few years ago at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in Mcminnville OR. I hung on every word these guys said.
Even the way it leaks fuel if it was grounded?
Thank you to the servicemen for the dedication and skill it takes to do this. Nerves of steel, no distractions doing what exactly has to be done.
There just no words ,this is from the 50’s sometimes I can’t get my head round that...👍
Perhaps, but at the end of the day it's just metallurgy.
@@octaviusdelmonte9019 --- and Technology and Engineering!
No wonder there were UFO sightings. I doubt this was the only miraculous thing in the sky.
I bought a $5000. Watch made of Titanium just so I could have something this amazing creation was made of.
@@robertsullivan4773 ur cringe
God I love this video. I work at Tinker AFB in Okc, Oklahoma. I've always loved planes and the best one to be 100 yards away from on takeoff on a roof 80ft up is the B1B lancer, its deafening.
Just think, they designed those beauties with a slide rules and pencils..
The Blackbird is still the most elegant aircraft ever to grace the sky. The F-22 runs a close second, but the SR-71 can't be beat.
I agree 100percent!
Concorde?
I once worked with a boom operator on KC135 tankers. He said you would be laying on your belly at the boom controls and aircraft would appear out of nowhere like humming birds coming to a feeder...
Simply breathtaking. Thank you sir!
Awesome skills from pilots and crews, thanks for making such a fascinating video and for sharing it!!!
There's a beautiful SR-71 at the Air and Space Museum in Dulles Virginia
This has better quality than CCTV cameras during a crime
Absolutely amazing.
That black beauty coming out of the clouds
80.000 pounds in 15 minutes.... and of you go !
What an amazing bird !
Airforce- What's the MPG on that model?
KellyJohnson- Not sure...but it gets better the faster you go?!
God bless all the test pilots and engineers at Skunkworks.
On that beast it was game not mpg but she was worth every bit of it
Wow! On the ground it looks like a fancy concept plane but in the air it looks almost surreal in it's design.
Wicked engineering marvel , and it was made in the USA ! 🇺🇸
Right here in L.A.! For decades Southern California was the epicenter of America's aerospace industry.
Before computers with slide rules and such.
With Russian titanium....🤣
@@matthewwindisch9449 That the Russians unwittingly sold to their enemies
NCZIOOX I know.. Kinda funny.. They must have been steaming when they found out..
KC-135 “Q” Model. With the itty bitty J-57 water injection engines. Round dials with the old APN-59 Radar. 2nd generation fuel panel with the “little switches” (for the boost pumps, override pumps and A/R pumps). Digital FSAS display next to the radar scope. Glad I flew the A model briefly, but I’ll never miss it. The R model was a whole lot more fun (and safer) to fly! Got to see several SR-71 launches out of Mildenhall RAFB back in the late 80s. Magnificent aircraft.
This is the coolest aircraft ever made.
Agreed. The KC-135 is the coolest airplane ever made! (But I'm biased as a former Cold War SAC crew chief)
Actually I think it’s the hottest just look at leading edge temperatures and even fuel temperatures in the tanks but it’s a sweet ride
The 135 is balls to the wall and the SR driver is using all his tricks to keep from stalling
And it was designed by hand - not with computers.
And the fastest.
Incredible that humans have come so far and we have the knowledge and technology to do this.
Still a beauty !!! One of the most exciting birds .....
Now THIS was AWESOME to watch ...
Considering this was 1989, the film was pretty steady, we are so pampered today with image stabilization lol.
That’s history right there. Such an outstanding airplane.
Just wondering, how those pilot do this from the visibility of a pressurized suit... damn they are good!
Im sure most of you know, this bird had ductwork that bypasses the compressor stages of the engines at high enough speeds, this "ram air" was fed directly into the combustion section for mix with fuel and burning, this increased engine power, all the while reducing fuel consumption! GENIUS, ... eFFing GENIUS!!
The most impressive feature of the aircraft IMO.
This is a slight misnomer. In actuality compressed air was bled out from the 4th stage of the compressor into bypass tubes which led to the afterburner
@@richardmillhousenixon Thanks for the correction!
