Find » Education » The SR-71 Blackbird: A Supersonic S...

The SR-71 Blackbird: A Supersonic Stealth Wonder

Spy Plane was Cold War Predecessor to Modern Stealth Fighters & Bombers

By John Melendez, published Jul 18, 2007
Published Content: 204  Total Views: 535,200  Favorited By: 42 CPs
Embed:  
Rating: 4.9 of 5
THE MOTHER OF NECESSITY

1960 began literally with a "bang" over the skies of the Soviet Union. The bang was a horrible sound, an explosion which marked the detonation of a SAM 2 antiaircraft missile meeting its target. A few minutes later, the twisted wreckage of an American spy plane came tumbling down. In 1962, yet another was shot down over Cuba.

The American CIA had to face a hard fact: Its proud high-flying U-2 photo-reconnaissance aircraft, deployed barely a few years before, was already outdated.

What to do?

A SUPERSONIC WONDER

Two years later, in 1964, imagine an aircraft that...

- Cruised comfortably in excess of 2,000 mph and glowed red-hot!

- Was so expensive, that for every 1 hour the plane flew, it required upwards of 450 hours of repair!

- Had no armament - whose only defense against missiles was just to accelerate and get away!

If you imagined this, you envisioned Lockheed's SR-71 "Blackbird" spy plane!

THE ULTIMATE OF "COOL" WAS ACTUALLY VERY HOT!

For a plane that flew in excess of three times the speed of sound, this baby was hot. I mean really honest-to-goodness smoking hot! Heat generated from 35 tons of engine thrust and friction from high-speed travel presented challenges the aircraft industry had never witnessed to date.

At speeds over 2,000 mph, the plane literally developed tons of air pressure, which threatened to destroy its sleek wings and fuselage. This air pressure and air friction produced enormous amounts of heat. The plane got so hot that it glowed red hot - at temperatures upwards of 1200?F or more!

Because it was difficult to build an aircraft and have it fly for sustained periods without melting into a useless metal blob, the Blackbird's designers had to rig the plane to use its own fuel to cool the aircraft's wings, fuselage, and tires while in flight! Fuel lines were routed in an intricate pattern along the aircraft's leading edge surfaces where heat was at its greatest. The resultant flow of fuel under the aircraft's skin shunted away just enough heat away to keep the plane's skin from liquefying.

The SR-71 Blackbird: A Supersonic Stealth Wonder
The SR-71 Blackbird: A Supersonic Stealth Wonder

The lovely lines of the SR-71 Blackbird. Notice the dark streaks of fuel leaking out the wing's fuel cells. Read the article to see why this happened.

Credit: NASA (NASA ID: EC94-42883-4)

Copyright: NASA

Takeaways
  • The Blackbird flew so fast it glowed red-hot!
  • While on the ground the plane leaked fuel all over!
Did You Know?
"The Blackbird was so expensive to operate, that for every 1 hour the plane flew it required upwards of 450 hours of repair!"
Comments
Comments 1 - 4 of 4
 
 
http://www.rdgoodies.com/lockheed/BLACKBIRDS/blackbirds.html The A-12/SR-71 is the fastest, highest flying, air-breathing aircraft in the world. It flies at mach 3.5 and above 80,000 feet. The SR-71 is affectionately called HABU (for a poisonous snake in Okinawa) [the A-12 aircraft was first deployed there] by the pilots who fly her. This is her story. Kelly Johnson started working on a mach three design in early 1957, and called the design Archangel. The design was for a mach 3 aircraft that flew between 90,000 and 95,000 feet. A development contract for an aircraft called A-12 was let to the Lockheed Skunk Works on August 29, 1959. The propulsion system dominated the design the engine nacelles were larger in diameter than the fuselage. The propulsion system consisted of three main components; the modified Pratt and Whitney J-58 engine; inlet and control system and self-actuating airframe mounted ejector nozzle. One of the stickiest problems of design was to try and build an aircra

Posted on 09/20/2007 at 1:09:00 PM

 
Very nice article. I've seen 2 different SR-71's, one in Kansas and another in Nebraska, and I can say, they are a sight to behold.

Posted on 07/21/2007 at 10:07:00 PM

 
Don't think I want to fly at 2000 miles per hour.Talk about air sick.:)

Posted on 07/19/2007 at 11:07:00 PM

 
:)

Posted on 07/19/2007 at 6:07:00 AM

Type in Your Comments Below - (1000 characters left)

Submit your own content on this or any topic. Get started »
Comments 1 - 4 of 4
 
Advertisment