Im British and immensely proud of our aircraft designs like the EE Lightning, Avro Vulcan, Mile M.52, Canberra etc. However there are TWO American planes i adore. The A10 warthog and the SR71 which never fails to send shivers down my spine every time i see it. AWESOME engineering and beautiful machine.

@thehark6247

7 ай бұрын

thats because not a single interesting machine has come out of the uk since ww2. Maybe a helicopter or two, buuuut......

@pigeonpoo1823

7 ай бұрын

​@@thehark6247is the harrier not interesting?

@jonathank7394

7 ай бұрын

Agreed. The A10 " tank killer" is my favorite aircraft.

@Yaz-pn9py

7 ай бұрын

To bad your government gave away your aeronautical industry.

@NoahSpurrier

7 ай бұрын

@@thehark6247you might not know what you’re talking about.

The U-2 was always able to be tracked on Soviet radar, they just didn't have any missiles or aircraft that could fly high enough to intercept it until some years later.

@MorganOtt-ne1qj

7 ай бұрын

Francis Gary Powers would attest to that. He rolled and got craps that day. A hero.

@davidelliott5843

7 ай бұрын

Powers was supposed to hit the delayed self destruct button before ejecting. He never said why that never happened.

@MorganOtt-ne1qj

7 ай бұрын

@@davidelliott5843 One more thing before you punch out that high up. Saving your rear out ranks covering it, just human nature.

@matgeezer2094

5 ай бұрын

Yes that's how I understood it as well, but the U2 shot down, Gary Powers, were the Soviets passed crucial data by?? Who? CIA skullduggery or something else?

I die inside every time I hear “A-12 Oxcart”. Archangel-12 and Project Oxcart were two different code names for the project, and they were never combined.

The SR71, it just.....chef's kiss. that is a beautiful plane.

I was in the Civil Air Patrol in 1971 and our squadron was visiting an air force base for familiarization with a pilot training program they were putting on for Cadet officers. While we were walking around we saw this sleek black spaceship looking thing parked over at one end of the tarmac. And we went to look at it and I took some pictures on a little instamatic camera I had. A truck drove over toward us at high speed and screeched to a stop and a guy hopped out and grabbed my camera and would not give it back. He said we couldn’t take pictures of that plane and that we needed to leave the area.

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

Thats pretty standard procedure for any flight line

@christopherpardell4418

7 ай бұрын

@@gr8crash they didn’t mind us photographing the C-5s or fighters…

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

@christopherpardell4418 or they just didn't notice. But regardless that's pretty standard. I mean if you do to Edward's AFB and try to take pictures on the flight line without approval and the same thing can happen.

@christopherpardell4418

7 ай бұрын

@@gr8crashIn 1970 the SR-71 was still highly secretive. The government admitted to them, but you didn’t see pictures of them published. I was in the Civil Air Patrol and we were All About military aviation and none of us had seen a photo of one before. We were all in Air Force uniforms. And like I said, they saw us take pictures of every other plane on the tarmac, and even some in a hanger undergoing maintenance. The ONLY thing they didn’t want us taking pictures of, or getting closer than 100 yard to was the Blackbird.

@heyitsvos

7 ай бұрын

Some of the things we got to do in CAP around '85 are simply irreplaceable, especially as a young guy. 2 weeks at Lackland AFB getting busted down all day everyday, flew down there on C -130. Trips to DC on USAF MD-80, and so many other awesome things. Miss those times

“Still drunk off the truth serum”? Hmmm 🤔

The technology used on this airplane is still downright impressive even several decades later!

Used to work near Mildenhall airfield in East Anglia in the late eighties and got to watch this plane fly out on its weekly scheduled reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union for the “Trust but verify” purposes of the SALT Treaties. Spine tingling stuff.

Someone might have mentioned this, but your use of "Lockheed Martin" was incorrect when you talked about the SR71. The merger was well after the development of the SR71.

This is the only channel that I instantly thumb up. Keep it coming matey.

I worked with Ken Collins, he was a stand up guy that you could count on.

The SR71 - to my eye at least - is one of the most exquisite blends of art, engineering and story. It is a magical combination.