I saw an engine at the Air Zoo in Michigan. It was quite impressive.
Those were some very nice smooth and precise contacts by the Boom Operator.
Boeing 707 with big kerosene tanks?😅
SR-71 is amazing plane!👍
Awesome Black Bird!👍
I LIKE❤❤ BOTH PLANES!!!👍
KC 135 MUSTVE BEEN FULL THROTTLE!!!!!
No doubt
It was, the throttles were full forward when they showed the cockpit view. God knows what altitude they were at also.
theaviationgeekclub.com/former-sr-71-pilot-explains-why-the-blackbird-had-to-light-one-afterburner-during-aerial-refueling/
Check this out!
Yeah, and the Blackbird was on the verge of stalling.
400 mph is standard for most refueling..SR71 pretty stable at 400 MPH..
SR-71: A wonderful testament of the American mind!
Sadly, Donald, the con is the new kind of stable genius people admire. Could not even get profit from casinos.
Awesome. No wonder people saw UFOs with that other-worldly thing around.
The airframe alone is worth more than the fuel and the plane refueling it. They will never be such a awesome jet like sr71. Just awesome
Incredible aircraft. Looks like it could fly into space.
@Big truck The giant
No, it can't even do low earth orbit. Very high altitude hypersonic heights. Most aircraft would stall and crash the air is too thin.
SR-71 is an amazing combination of mathematical metallurgy, aviation, chemistry, and engineering marvel . I put it up there with the Luftfwaffe Horten's Ho 229 Bomber flying wing as being so far advanced and game changing in their respective Era. Alien and majestic both. Just imagine the jaws dropping of common people and adversaries watching these aviation miracles fly upon the blue yonder.
The HO-229 didn't change anything and had little to no influence in aviation technology
@@lucastekkanExactly. The SR-71 was on another level.
What a magnificent aircraft.
I bet those TANKER BOYS, wish they were piloting that SR-71!!!
I bet EVERYONE wishes they were piloting that SR-71!
Pros and cons. They both fly 18hr+ missions, but at least the tanker's got a bunk and a chemical toilet.
Do you want to stand on an open deck that high in the air trying to guide that that shit into that black beauty? My answer no.
I bet everyone in that tanker was licking the windows trying to get a look at that absolute legend of a plane
It's really amazing that the engine inlet cones, at maximum speed, take 2,000mph air & slow it down to less than 700mph air so the engines can use it to push the plane past 2,000mph.
My now 84 y.o. father was in the AF Security Service on TDY to SAC during Linebacker II from McConnell AFB. According to his records he flew onboard a special equipment "Aerial Radio Relay" aircraft a KC-135Q orbiting high over Hanoi, North Vietnam with the "D" models at lower altitudes & SR-71 much higher above. I ask him did he mean to say a EC-135 or a RC-135 no a "KC-135Q" we had JP7 onboard for Blackbird ops and some regular JP fuel in case someone else needed it. However they were not part of the primary "Young Tiger" refueling aircraft... his "135Q" served as a huge communication relay platform of some type for the Blackbirds.
That is probably the thirstiest bird in the history of mankind!
I don't know what's more precise in terms of all elements in order to execute this kind of perfection. A F1 pit crew on a 2 second pit stop or these pilots and refuelers. Amazing.
The SR-71 was the aircraft that made me want to join the Air Force and become a pilot to actually fly one. Being nearly impossible to become a pilot of one by the time I would have become eligible they decommissioned it sadly. Thank modern satellite photography for its retirement.
It couldn't do what it was designed for. That's why it was retired, as it had no real use except recon.
@@danielbunger6201 yes, exactly. Satellite imagery as i said. But it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s sad that such a fantastic airplane was mothballed.
@@alteregos8949 it's unfortunate that it was retired. I'm only stating the reason why.
@@danielbunger6201 oh I know, I wasn’t trying to sound snide or anything. I’m in total agreement with you why it was decommissioned. The ironic part is that it’s still the fastest aircraft in history but being it has no other function than taking pictures is a shame.
Blackbird required a week of maintenance after each mission. Mach 3 is hard on the airframe.
