SR-71

On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:52:12 GMT, "HEMI-Powered" wrote:

John Szalay added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

"HEMI-Powered" wrote in
Interesting. I would've thought that the flight manual was
still classified but this makes most interesting reading. I
suppose you knew it was already there or it'd be a daunting
task to find it in what I would think is a thick book.


Long story on the manual, but a "sanitised" version is
available on CD or printed copy can be ordered if you want.
its also available on-line IF you have a broadband connection.
PDF version 108Meg download..

http://www.netwrx1.com/skunk-works/sr71flt.pdf


IIRC: long version, guy "Borrowed" copy of NASA's DASH1
with a story, and managed to make a copy of it, now hes
selling copies at . (last time I checked anyway) $95.00
apiece. I didn,t want a hardcopy , takes to long to search for
info so I got a copy offline couples of years ago, for
reference. computer version makes for quick access to facts..

I'll just take your word for this neat story, John! Like I
suspected, the size of the manual is formidable so either you
already knew where to look or they have a damn good index.

I've seen a couple of SR-71's, I'm going way out on a limb here but
I think one was at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Pat and the other
is in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Either/both may be off-
base but I do recall seeing a couple of these very interesting
aircraft that still hold the record for both speed and ceiling for
an air-breathing aircraft, at least what has been de-classified.

You'd know, I imagine, but I've heard that a few of these can be
put back into service reasonably quickly if neither satellites nor
UAV can do a special job. I remember an interesting statistic that
dates back to, I think, the 1980s that claimed that it cost over
$55,000 per hour to fly these beasts.

Whodathunk we'd reach a point where a Hummer would cost about the same
to operate... ;^}

Bob added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

[snip]
You'd know, I imagine, but I've heard that a few of these can
be put back into service reasonably quickly if neither
satellites nor UAV can do a special job. I remember an
interesting statistic that dates back to, I think, the 1980s
that claimed that it cost over $55,000 per hour to fly these
beasts.

Whodathunk we'd reach a point where a Hummer would cost about
the same to operate... ;^}

I don't think it's quite this high. grin B-2's and F-117's have
high maintence costs, but don't know they cost to fly. Back to the
HUMVEE. the one that's really out of control is the new fully
armored one that goes by some acronym I can't remember. Also fuzzy
on the price, but it's in the half-million range.

This is an aviation NG, but to go nautical for just a minute, I
remember touring the USS Massachusetts once maybe 20 years ago and
was looking in on the working end of the engine room. They had a
sign describing it's rate of fuel usage per given speed in knots.
Can't remember any of the numbers clearly, and my pictures are on
35mm slides in the basement, but I vaguely recall that it had a
VERY short "range" at full speed. Just looking at the numbers for a
minute, it seems obvious that the fleet would be traveling well
below 20 knots to save fuel. That's also be necessary to slow down
to the transport's speeds. Point is that I'd bet that those things,
and even more so, the non-nuclear CVs, might burn more than
$55,000/hour but I've never researched it at all.

--
HP, aka Jerry

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, the enemy of my friend is my
enemy, but the friend of my enemy is also my enemy" - variant of
Middle East Maxim

"HEMI-Powered" wrote in
I don't think it's quite this high. grin B-2's and F-117's have
high maintence costs, but don't know they cost to fly.


BTW: the F-117s are gone now too !
Wings removed and stored somewhere off Highway 6, near Tonopah Nv.

wrote in :

On Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:19:36 -0500, John Szalay
wrote:

Does anybody know where these were taken? (not Beale or Burbank)
------------------------------------------

the engine runup was Beale
the others were Lakenheath UK,
the guy I got them from was a SR groundcrewman.

Lee wrote in
6.89:

John Szalay
42:


begin 644 PARKED1.JPG

Attachment decoded: PARKED1.JPG
`
end




Back when white walls were still cool! ;-)

Aluminum actually,

"The SR-71 has 6 main BF Goodrich 32-ply tires, each filled with 415 PSI of
nitrogen. Impregnated with aluminum powder to reduce heat"

John Szalay added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

I don't think it's quite this high. grin B-2's and F-117's
have high maintence costs, but don't know they cost to fly.

BTW: the F-117s are gone now too !
Wings removed and stored somewhere off Highway 6, near
Tonopah Nv.