It’s funny that now titanium can be had cheaper than aluminum and we get it from beach sand. Some sands run 30% titanium dioxide beating the best concentrations of bauxite (aluminum oxide) at 22%. The new chemical process is one tenth the cost of the electrolytic process, making titanium in bulk incredibly cheap. New methods of cutting and shaping with abrasives and explosive welding make it easy to work with. I work with titanium and now we even use 3d printers to print parts and set them by baking them in a high temperature kiln. The process is for copper alloys of titanium which are very strong, crack resistant and abrasion resistant. Further fitting and finishing is done with abrasives. We’ve come a long way.

@joeylawn36111

Ай бұрын

Titanium Dioxide is cheap enough now to be used as the primary pigment in white house paint.

Oxcart was the project code name, not the name of the aircraft. The only name ever hung on the plane itself was "Cygnus", though I heard one pilot say that the pilots never called it that. Also, from what I've been told, the marriage requirement for crews was a myth that has endured for decades.

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

I've had that debate with people do. The one pilot, Jack Weeks I think is the one that came up with Cygnus and created the patch, and agree Oxcart was the program name, but was/is often used for the plane as well. The married part wasn't a myth though that was absolutely true for the Oxcart Program. But it wasn't a requirement for the SR71 program, even though people think it was.

Kind of left us hanging on the Ken Collins thing. Was the part about the use of "truth serum," on Ken Collins edited out? also the fact the it was not clearly stared what aircraft he was flying, although I'm sure most were able to surmise the type.

@Mike5Brown

2 ай бұрын

I ended up restarting the video

I'd like to see more footage of the J58 engine inlet as shown with shockwave analysis.

That picture of the SR upside down on that hydraulic lift cylinder in the desert is one of my favorites.

excellent video (as usual) your video begins with the May 1963 incident. In these epic times of aviation (without our simulators) a pilot with steel nerds had to test the limits of the test plane himself to know how far not to go. therefore the risks of crashing the prototype were great. the crash of an SR71 prototype on January 25, 1966 ! here is a story for your channel in flight at 78,000ft and 2400 mph pilot Bill Waver saw his plane disintegrate around him; in similar circumstances your life expectancy is limited and yet........

The U2 flying in 1954 and the A12 Oxcart a few years later, shows absolutely incredible aircraft development. Only digital technology has ever progressed as rapidly I think. The first ever flight was, about 1905 I think, the Wright brothers, and within 50 years, incredible progress

@daveogarf

5 ай бұрын

Thank you, Kelly Johnson!

@joeylawn36111

Ай бұрын

December 17, 1903.

Amazing what can be done with having the best engineering...even with a lack of di. .verdity

@setituptoblowitup

7 ай бұрын

Verdy you l👀kin purdy shurly

@marcalvarez4890

7 ай бұрын

Don't be an idiot.

@MorganOtt-ne1qj

7 ай бұрын

I gets what you meaned. 😂

The SR-71 was never shoot down, as stated. But the swedish pilot Per-Olof Eldh was the first who had a missilelock on a SR-71 (known as the Baltic express)with a Saab Viggen. The strategy was to get up to high altitude, then go head to head with the SR-71. He two planes passed each other in visual range. The speed between them must have been around mach 4(!) Eldh had 5 more locks on it later, and other Viggen-pilots had lock on it too.

@AG-qh9hc

7 ай бұрын

Learn how to spell “shot” and just cause you have missile lock, doesn’t mean that it would have been a definite kill shot.

@MorganOtt-ne1qj

7 ай бұрын

WOW. 👍

@jaybee9269

7 ай бұрын

Really doubt an SR is lockable from the front…the bottom, maybe, but not from the front; it’s the smallest radar cross-section. I understood the lock happened when the plane was limited to one engine but perhaps I’m wrong?

@DOI_ARTS

7 ай бұрын

You can lock it but can the missile reach it? I remember a Blackbird pilot saying that Ballistic missiles were launch on them but it just exploded behind them.

@elroyfudbucker6806

6 ай бұрын

@@jaybee9269It was returning from a recon run in the Baltic with one engine out due to a problem & with a couple of Soviet MiGs on their tail when the Swedish Viggens met up with it & escorted it into Swedish airspace. I think one of Viggen pilots decided to see if he could get missile lock on the world's fastest, most secret plane just for the hell of it. The Swedish pilots were awarded years later by the USAF for their efforts.

Great video. Loved the intro.

