RoadRunners A12/SR-71 Blackbirds

Vince H said:

They have and sr-71. Astonishing feat of engineering. Vince H

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Vince you are absolutely correct. I was lucky early in my career to touch the end of the JT11D-20 engine program at Pratt. Simply amazing what that program accomplished 55 years ago with slide rules.

PeteK said:

Nafod and Indy get the prize. I'll buy both of you a round at the Rally. Extra bonus prize: What are the two stars for?

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Thanks! I look forward to a cold one!! I am sure the discussions will be long and animated.

So the two stars (have not seen them but most likely) are the two CIA pilots who lost their lives flying the A12.

Walt Ray lost his life ejecting from an A12 on 5 January 1967 near Groom Lake, Nevada when a faulty fuel gauge resulted in fuel exhaustion on final approach to Groom.

Jack Weeks lost his life on June 5, 1968 in the South China Sea off the Phillipines Islands. He was on a functional check flight. No trace of the aircraft or the pilot was ever located.

FENZO said:

Internet photos show A12 TN 06930. Cool thing about this one is that it is outside of the Space and Rocket center gates, you can walk right up to it without going in. Was looking pretty rough (I think the center was having financial issues) for a while, but if memory serves it was re-finished recently.

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Fenzo, yep tail number 06930 is an A12, Lockheed build number #127. I talked to the “docent” at the Space & Rocket Center and they really had no clue as to any knowledge about “their” aircraft. Pretty disappointing. They said it was an SR71 (which is easy to do) but that it was a “trainer”.

Well there were only 2 SR71-B’s trainers manufactured. These had two separate cockpits one predominantly higher on the center body than the forward cockpit. One of these 60957/#2008 crashed near Beal AFB and the second B model (60956/#2007) is on static display at Kalamazoo, Mi.

There was one SR71-C trainer (60981/#2001) which was actually built with the front end of an SR-71 (front body chines extending to the nose tip) and the aft body of an earlier built YF-12 (60934/#1001) which had a landing mishap at Edwards AFB. This aircraft is on static display at Hill, AFB.

Aviation pieces of art and national treasures. IMO of course.:biggrin

Indy GT said:

So the two stars (have not seen them but most likely) are the two CIA pilots who lost their lives flying the A12.

Walt Ray lost his life ejecting from an A12 on 5 January 1967 near Groom Lake, Nevada when a faulty fuel gauge resulted in fuel exhaustion on final approach to Groom.

Jack Weeks lost his life on June 5, 1968 in the South China Sea off the Phillipines Islands. He was on a functional check flight. No trace of the aircraft or the pilot was ever located.

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Correct again--you get two cold ones!

Wow...I thought I had some aviation knowledge...I am not worthy!

Tomcat said:

Wow...I thought I had some aviation knowledge...I am not worthy!

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Hey, if you flew the F14 you are MORE than worthy! You are my hero. Tell us about night traps in weather.....

Just wish the airframe could have received the (Air Force derivative of the F100) Navy specific F401 engine. IMO a much superior engine (thrust and weight) to the early model TF30s. GE did get into the airframe with its F110 which too was better than the earlier Pratt turbofan.

Indy GT said:

Hey, if you flew the F14 you are MORE than worthy! You are my hero. Tell us about night traps in weather.....

Just wish the airframe could have received the (Air Force derivative of the F100) Navy specific F401 engine. IMO a much superior engine (thrust and weight) to the early model TF30s. GE did get into the airframe with its F110 which too was better than the earlier Pratt turbofan.

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Hey Indy GT, I was going to comment on your PW days (without trying to hijack this thread). I was a TomCat RIO (like Goose in TopGun) for 11 active years and retired from the Reserves after 28.5 years. Stories of night traps and north Pacific (Adak Alaska) flight ops (greenwater breaking over the bow of the USS Enterprise-60 feet above the waterline) will have to be in person. There are some more qualified Aviators on this forum but I have ~1500 hours (Tomcats, Skyhawks, even Hornet time) and only 268 traps (something like 93 at night).
All TF-30 time (A model)...I hear the F110 made the airplane super.
She was a robust but beautiful workhorse and I thank all taxpayers that allowed me to live my dream!

Tomcat,

Pilot or RIO, I have the utmost admiration and respect for all of you military service members. Thank you Sir for putting your life on the line so that we all can enjoy our freedom! One trap or 93, still hero status.:thumbsup

And in her day, the F14 was one heck of a fleet defense platform. I still get goose bumps watching Maverick and Goose in the flying scenes.

Be happy to discuss aviation at the rally! GT38 (Mr. T38) and PeteK (Mr. CIA) can join up on our formation (as well as any other aviation enthusiasts) for hangar talk.
Could be a late night....

Indy GT said:

Be happy to discuss aviation at the rally! GT38 (Mr. T38) and PeteK (Mr. CIA) can join up on our formation (as well as any other aviation enthusiasts) for hangar talk.
Could be a late night....

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I've had the good fortune to spend many, many hours talking aviation with Indy, and inspecting museum aircraft in detail I thought wasn't possible. You haven't lived until you've stood in front of a J58 with Bill, and heard his excellent explanation of how the Blackbird's unique "leaky turbojet" works!

There's an excellent interview with former SR-71 pilot Rick McCrary that really captures what it was like to be a Blackbird pilot. http://www.sbnation.com/2014/3/7/5447310/sr-71-blackbird-pilot-interview Be sure to read through to the end where he tells about his two in-flight fires. Long before his Blackbird days, Rick & I went through Undergraduate Pilot Training together at Laughlin AFB, and then T-38 IP school at Tyndall AFB. I wasn't surprised when a few years later I heard that Rick was flying the SR-71. In the interview he modestly says that a lot of luck was involved in getting into the program, but I'd seen how Rick had a knack for creating what appeared to be luck. :thumbsup

This is one of those threads with so many great stories and pictures. We really need an aviation thread/section! If I remember right, according to Ben Rich who wrote a personal memoir on his time at the Skunk Works, the J58 was originally designed in the late 40s but due to a lack of an airframe that could handle the power output it wasn't actually built until the mid to late 50s? I really need to go back and look for that passage. Hard to believe all this was done back in the day before calculators, computers and CAD.