GREAT film on SR-71 development (video)

[Winston]

Film is in fantastic condition (for a change). This is by far the best film I've ever seen on the SR-71's development.

YF-12C - Fictitious designation for an SR-71 provided to NASA for flight testing. The YF-12 designation was used to keep SR-71 information out of the public domain.

Titanium used for Mach3+ Cold War spy plane came from Russia

The SR-71, built by Lockheed, served with the US Air Force from 1964 to 1998. A total of 32 of the reconnaissance aircraft were built while 12 were lost in non-combat accidents. According to military data the plane cost $85,000 per hour to operate.

One of the interesting tidbits from the interview with Colonel Rich Graham who spent 15 years as a Blackbird pilot and wing commander was that the Soviet Union actually helped build the Blackbird:

"The airplane is 92% titanium inside and out.

"Back when they were building the airplane the United States didn't have the ore supplies – an ore called rutile ore. It's a very sandy soil and it's only found in very few parts of the world.

"The major supplier of the ore was the USSR. Working through Third World countries and bogus operations, they were able to get the rutile ore shipped to the United States to build the SR-71."

[video=youtube;hOtL8nAUCD0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOtL8nAUCD0[/video]

 

[BABAR]

Very cool video. Wow, surface temperature 800 degrees F.

Lot's of stuff I didn't know, including aircraft was considered as an interceptor and apparently tested with launching air to air missiles.

Thanks for posting.

 

[rocketguy101]

There is a very good book written by one of the NASA test pilots, Donald L. Mallick, who flew the YF...it is called "The Smell of Kerosene" and is available as a free pdf from this NASA link https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/history/Publications/index.html or you can buy it from Amazon...

 

[Winston]

There is a very good book written by one of the NASA test pilots, Donald L. Mallick, who flew the YF...it is called "The Smell of Kerosene" and is available as a free pdf from this NASA link https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/history/Publications/index.html or you can buy it from Amazon...

Thanks for that link. I downloaded Mallick's book:

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/88797main_kerosene.pdf

and this:

Mach 3+ NASA/USAF YF-12 Flight Research, 1969-1979 by Peter W. Merlin

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/88796main_YF-12.pdf

EDIT: I see that Mallick's book also contains a lot of XB-70 stuff, another plane that HUGELY advanced the state of the art and for which the Soviets created the MiG-25. You used to be able to walk under an XB-70 sitting with a bunch of other X-planes in a USAF museum hangar, but I think the place has been rearranged since I've been there. That museum was many times better than the National Air and Space Museum, at least for the military aviation aspect, back when I visited both within a few years of each other.

[video=youtube;FrYhiNhp-L0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrYhiNhp-L0[/video]

 

[Winston]

Very cool video. Wow, surface temperature 800 degrees F.

Lot's of stuff I didn't know, including aircraft was considered as an interceptor and apparently tested with launching air to air missiles.

Thanks for posting.

What photoshop can do:

The YF-12 was intended to replace the cancelled North American XF-108 Rapier interceptor which was a very cool looking plane itself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_XF-108_Rapier

 

[tab28682]

The YF-12 was intended to replace the cancelled North American XF-108 Rapier interceptor which was a very cool looking plane itself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_XF-108_Rapier

The RC rocket glider in my avatar is a profile XF-108 of my own design. I agree that it was very cool looking!

Thread with flight photos here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?126638-XF-108-Rapier-RC-rocket-glider