A Agriculture equipment company(s) was the cover for the Titanium importation. Russian titanium went to space on Nasa rockets. Just machining that stuff, required new tooling design. At one time, you could buy sheet titanium from Boeing Surplus in Everett Wa along with many other cool items. Their ""Tool Crib"" area of the warehouse was legendary. I need to run up to the Seattle Museum of Flight and see the SR again. Thanks DS.

@markp.9707

3 ай бұрын

Actually the plane at the Museum of Flight at Boeing field is actual an A-12 not an SR-71.

@kh40yr

3 ай бұрын

Actually, A M-21 Mothership One of two. But when I see a two person cockpit, the mind wanders to SR. Thanks for the catch.@@markp.9707

I highly recommend the book "Area 51: An Uncensored History Of America's Top Secret Military Base" The last part of the book had some wacko ideas about Roswell, but the history of the site including the Oxcart was fascinating.

Annie Jacobsen wrote extensively on the A-12 and the SR-71 in her book on Area 51 for those who want to learn more.

@jamesheath418

7 ай бұрын

Great book! I’ve read it twice.

I love your channel and you do really great work. For what it's worth I found the background soundtrack on this video a bit distracting. Something to maybe think about....or not. Thanks!

Kelly Johnson, would turn in his grave if he heard you calling him Clarence. Johnson was nicknamed “Kelly” by his peers after he tripped a boy who called him “Clara” in grade school. The nickname came from the popular song at the time, “Has Anyone Here Seen Kelly? (Kelly from the Emerald Isle)”.

A work of art.

And for 38 years now, we're still waiting on the true SR-71successor and replacement, the classified top secret SR-91 Aurora. As for the SR-72, the prototype was delivered to the air force days ago, with the new block of aircraft getting ready. Time will tell when we'll see the SR-72. Though it might actually be the SF-91 Aurora.

That speed record you mentioned wasn’t set by an a-12 it was set by an sr-71 in 1976. We much is the official fastest recorded speed set by an air breathing jet. Which beat the a-12 previous record of Mach 2.9 not 3.9. Unofficially Brian shull in 1996 supposedly pushed the sr-71 just past Mach 4 briefly in a dive over lybia to out run a missile they fired at him

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

Most of that is incorrect. The A12 did set its speed record of mach 3.29 in 1965, followed by max sustained altitude of 90k ft also in 1965. The SR71, while setting its speed records across the country it set a couple at mach 3.3. And the Shul story your reference is also largely untrue. Was never close to mach 4, nor was it in a "dive".

@jaybee9269

7 ай бұрын

Shul said it was Mach 3.5 in one of his books.

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

@jaybee9269 oh I'm aware of what he said, which is also how we know he's lying about it.

@noylj1

7 ай бұрын

You think the government EVER published the real max speed?

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

@noylj1 been public knowledge for well over a decade now.

I always considered the A-12 to be the older but lesser known brother of the SR-71.

Wonderful video.

for few videos now, there is some music in the background. To me, unnecessary. On the contrary, it is disturbing. I prefered the old format with your voice. So characteristic (en enjoyable) of your channel. If you get more feedback like this, maybe consider reverting to the old format without music. Otherwise, great videos, as always.

@CallMeByMyMatingName

7 ай бұрын

I like the music. It's not too loud or obnoxious, and isn't distracting.

Man... The SR71 / A112 well just keeps on giving. That we'll never runs dry eh?

After the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a catalog company that imported Soviet tools like a (near) 100% Titanium Crowbar. Compared to a regular steel crowbar, it was so lightweight it felt like it was made of aluminum, but was just as strong (if not stronger) than steel. Sadly, my crowbar from Russia was stolen many years ago, But I still have a battery-powered handheld Soviet military handheld Night Vision scope that I also bought out of that mail-order catalog. I believe it was called the "Sovietski Collection", but the company is long gone.

@allandavis8201

Ай бұрын

That is a very interesting bit of information that I had never heard of before, wish I had, it sounds like they had excellent tools, the crowbar especially, I think that maybe it was made of titanium because of either a lack of steel or an abundance of titanium, I don’t know how rich in titanium or steel they were, but I can imagine that the CIA had a finger in that particular pie. Thanks for your comment and letting me know where to find it. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇸🇺🇦

Still amazing that the A-12 and SR-71 were up and flying with air-breathing engines at over Mach 3 while the X-15 was still using rockets to experiment with high speeds and altitudes.

