#sr71

Mamma Mia 🍕🍕🍕 Russians easily believed we needed titanium for thousands of pizza ovens.

After all, they possibly told their comrades that the United States was a lazy country that probably couldn’t even cook for itself. They need it to go out to buy pizza…😆

Titanium procurement during the Cold War was so vital to the United States’ goal of defeating the Soviet Union that it had to secretly buy the metal from the very country it sought to vanquish.

It was 1960, and Washington needed CIA spy planes that could avoid detection in Soviet airspace by flying to the heavens. To make what would become the vaunted SR-71 Blackbird, Lockheed knew it had to build a light plane, but one strong enough to carry extra fuel for extended range. The only metal that would do the job was titanium. The only place to get titanium in the quantities needed was the Soviet Union; soon after, we started importing from Australia because we did not want to boost the Soviet Union’s economy too much.

This was a pivotal moment between two great powers that desperately wanted to defeat the other. Ultimately, through third parties and fake companies, the U.S. “managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world’s leading exporters – the Soviet Union,” according to the memoir of Ben Rich, a Lockheed Martin engineer who worked on the SR-71. “The Russians never had an inkling of how they were actually contributing to the creation of the airplane being rushed into construction to spy on their homeland.”

Andriy Brodsky wrote part of this article

by Linda Sheffield

Where is the SR-71 defogger?

As explained by Aloysius G. Casey and Patrick A. Casey in their book Velocity Speed with Direction The Professional Career of Gen Jerome F. O’Malley, for a typical mission, the SR-71 was launched with one-half a fuel load for operational safety reasons.

This meant the first priority after takeoff was to refuel. Refueling presented special problems: visibility was poor due to the triangular forward window, and the helmet associated with the pressure suit caused undesired reflections. The receptacle (which received the fuel) was aft of the cockpit; therefore, the SR-71 had to fly underneath the tanker.

Normally, one would take on about 70,000 pounds or 11,000 gallons of JP7 fuel. Typically, refueling took place at about 25,000 feet. As the weight increased and the air speed had to be held down to accommodate the slower tanker, the aircraft became thrust-limited; that is, drag increased as it approached the stall speed for this unique aircraft (there was no additional thrust available without afterburner).

Blackbird pilot using the left afterburner during air refueling

At that point, the pilot had to move one throttle slightly into the afterburner range to hold position. Using one afterburner required the pilot to counter the asymmetry with rudder or just tolerate some sideways flight. Interestingly, the pilots developed the technique of using the left afterburner so the aircraft would yaw slightly to the right. Only the left quarter panel had defogger air, and the Pilot could get that benefit if needed. Refueling was an intense effort for the pilot and was required at least once on most missions.

Linda Sheffield

This dreamy picture of the SR 71 being refueled from years ago, when the mighty Blackbird ruled the sky. No one could touch her; she was so fast you could barely see her, but her job was necessary, so crucial because an SR-71 could start a war or finish a war.

Knowledge is power. The United States had the knowledge; we had the power. This was back when right and wrong were easily defined. The SR-71 flew under the command of SAC, the Strategic Air Command, whose motto was “Peace is our Profession.” The only weapon that the SR 71 had was its speed.

The SR-71 KEPT THE PEACE.

Written by somebody who was there at the beginning of the Blackbird program~ Linda Sheffield.

SR-71 was basically a flying fuel tank. The Brown area in the picture. That’s where the fuel was. It’s not true that it had to be refueled after takeoff because so much fuel was leaking. Yes, it leaked but not enough to have to be refueled in some cases the SR 71 could take off with a full tank that’s 80,000 pounds.

A few more facts: this airplane was called a wet wing. It did not have fuel bladders. The wiring was fed through the fuel tanks.

Here are some fun facts about the SR 71 and a question: where is the doghouse?

The SR-71 was the first aircraft to use its own fuel for hydraulic fluid. It was called the fuel hydraulic system.

An engine-driven pump provided 1800 psi of recirculating fuel to accurate various engine components and then returned it to the aircraft fuel system to be burned. Fuel was used in the actuators to control the afterburner nozzles, which maintain the proper exhaust gas temperature and control the thrust output. The fuel was also used in the engine actuators to shift the two-position inlet guide vanes from their axial position to the cambered position and back again. This was just another of the many first-ever inventions of the SR-71.

The J58 engine was hydromechanically controlled and burned a special low-volatility jet fuel mixture known as JP-7.

Emergency fuels could be used in the SR-71 if the crew was low on fuel and had to use ANY tanker (as already explained, the Blackbird relied on KC-135Q tankers [that could simultaneously carry a maximum of 74,490lb of JP-7 and 110,000lb of JP-4 for their engines]. Still, the SR-71 could also be refueled by standard Stratotankers in the event KC-135Qs were not available or if the Blackbird crew had to deal with an emergency) they could find to avoid the loss of the aircraft. The emergency fuels were JP-4 or JP-5, but they limited the Blackbird's top speed to Mach 1.5. There were six main fuselage tanks. All 80,285 pounds of JP-7 fuel were carried in six main fuselage tanks.

The tanks numbered one through six moved forward to aft (back) tank 6B. It could hold 7,020 pounds of gravity-fed fuel and two tank sumps.

This was also called the “doghouse” and was located in the extreme back portion of the fuselage.

These are just a few interesting facts I found by reading Rich Graham’s “SR 71 Revealed the Inside Story.

Linda Sheffield

Why does this SR 71 have a Band-Aid?

SR 71 #975 with something that looks like a Band-Aid?

Bob Archer explains in his book “Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird” that when an SR 71 was relocated to an airbase for an airshow, technicians were required to improvise to keep the elements from entering areas such as the engine nacelle.

Polyurethane protection of a clear sort was used surrounding the cockpits, and the refueling port.

This was in September 1985.

Interesting.

-Linda Sheffield

SR 71 in 1983 photograph taken by Chuck Holt, isn’t it a beauty?

Linda Sheffield

NASA operated a total of seven Blackbirds in total, along with two YF-12s.

SR-71A at Kadena AB Okinawa….