Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

Cool....I hope the photos are ready soon.

As soon as they are, I will post them and send you the real ones if you like.

Send me a PM with your home address and I will give them to you (since I will still have the slides anyway). Cheers

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I remember standing on the ramp at Robins AFB the day that the Habu landed to be placed in the Museum of Aviation. I distinctly remember how quiet it was just before we spotted the plane coming in low and fast. It first made a transonic pass over the runway. The crew then made a few passes over the runway, and gave the crowd quite a show, knowing that this particular plane would never fly again. I feel very fortunate to have seen the flight, one of only a handful of SR flights I ever had the opportunity to see.

I am just so envious of all you guys getting to see this beast in flight...

As sad as it is to think that they are all museum pieces now and won't be taking to the air again, at least they were not unceremoniously scrapped into small cubes like the poor old F-14..

Thank you all for sharing thoughts and memories with us. These are priceless.

I never had the pleasure of seeing an SR-71 fly. Wish I had... As much as I love to fly airplanes, I'm not so sure I'd want to fly one; every book/article I've read on the jet, including the declassified dash one, gives me the impression that flying this airplane at high mach numbers was a lot of work. Well, if you really twisted my arm, I'd fly one...

I've met a few of the guys who flew the A-12 and SR-71. They say that unstarts will bang your head against the canopy.

Yeah, I'd still do it Smile

Here's a pilot report I found on the SR - OK, it's the sim, but it's a civilian in the sim Cool

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/srsim~1.htm

Well...I got my slides converted into photos back and I am PISSED OFF.

The local Kodak processing center screwed them up bad, I have complained and they state they will reprint them for free and fix their errors (very unclear and each one has been made darker and has some serious Red color in them) .

My slides are (were) crystal clear and the photos should be the same way.

I will have to wait another week BUT decided to post the best of the Crap they gave me back so you folks can at least see something.

I got my fingers crossed they fix their crappy work but until then...try and enjoy what I filmed back in 1974 at RAF Mildenhall for the SR-71 History making Speed Flight from UK to LA.

Don't know if it would be old film, crappy scanner (mechanical or the human) or what but the midtones are pratically absent. Here's about ten minutes of tweaking.

Not bad, not bad at all - thanks for that but the slides are very, very clear...I think the person that was making the copies did not pay attention.

I have had other slides turned into prints and they were of great quality, I was told that slides make the best prints because of the concentration of the slide itself.

I sure hope my Kodak's next attempt turns out better but thank you very much for your efforts, they do look alot better. Thank you for that...

Not Worthy

Thank you so much for posting them anyway my friend... Any shot of the Blackbird is always worth seeing...

Boy oh boy, I'd hate to be the Kodak people about now, you are one bloke I wouldn't wanna get on the wrong side of... Laughing

Seeing the crew heading towards her, I always wonder what they were thinking or feeling before rotating her into the air. You would have to be superhuman to not be daunted or intimidated in SOME way by such a plane.

Excellent shots as is, will be outstanding when they get them right...

Hello Andrew...well I have my fingers crossed...again.

If this doesn't work, I'll try another location to see if someone can get it right. As you saw above with "sferrin" effort, he did a great job, I don't see why the photo shop cant but I will just have to hope for the best.

Glad you liked them, the photos of the crew up close were the best I thought but as you saw, it is hard to even see their faces, that I hope changes, it was a nice clear shot, least I thought so for an amateur.

All the best mate....I agree, knowig their were taking a shot at history and making it....must be an amazing feeling.

Can anyone confirm the 2nd generation of the high altitude recon aircraft. From what I have come across the term "senior citizen" is the code name. Aurora as well. Apparently RAMJET propulsion. Makes sense since the military seems to be testing small versions of SCRAMJETS. I did get to see the SR 71 in flight. INCREDIBLE.

God Bless
Jer

Elite 1K Joined: May 26, 2005 - 08:39 PM Posts: 1496

Senior Citizen was the code name for the Blackbird.

Back at George AFB 77-80, the SR's would come on in for navigation checks(???). They'd fly a low approach and pitch up, pop burner and be gone. Watching this, I always felt that it was like watching a shark leave the surface and return to the depths where it lived.

slicktry wrote:

Can anyone confirm the 2nd generation of the high altitude recon aircraft. Jer

What is it you want to know?

huggy wrote:

slicktry wrote:

Can anyone confirm the 2nd generation of the high altitude recon aircraft. Jer

What is it you want to know?

Just curious as to what speed/elevation and propulsion it will use. I have done some "minor" searching and haven't found too much, prolly cause it is still classified. I got intrigued when I read a Pop. Sci article discussing a new scramjet vehicle that a company would like to build and test. They also said that the military was interested in the technology...

God Bless
Jer

Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

The Blackbird