I was lucky enough to be working the flight line at Kadina in the late 70’s early 80’s. And routinely saw the SR-71’s take off and land .

The music is incongruous and annoying. Your videos are always interesting and informative, and you don't need the music.

Back in the 50's and 60's Groom Lake was mostly named Paradise Ranch. Kelly nicknamed Groom Lake, Paradise Ranch to get pilots to sign up for these programs. Over the years it has gone through different nicknames.

@mattcrad8605

7 ай бұрын

My grandfather was a Colonel in the Air Force and always referred to it as dreamland.

Other than reduced exposure time (time in a radar's area of operation) due to high speed, how would high Mach speed alone reduce the chance of being tracked by radar? 03:58 | The air rushing past it OR the high pressure stagnant air in contact with the surface of the A-12/SR-71? 10:31 | "Along side OR behind the pilot"? TD

@BeamRider100

7 ай бұрын

I suppose it stretches and distorts the signal that is reflected, as it's moving while the signal is hitting it. Depends on the sampling time and length of the signal used.

This inspired the fictional “Black Egret” - *bird* able to fly at supersonic speeds.

Why did you show the TR1 version so early in the video when discussing the U2?

Hold on a second!…….. Your telling me they don’t just let anyone fly these aircraft? I figured they went down to the Home Depot and found their pilots

@mikehipperson

6 ай бұрын

I heard it was Walmart!

Area 51? Never heard of it😂

It was ironic acquiring Titanium from Soviet Union, but what goes around comes around because now they acquire computer chips from the US... through third parties just like we did.

Everyone says nobody knew of the A12 in the early sixties yet I had a plastic floor toy molded in red plastic with a big A12 on one wing. This toy was made by Ideal and I got one in '65 when my brother was born.

@blackhawk7r221

7 ай бұрын

Yep. Those model airplane manufacturers sure can get plans years before a public announcement.

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

Wouldn't be that hard. They already knew what the YF12 and then SR71 looked like. Not hard to just make it a single seat.

@blackhawk7r221

7 ай бұрын

Model kits are how I first saw the F-117 and B-2 years before their public release. I haven’t checked for the NGAD that flew three years ago, but it’s probably the same story.

@drlong08

4 ай бұрын

I had an early model of the F-117 and it was rounded surfaces (think it was a Revell kit) and they were WAAY off on the actual aircraft!

@poowg2657

4 ай бұрын

@@drlong08 Some say that was actually pretty close to project Aurora but Revel didn't realize it.

I still remember a time when documentaries wouldn't go anywhere near the name Area 51 in concern over being labeled conspiracy nuts. Now, you can't have one about the SR-71 or F-117 that doesn't mention testing at Groom Lake.

The wonderful irony of getting the titanium from the USSR!

@johnorlitta

7 ай бұрын

That should be an interesting story to hear.

Is that Michael Collins in the background at 7:19? As far as I know he was never involved in the Oxcart program.

Thanks for filling in the gap in my knowledge of the time period between the A-12 and SR-71. As I understand it. There was to be a fighter/interceptor to also come out of that program. There was a special Falcon AIM variant, I believe the Falcon 47. According to a later 1970's edition of JANE'S POCKET BOOK OF ROCKETS AND MISSILES, this had a range of 40+ miles

@gapratt4955

7 ай бұрын

That was the YF 12, its competition was the North American XF 108.

@SpacePatrollerLaser

7 ай бұрын

@@gapratt4955Also in the works was the F-108, primarily designed as an escord fighter for the B-70 Valkyrie I think we are headed for the days when the intercepto, no better thought of as Defensive Air Superiority asset will be a large, relatively slow, Mach .7 to Mach 1.4, plane stuffed with AIM's. This could be the new role for the B-1 and B-52 airframees. Carrying maybe 30-35 missiles and defended by drones with short-range AIM's like Sidewinder and Sparrow, inot the mid 21st century. The high speed missions will belong to the strike fighters like Eagle II or Strike Eagle. I understand the Eagle X is slated to be a Mach 3 plaine. Strategic bombing will appearnelty be carried out by slow, stealth bomboers that can come in at "treetop level". I found an interesting reprot in the 1976 JANE'S POCKET BOOK OF MAJOR COMBAT AIRCRAFT. The top speed of the F-111 was liested as 1980 MPG. IIRC, isn't that Mach 3?

