Tag Archives: sr-71

Darkstar (Not The Real One) and Blackbird (The Real One)

One of the bigger attractions at the Antelope Valley Air Show, held at Edwards AFB, was the appearance of the Darkstar plane from Top Gun Maverick.  Obviously not a real plane (and not even the real Darkstar which was a reconnaissance UAV that never progressed beyond testing), it was part of a hugely popular movie so garnered a ton of attention.  It was parked in the static display alongside a very real SR-71 Blackbird.  This was something I found far more interesting having seen them fly for real in my younger days.  The Darkstar was still fun to see. I am not that churlish.

Blackbird Air Park

Alongside, connected to but not part of Joe Davies Historic Airpark is Blackbird Airpark.  On the south side of Palmdale’s airport, this area pays tribute to some of the most iconic products from Plant 42 across the airfield.  Lockheed’s Skunk Works turned out some amazing aircraft and this exhibit includes an A-12, an SR-71, a U-2 and an D-21 drone.  Having an A-12 next to an SR-71 is pretty special.  You have to look closely to see which is which.  A selection of black airframes together in the desert sun does not make for easy photography and there are lots of power lines and fences in the background but it would be churlish to complain too much.  It is free after all!

Was This Sensor Once Highly Classified?

The SR-71 Blackbird provided a reconnaissance platform that was unmatched.  It would have been pretty high in the sensitivity list when it came to its sensors and capabilities.  Now the jets are all retired.  The example that is in the Evergreen Aerospace Museum has one of the sensors extracted from the sensor bay and mounted on a stand in front of the aircraft.  I imagine there was a time when this was something that would not be available for me to look at but now, I guess, this is just another obsolete piece of tech.

Build a Blackbird Pano

While I was wandering around by the SR-71 at Evergreen and taking some pictures, one of the museum docents approached me and asked if I wanted to go upstairs.  I had seen the stairs and a gallery but the signage showed it as closed off.  If I had an invitation, I wasn’t going to say no, though!  The location put you above the Blackbird giving a great perspective that you don’t normally get.  However, I was pretty close in so the lens I had was still not wide enough.  Time for a pano instead.  I took a sequence of shots to try and cover the whole thing as best I could.  Then it was up to the software to do the stitching.  The above shot was the result.

Blackbird Motor

The SR-71 that is located in the Evergreen Aerospace Museum is configured to give some interesting views of the aircraft.  One side of the aircraft is opened up to show the engine.  The whole of the outer portion of the wing folds up to give access to the engine.  I had no idea that was the way it operated until I saw this plane.  It does show the engine configuration nicely.  At the high supersonic speeds, there is a bypass process whereby a lot of the flow is taken around the core.  The pipes for this can be clearly seen along the side of the engine.

Brian Shul

wpid12598-C59F2979.jpgOne great advantage of social media is that you find out about something before it happens rather than after – well, at least some of the time. I saw a Facebook post about a talk being given by Brian Shul at the Hiller Aviation Museum. Brian is a retired Air Force pilot who flew a variety of aircraft types culminating in the SR-71 Blackbird. He has published a number of books and talks to various groups about aspects of his life and career.

After Brian had finished his talk, I managed to grab some time with him to conduct an interview. The piece that resulted is now live on the Global Aviation Resource website at the following link.  http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2015/01/23/aviation-profile-brian-shul-sr-71-blackbird-pilot/

wpid12590-C59F2937.jpgBrian’s life has had many interesting turns. I will leave the story to the feature and you can always buy his books if you have saved some pennies. I do want to point out that Brian is a very engaging person. I sat with him for a long time while he dealt with so many people that wanted to talk to him that day and he never once shied away from taking as much time as any of them wanted, young or old. He was even given directions to visitors looking for the museum’s restrooms without batting an eye. When we managed to get some time to talk, he freely and frankly talked about anything I asked and provided plenty of material for the article. Meeting interesting people is a great part of writing for GAR.

Preserved Blackbirds

wpid12489-CRW_8553-Edit-2.jpgIf you ever want to find a way to lose a lot of time (this assumes you are an aviation guy), spend time on the Lockheed Martin in-house magazine’s website, Code One. Edited by Eric Hehs (with contributions including some by Jeff Rhodes), the magazine is full of great stories about Lockheed Martin products past and present. I should say I have met Eric and Jeff through ISAP and both are great guys so I am biased. When I am supposed to be doing something, Code One is the worst thing for me to look at since I can get lost in story after story. Recently they were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the SR-71 and ran a piece about preserved Blackbirds. This got me wondering how many of them I have seen and photographed.

wpid12481-Blackbird-Landing-Roll.jpgI will start by pointing out I saw them in service as well as preserved. Mildenhall was home of Detachment 4 of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing for many years. Blackbirds made an appearance at the Air Fetes that were held at Mildenhall in those days. I also saw a couple from outside the fence during normal operations.

wpid12487-CRW_7354.jpgIt turns out that, while there are a lot of them around, I have seen quite a few.  Some I have seen but not photographed which is a little frustrating.  However, most of the ones I have seen have made it in to the collection.  Here are a selection of shots.  (These also include A12 and YF-12 airframes so not all SR-71s but I doubt you care about that.)