[ARCHIVED THREAD] - SR-71 (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 4/11/2005 10:53:08 AM EDT
What an AWESOME piece of engineering! Me and the Blackbird down in Huntsville last Saturday.  
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www.sr-71.org/
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What the hell is the difference between an A-12 and an SR-71? ETA: Ok, google is my friend, apparently they are very similar (same airframes?) but the A-12 is 'reportedly' faster (I don't think either of them has had their actual speed released) but the SR 71 had better cameras and radar. Any experts out there to break it down? |
| I have a friend that has worked on the SR71 since their first flights. He told me that when they made their record flight from the west coast to the east coast they had to slow it down so they didn't show their full speed. God I would love to know their true top speed. |
The A-12 was a single seater and the YF-12A was a fighter prototype, the SR-71 was a two seat recon bird… Details… ANdy |
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Yep... that looks like a YF-12 which is the predecessor to the SR-71. here is a pic I took of one at WPAFB museum last month.... It's pretty dark but you can still see it.  Here you can still see part of it in the background of this pic.  But it doesn't touch THIS plane!! 
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Yes, sir. Because of this, the A-12 was a tad faster and carried more fuel. |
thats a YF -12A www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/annex/an12.htm |
Lion Dog, I think this would go well with my M-17S! Yours would need to be OD Green. jOel
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M-21 with a D-21 Drone attached. |
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It was a dream to watch them take off from Beale in the 80's........... The crowds usually ended up on the edge of the taxi strip and you could just feel the heat of the engines as it taxied within 40 ft of the wingtips bye..... They were SWEET looking at them on the ground, in the hangar, or in the air................. GOD I miss seeing them fly......... 
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It's true… and Lockheed also had to amend 29,000 engineering drawings to avoid embarrassing the President…  ANdy |
....never heard that!
Thats awesome. 
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I had the pleasure of seeing this plane in person at Wright Patterson many years age. It is a BIG SUCKA! Thanks for the picks NH_AR_Shooter jOel |
Can't see your pic :( , but it would piss me off anyway: There's no way in hell that NASA ever flew an A-12 and it pisses me off no end that a supposedly world class aircraft museum can't get it right! Rant mode off. Read the discussion in this particular thread: For a pretty good group of knowledgable people tha Arfcom represents, most don't know that the A-12 even existed much less what the difference is between it and the other Blackbirds. Most have already been noted, but to summarize: - A-12 designed, developed and operated by the CIA. SR by the USAF. - The A-12 program was classified and surviving A-12's were put into inviolate storage until 1986; this was when most people first found out about the program. - The A-12 flew higher and faster than the SR (source one of my Blackbird books, don't recall which one). - The A-12 was designed as an overflight penetrator; the SR with side looking equipment so it didn't need to penetrate. - A-12 had one crewman, SR and YF-12, two. - Of the first three operational A-12's, one of them was the one in Huntsville. Most of the technology had to be developed from scratch. For example, in Kelly Johnson's book, he describes how he called a hydraulic fluid supplier about getting hydraulic fluid that would work at the high temps needed by the BB. The supplier said "Sure, we got some of that!". Kelly asked for a sample and the supplier agreed. When it arrived, the hydraulic fluid came in a 50 lb. sack: it was solid at room temperature! Like everything else, they had to develop hydraulic fluid for the BB. Blackbirds: It doesn't get any better than that! |
+1, last surviving example of the M-21. A bunch of D-21 drones were at the Pima Air Museum last time I was there (1987 or so). Most people had no clue what they were. BB fanatics knew immediately. |
Let me guess, since you're from KS, your friend came down about 15 years ago and worked on the International Space Station. How close am I? Big layoff in the late '80's for Boeing in Wichita, a lot of them came down to Huntsville on the big program then, ISS. Some of them worked for me, some are still here, and some went back to Wichita. Merlin |
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There is one at the Pima air museum in Tucson, and the motors are in one of the inside displays. PIMA MUSEUM SR-71 Here is a link to some motor pics: J-58 |