@allangibson8494

7 ай бұрын

And there was the A-11 that preceded the A-12. It had too high a radar cross section so the wing structure was redesigned. The A-12 was a stealth aircraft.

@SpacePatrollerLaser

7 ай бұрын

@@allangibson8494I thought I was imagining the A=11, I heard so little about it after early '64. That might have been the one the fighter/interceptor was to be derived from. Because that was mentioned in the same stories as the 11. I really did not know what the A stood for since these were really more experimental at the time. But boy howdy, did they set the world on fire!

@allangibson8494

7 ай бұрын

@@SpacePatrollerLaser the A was for “Article”. It’s a CIA designation. It had a set far more sharply swept outer wing panels than the A-12 that superseded it.

At 7:20, the pilot on the right in the rear of the scene? Looks like Michael Collins who would orbit the moon while Apollo 11 landed. Stock footage of aviators, or was he involved with the SR program?

The U2 is still used today.

I read Brian Shul said at cruise the throttle still had 4 inch of travel to the stop, but the limiting factor of the aircrafts speed would be heat in the engines and airframe.

@gr8crash

6 ай бұрын

That comment of his is missing A LOT of context though as the throttle wasn't necessarily linear like that. Meaning just because you had travel left didn't mean you had throttle left. And the initial limiting factor to higher speed was the engine CIT limit.

@drlong08

4 ай бұрын

An A-12 pilot said that inlet temp was the limit factor after that the engines would shred apart. "No one wants to fly a twin engine shredder..." Frank Murray.

@gr8crash

4 ай бұрын

@drlong08 not necessarily that they would shred apart, but that CIT limit was the initial limiting factor for all variants using the J58 engine.

Not an expert but I'm pretty sure speed doesn't reduce the ability of radar to detect the aircraft. However, combined with stealth, by the time the radar detects a fast aircraft, there's no time for a missile to climb to it.

@drlong08

4 ай бұрын

You can imagine that an aircraft that potentially changes radar map position about .55 miles a second at top speed can make targeting it a bit difficult.

Brian Shul's "Sled-driver" remains one of the most describing views into flying the SR-71. Highly reccommended viewing !!.

The Apple Store has enough titanium to make an SR-71

No notice on this one off schedule as well.

They tried painting the U-2 with radar absorbing paint, but the few hundred lbs. caused the plane to not be able to climb over like 45.000 ft. Weight was tuned to a knat's whisker.

@daveogarf

5 ай бұрын

(*gnat's)

0:45 What truth serum would that be ? It is not mentioned in the first 45 seconds of the video

@xodiaq

7 ай бұрын

Yeah that was hella random

@Bob_Burton

7 ай бұрын

@@xodiaq Just like the random aircraft that are often seen in this channel's videos that have nothing to do with the actual subject of the video. I did not watch long enough to know whether this one suffers from that

@Bob_Burton

7 ай бұрын

@@retiredbore378 Who said anything about a sedative ?

The U-2 can be observed on its landing path to Beale AFB when coming in from the south and going past eastern Sacramento and western Placer counties.

Imagining them squeezing tubes of white paint for the titanium pigment. Lol

With national security at risk, I don't think it was ridiculous to make sure the pilots were loyal to the United States,it needs to be mandatory!!

@Rich77UK. What about SR72 ? The new Stealth Raider isn't a bad bird. The Russians had some real nice birds but haven't gone very far since the Vertical Take-Off,they had some trying to copy those.

For @mhobin. The blackbird never has done mach 4. I've met an actual blackbird pilot who lives in Colorado Springs and they were engine and airframe limited to mach 3.2.

@gr8crash

6 ай бұрын

Somewhat as their max authorized speed was 3.3. There are a few examples of speeds in the 3.4x range but these were only due to VERY specific atmospheric conditions and not fully within the pilots control.

was that Michael Collins at the right side of the screen sitting at the back wearing a green flight suit at 7:18?

I still await the day we see the SR-72.

While officially M3.5+ is the listed speed, it is likely its general 'mission' cruising speed, over the years of my reading and watching aircrew & aircraft documentaries, I do believe that the SR71 is able to surpass M4 quite easily as hinted at by many pilots over the decades (although I do think M4.3 @>95,000ft, is its emergency max structural-thermal limit), just so long as it has enough fuel (over 65%ish) capacity left within its fuel tanks to absorb the aerodynamical heatsoaking, - as the special jet fuel is the aircrafts 'total loss' cooling system for all the birds subsystems.