I laid in a body cast for 8 weeks during the summer of 1989. I built a Testors model blackbird while sitting there. It hung from my ceiling for years and years on some 10lb stren.
They have one on display indoors at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. They have it displayed with the gear down, and it sits' on pedestals that bring the tires up to about waist high. I actually got to touch the airplane, and was thinking that if I got this close to one 25 years ago, I would've been shot on the spot. They also have one of the D-21 drones they launched off the back of the 71. Awesome musem...it's right across the street from Davis-Monthan AFB. The musem offers boneyard tours in buses. If any of you ever are in the Tucson area, this museum is a MUST visit. They have a huge collection, and many are outside. They have alot of one-of-a-kind stuff too.
You know you're getting old when you see a top of the line sophisticated aircraft in constant use all the way to becoming dead technology
I had the pleasure of seeing an SR-71 in person at a museum. I was laughing like a child, It is MASSIVE in person. I even touched it. :)
As beautiful this footage may be, a stabilized version would be awesomer!
Nah, VHS is so in right now.
That 71 flew to Barksdale and out during the air show when i was in. Every yr we stood outside for departure Monday while the sound tore at tin roofs.
The SR-71 has got to be the coolest-looking object ever created by humans.
From Naha AB , Okinawa I saw one approaching Kadena AB a few miles up island . Didn't know they were there , but it's profile is like none other . CHILLS ! Lovely people there .
Hard to Fathom that thing was designed in the 1950s. Such a beauty, looks like something from a Sci-fi movie.
Amazing skills; no idea how you keep an SR-71 that stable at refueling speeds.
I do belive you can actually steer the airplane :)
Well,...for starters, t's NOT an unstable platform,....from all the accounts I've read, handled very nicely at all speeds.
While refueling it became fairly unstable. The weight increased significantly to the end of sometimes 15 minutes of refueling. The crew had to use one afterburner to keep up with the tanker.
Remember those planes had two types of engines built into one it doesn't engage the part of the engine that makes it really fast until it hits a very high altitude where the air is really thin requiring them. That's where it goes really fast.
@@Enzoxvx i highly doubt they had to use one afterburner, the yaw would have been huge
We had 57's stationed at Eielson AFB when an SR landed and went straight way into a shed near the end of the runway, just across from the F4 shacks. It was funny, there were 2 F4s at the end of the runway that were about to take off when the SR came out of its hiding. It must have excited them because they took off at max power and did their version of a vertical take off. The SR did nearly a true vertical ascent right past them and then disappeared for about 1/2 hr before "cruising" by. I think I counted 10 rings flaming out behind it. Then our 57's took off. Not sure if they got permission because of the strain on the wings, but they did their own version of a vertical take off. Much more elegant though also much slower. NASA still uses one or two of the 57's as well.
B57, F57, what the heck is a 57? J57 was a 135 engine.
@@jerryturner252 WB-57. Now NASA is flying them. Also 50+yr old birds.
Thanks, my bad.
For me this is like watching "UFO Inflight Refueling 1989" ..So unbelievably unbelievable !
4:58 What he's talking about here is the fact that as the SR-71 gets close to full it starts to have trouble maintaining adequate airspeed at maximum throttle without afterburners ("military power"), so the pilot would have to light one afterburner and for the last minutes of refueling fly with one engine at minimum afterburner, carefully controlling the other engine's thrust to maintain the desired airspeed, and using the rudder to compensate for the skewed thrust.
I'm not sure why they can't just refuel at a lower speed, but my guess would be they're already uncomfortably slow for the SR-71 and slowing down even further would just be unsafe (and more unsafe than having to light an afterburner during this nerve-wracking procedure).
Another thing that puzzled me for a bit is why increased fuel would cause it to slow down in the first place. -The only plausible explanation I could come up with is that refueling causes the centre of gravity to shift in a way that changes its pitch and increases drag as a result. I know it can move fuel between fore and aft tanks to adjust its centre of gravity but the range of adjustment would obviously decrease as the tanks fill up completely and the centre of gravity when completely filled up has no reason to be optimzied for efficiency at subsonic speeds.- (EDIT: that was silly in retrospect. more fuel means more weight, hence more lift required, which means airspeed and/or angle of attack would need to increase, and more thrust would be required either way.)
i appreciate your explanation...