Really?! Didn't know that. Guess they really were stealthy, huh?
What killed them, high maintenence costs for the paint, mission has
changed so much it is no longer effective, emphasis shifting to
UAVs, what, John.

The F-22 is, I think, an air superiority fighter/bomber, but isn't
100% stealth. Aurora, if it really exists, would be such a high
flier it presumeable won't need it. Which makes me curious about
the F-117.

Tell you one thing, John, I would not want to be on a B-2 crew.
Stationed at Whitmon in Missouri, fly 26 hour missions with 6 or
more air-to-air refuelings, yada, yada. And, all they have is a
porta potty and a bunk bed to catch some Zs on. I guess I
understand why they were never deployed overseas, probably to
protect them and also because nobody know exactly where they might
be needed in a hurry. And, I might speculate that they're in the
middle of the country instead of on one of the coasts for the same
reason, plus if there ever was going to be a for-real Missiles of
October, you wouldn't want the B-2 within range.

Interesting discussion. Now, if I could only remember where I've
seen this fantastic bird up close ...

--
HP, aka Jerry

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, the enemy of my friend is my
enemy, but the friend of my enemy is also my enemy" - variant of
Middle East Maxim

John Szalay added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...


Back when white walls were still cool! ;-)

Aluminum actually,

"The SR-71 has 6 main BF Goodrich 32-ply tires, each filled
with 415 PSI of nitrogen. Impregnated with aluminum powder to
reduce heat"

Them's one helluva lot of psi's! Never thought of using a metallic
powder as a heat sink for the "rubber" tires.

--
HP, aka Jerry

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, the enemy of my friend is my
enemy, but the friend of my enemy is also my enemy" - variant of
Middle East Maxim

And it will be very expensive to rebuild them soon



http://gizmodo.com/5052279/f+117-ste...ile-of-sadness



John Szalay wrote:
"HEMI-Powered" wrote in

I don't think it's quite this high. grin B-2's and F-117's have
high maintence costs, but don't know they cost to fly.



BTW: the F-117s are gone now too !
Wings removed and stored somewhere off Highway 6, near Tonopah Nv.

"HEMI-Powered" wrote in n
BTW: the F-117s are gone now too !
Wings removed and stored somewhere off Highway 6, near
Tonopah Nv.

Really?! Didn't know that. Guess they really were stealthy, huh?
What killed them, high maintenence costs for the paint, mission has
changed so much it is no longer effective, emphasis shifting to
UAVs, what, John.


F-22, the F-117 is OLD, the F-22 according to the Brass, is just as
stealthy, without the high maint.



The F-22 is, I think, an air superiority fighter/bomber, but isn't
100% stealth. Aurora, if it really exists, would be such a high
flier it presumeable won't need it. Which makes me curious about
the F-117.

Aurora , IMHO: does not exist, except in some tect writers mind..

Tell you one thing, John, I would not want to be on a B-2 crew.
Stationed at Whitmon in Missouri, fly 26 hour missions with 6 or
more air-to-air refuelings, yada, yada. And, all they have is a
porta potty and a bunk bed to catch some Zs on. I guess I
understand why they were never deployed overseas,


B-2 are rotated out to Diego Garcia and to Guam, both bases
have hangers built to protect them..
The one that was lost several months ago, was one of a flight of four
that was forward deployed to guam, another B-2 flight took their place
and it was time for them to go back to Whiteman AFB...

Maple1 added these comments in the current discussion du jour
....

And it will be very expensive to rebuild them soon


http://gizmodo.com/5052279/f+117-ste...%252B-caterpil
lar-crusher--pile-of-sadness

I watched a History Channel episode on stealth a while back where
they discussed the ultra-high cost of just maintaining the special
black coating for the F-117. I suggested in an earlier post that
this might've led to the demise of this very interesting aircraft.
Now, the speculation will be what aircraft design(s), manned or
unmanned, will take the place of a stealth fighter - if any.


BTW: the F-117s are gone now too !
Wings removed and stored somewhere off Highway 6, near
Tonopah Nv.

--
HP, aka Jerry

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, the enemy of my friend is my
enemy, but the friend of my enemy is also my enemy" - variant of
Middle East Maxim