@Britcarjunkie

7 ай бұрын

Right out of high school, I worked occasionally with Jim Eastham, and, after several years of prodding, he gave me a maximum speed number that I immediately brushed off as being total BS. However, after hearing of his passing & learning exactly what he did for the entire Blackbird program (and learning that Mach 3.2 was but a cruising speed!), maybe that number wasn't so far fetched afterall...

@unscentednapalm8547

7 ай бұрын

It was limited by the 'Compressor Inlet Temperature' or CIT of 427°C. Which depending on atmospheric conditions meant a max speed of Mach 3.5-3.6.

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

Virtually everything you said is incorrect

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

​@Britcarjunkie 3.2 wasn't the cruise speed, 3.17 was mission cruise and 3.2 was max mission cruise. And top speed wasn't much different than that

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

​@unscentednapalm8547 the CIT part is correct, but the speed is high

Obviously altitude would reduce radar signature due to longer distance but how does supersonic speed affect radar signature?

The F105 was known as the "Thud" and the "Lawn Dart"; guess its flying performance was not all that

I wish I understood the formulae for altitude, air density and friction induced surface temperatures. I guess this is why we all went to 200 to 600 miles above the surface. Remember M Crichton's book "The Andromeda strain?" One of the most important points was the "Odd Man" theory. someone who is well educated, Is relatively young and has no family ties that would influence a decision to use or not use "extreme measures" to solve a problem?

Rare shot at 8:45... that's an SR-71 with a D-21 air-launched drone mounted to the top!

I bet they said this thud has a lot more titanium in it then I remember !

The U-2 Dragon Lady flies no where near the edge of space, the Kármán Line at 100 kilometres is where conventional aircraft can no longer function because the air pressure is too low for flight

Why would they put a crashed pilot on truth serum?? To find out about some human error? I guess he probably would have told them so due to his high professionality and sense of duty...

@drlong08

4 ай бұрын

Just to make sure he didn't tell anyone anything about a top-secret aircraft. Quite the debrief, I imagine.

I hope they declassify something soon. It’s been a while!

At 5:38 you said "A-10" instead of A-12 or U-2.

Imagine what they are working on now!!

Lee Harvey Oswald? Really? Pathetic.

Richard M Bissell. I bet he wasn’t nicknamed “Bex”

I was at an Air Show at NAS Pt Mugu, Ca. In 1982 or 83 While stationed with a Navy Reserve A-7 squadron in which it had been announced publicly that there would be a flyover by an SR-71 returning from a training flight. As it made a pass down the main runway I took several photos with a 35 mm camera which could not be made to take a photo if there wasn't sufficient light. When I got the pictures from The photo kiosk in the employee cafeteria at Hughes Aircraft Company where I worked there were no pictures of the craft. Not blurred or ruined, just not there. All the others came out. Could never get an answer. why.

Truth serum?

Can't tell you how many times I've worked on a project where we all gave it a real cool name based on some design aspect only to have management come by at the end of the project and give it some stupid name. Then all of the design documentation suddenly has the wrong name on it.

At 7:19, at the rear right, is that Michael Collins?

@zumalot

7 ай бұрын

Yes, I believe it is...

"I OWN" a Titanium Digging/Pry Bar "I Watched" the Smith pull the Hot Alloy Ingot out of the Oven and Hammered it out for me as (about?) a 12 or 14 yr old around 1977 working as a Pipe Fitter for Dad in Ca. on the foundry ovens gas systems. I suspect was either meant for an SR71, Nuclear Sub, or a Reactor? Used it in the trades All My Life!

6:30 Why is this a ridiculous requirement‽

I wonder if gold titanium was in use back then, explains the cost of gold.

The SR-71 could takeoff in Groom Lake, and be over Canada (1500 miles) in 30 minutes. Simple math extrapolates the top speed being 3000 mph. This is common information now, but some of what you said has never been released from secret.

@dave_h_8742

7 ай бұрын

It's ok he got the info from the Russians after the Soviet union collapsed

@CallMeByMyMatingName

7 ай бұрын

That's higher than Mach 2!😮

@MorganOtt-ne1qj

7 ай бұрын

LA to Dulles in 69 minutes. I heard the boom when the Blackbird slowed down to land and become an exhibit at the Udvar-Hazy museum. Literally shook the building I was in. 👍

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

Not likely since the SR71 never flew from Area 51. But also it would take longer than 30 min

@tobymaltby6036

6 ай бұрын

That would require an almost instantaneous climb to 80,000 feet and instant accelleration to over Mach 4. Don't think so...