Thanks dude
What?
I think part of the reason is the engines don’t really work below a speed. Also the speed they refuel at was as you’ve said close to the threshold for control of the 71
Damn you are smart about air to air refuiling
@@lp11thewolf79 this bit of trivia is straight from Brain Shul's "Sled Driver", it's a great read
For those traveling down here in the south you can see the SR 71 on display in Mobile. Quite a sight to say the least!!
Its like seeing the rarest Animal in the wild.... and you know that nobody would belive you if you told em.
With thanks to the Soviet Union for supplying the materials to make the A-12 and SR-71 possible. :)
I’d love to see an SR-71 before I die. I’ve been battling Lyme disease for a long time and I got Covid-19 in October 2021 which set me back more.
It's hard to still look at that plane as an obsolete aircraft that is a museum price now.
Gee, when the Blackbird entered the view and got closer, for a second I felt like watching some science-fiction movie, or one of those fake alien craft sighting video, so out of this world plane was.
And heck, even the footage was similar, with all that shaking.
The most bad ass Plane ever created
Yet
Had to be a huge thrill for that boom operator. Imagine looking down at that beautiful plane? Very cool!
Kelly Johnson and the Skunkworks will never be outdone. Maybe some day a predecessor will happen. Doubtful. Brilliant minds, brilliant aircraft. It's the equivalent of a Shelby Cobra with wings. Timeless, ruthless performance, decades ahead.
I can't even imagine
As a new Marine (1980s), I was on the rock driving btwn bases. Going along the Kadena runway fence line in the old style JEEP, my driver tells me to pull over and "eyes left" to see a SR-71 take off, go vertical, then level off to a vapor trail I could only assume was a refuel point. Until then, I thought they were only "CIA aircraft". The runways sound did not reach us until we saw it vertical in the sky.
Rare footage of alien craft making a connection to the mothership
I was in Okinawa in 1970 on my way to Vietnam when I saw by first SR-71 climbing out of Kadena. I didn't know what it was.
A beautiful thing to behold
Having participated in F-18 and French [Rafael] air to air refueling first hand. This SR is thirsty as F.
Such a long refueling cycle, many times that of the more mundane aircraft that visit the station in the sky. Just imagine what it was like for the boom operator in that KC-135Q to just watch that amazing aircraft as the JP-7 flowed into it's cavernous tanks. This is just one of the coolest videos I have ever watched.
@Phillip Banes Uh, yes, isn't that what I just said ("cavernous tanks")? Was your reply made to ensure that me, a woman, was correct in making my comment? Or perhaps did you not understand the word cavernous?
Typical mansplaining.
That's a beauty admirer of USA. hope I will visit America once.
My first air base was Beale. Where these flew out of also. Loved watching them take off and land
JP 7 was the fuel used on the blackbird , i believe
Great old footage of the lady in black refueling
My ex Husband was a Boomer at Beale AFB for 10 years. Got to refuel the SR71 almost weekly.
Brilliant piece of engineering, no country on earth has possessed such a powerful machine except America and to think it's already old skool technology.
With the lack of visibility from the pilots, I can't even imagine holding that beautiful beast still long enough to refuel like this. Damn!
fanatstic footage i loved as a kid watching Blackbirds flying out of Raf Mildenhall in the 80's
With all the vintage jets that fly at air shows, You would think they would fly this beauty, I bet people who grew up with the SR-71 would come from miles around.
The Maint. and operating costs are literally astronomical. It's a shame, but at least they have a few set up all over the country to see.
There's one we visited on the Aircraft Carrier Intrepid in NYC that you can just about walk up to. Very cool birds.
That’s some pretty clear camera work for 1989.
I protected her several times in the Habu area at Kadena Air. I was also there when we lost one and I guarded her also which ultimately gave me cancer. By the grace of God, I beat that and I’m still here however we lost a few good folks over year. Two sources were ultimately identified.