The U2 since it was built has been flying I think it has had late builds so possibly still in production!

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

The most recent ones were built in the early-mid 80s.

@seldomseen7835

7 ай бұрын

The main point is the U2 has been flying ever since it was built in its tenyor the A12/SR71 family and the F117 and several other just Lockheed plans where designed built and retired. @@gr8crash

@elroyfudbucker6806

6 ай бұрын

The latest version is so much more different to the first one, that virtually the only thing it shares with the old one is the name; bigger, longer, faster, greater wingspan, more advanced equipment.

Mike Collins at right at 7:19, no?

A lot of things people don't talk about is the backseat was for C.I.A.. Lockheed were only pilots. When you look at Groom Lake on Google maps. Hanger 18 is the big white hanger in the middle. The C.I.A. offices is in the long building to the north connected to Hanger 18.

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

Backseat? The A12 didn't have a backseat

@Istandby666

7 ай бұрын

@@gr8crash Wow, you're not too bright are you? It just takes a little brain power. Think about what someone said. The information is very clear. I know you have the ability to process just a little bit of what was said. Learn to read and comprehend before making a stupid comment.

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

@krysb7119 you said "the backseat was for the C.I.A.". The A12 was only a single seat aircraft. So what backseat would they be in?

@Istandby666

7 ай бұрын

@@gr8crash Think, the answer is right there.

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

@@Istandby666 nothing to think about. Your statement is still incorrect. Can't have a backseat in a single seat aircraft. And outside of the test flights, the pilots weren't Lockheed they were agency.

Wow

Supposedly, it was originally called the RS-71, but after the President mistakenly called it the SR-71 the name was changed.

@oxcart4172

7 ай бұрын

That's wrong. Apparently, the name was changed to SR, and the amendment only got as far as the presidents copy and not the journali!

@MorganOtt-ne1qj

7 ай бұрын

I thought Johnson just screwed up, and they changed it ex post facto. But I'm a civvy, and have to rely on 2nd hand info. Great call, and thanks!

@gr8crash

7 ай бұрын

Popular myth but no. Lemay wanted it changed from the RS71 to SR71 so it was and LBJ read everything correctly. But the stenographer messed up the press release leading to the myth that LBJ messed up.

@MorganOtt-ne1qj

7 ай бұрын

🤔👍

@noylj1

7 ай бұрын

Johnson always screwed up. Folks still cover for the idiot.

Is that Michael Collins at 7:18 ?

@zumalot

7 ай бұрын

I believe so.

At 7:19, if my eyes do not deceive me, is a very young Michael Collins from Apollo 11 fame. I don't believe he was a Habu pilot.

Funny, just last night I watched a new doco on JFK. Evidence points to Oswald working for the CIA. When he was in the military, he was involved in training the Cuban soldiers who embarked on the Bay of Pigs fiasco. When he was out and passing pamphlets out saying free Cuba he was in an office across the road from the CIA and also in the same building as him was an Anti-Castro group. New evidence also shows that he and 11 other American who defected were on the CIA payroll, and they all returned to America. It is believed they were sent there to spy and gather intelligence for the CIA. Add in the fact that the rifle they recovered was actually different to the one Oswald was photographed with by his wife. And they found him within 70 minutes of the shooting. And Jack Ruby was associated with the Mob and was also an FBI informant. The CIA was training the Mob in assassination techniques to go after Castro. Seems Oswald was a patsy. Even the Warren Investigation left a lot of evidence out and ignored several key witnesses. And the head of the Warren Report was the head of the CIA, and he did not like JFK. Along with Hoover.

the bloke narrating this must have breathing difficulties, after every few words he seems out of breath

Oswald didn't defect, he was a intelligence asset. Do you think he would be allowed back into the US after giving up his citizenship? Before he left USMC he had a high security clearance then was recruited.

Before the U2...America sent thousands of recon balloons over the USSR.

@MorganOtt-ne1qj

7 ай бұрын

Like china is doing now, but here.

Its the a12 predecessor of the sr71.

I just love the fact that we got the titanium from the USSR 😂❤.