- Joined
- Apr 30, 2025
- Messages
- 22
- Reaction score
- 20

Used to go to his annual lecture in Seattle.
Signed my copy of Sled Driver of course.
I wish I could have watched that one take off the next morning but my jet was a late flyer so I was still asleep.I worked on the SR for 8 years.
You should feel what it’s like standing next to it during an engine run at military power.
Then you'd be very familiar with these. Anything you'd like to add that the article doesn't cover?I worked on the SR for 8 years.
You should feel what it’s like standing next to it during an engine run at military power.
This guy could tell it better than I could.Then you'd be very familiar with these. Anything you'd like to add that the article doesn't cover?
SR-71 Online - Starter Cart
www.sr-71.org
On July 20, 1972, I was at Site 1, on a hill NE of the Kadena runway. A typhoon was coming in and I was part of a team that was prepping Site 1 for the storm. As I worked outside, I heard an SR-71 coming over the top of me. I stopped to watch it land. What followed was anything but what I expected. A strong cross-runway wind was blowing and the ill-fated SR-71 ended up on the port side of the runway after a fiery crash. I was stunned but I had work to do, so I wasn't able to stand and watch the rest of the action. I did see the two crew members escape the plane, but that's it.
I noticed from your previous post that you and I overlapped at Kadena. I was in the 400 MMS(T). We were stationed PCS at Kadena but spent a lot of time TDY down south. By June 1972, my 24 months were nearly over (a little more than two months to go). We had one more short TDY to Bien Hoa before I left for CONUS. I wonder if we bumped into each other during our overlap on Okinawa!Jack, I was working Base Police on Kadena that day
Thing is, when you look at what it took to make those planes fly, the maintenance and availability overhead simply does not work in the Microsoft Project age. The prep involved to get a F-117A fully stealthed for a mission is one of the reasons that type is no longer in regular service.And it’s old tech. What could we do now?
Or do we?
Same thing at Pease AFB NH -- beautiful bird.We had one make an emergency landing at Mtn Home AFB, ID. We had 45 minutes to get our hangar emptied out for it. The crew taxied right into the hangar and we had the doors closed before the engines spooled down. The red rope went up around it just as fast.
Great lunch time, sitting on Habu Hill and got 'the thrill' -- beautiful things for sure.We had several at Kadena AB Okinawa when I was there 1971-1973. Neat birds.
They'd take off, then climb straight up until they were out of sight.
NUTHIN! and NO! kind of like the 6 gen fighter,, lots of smoke and mirrors, but no real flying hardware... the SR-71 was designed at a time when MEN could keep secrets, and Men like Kelly Johnson with a pencil and slide rule could design and produce an airplane in a place called the "skunkworks"!And it’s old tech. What could we do now?
Or do we?
So true. The YF-12’s and SR-71’s were built in a time of slide rules and no real computers. Do any of us truly believe its replacement or replacements are not out there flying in some way, shape or form? Satellites can only do so much, limited to their orbit patterns, so the excuse that they have taken over, exclusively, the surveillance role is fake news. Only with the slip of the tongue (ala LBJ) or an incident will the next generation or several generations be revealed. It ain’t rocket science my friends. Say what you will, this is still AMERICA and at the end of the day, AMERICA rules.And it’s old tech. What could we do now?
Or do we?
If I'm not mistaken, there are still parts buried around the 400th.On July 20, 1972, I was at Site 1, on a hill NE of the Kadena runway. A typhoon was coming in and I was part of a team that was prepping Site 1 for the storm. As I worked outside, I heard an SR-71 coming over the top of me. I stopped to watch it land. What followed was anything but what I expected. A strong cross-runway wind was blowing and the ill-fated SR-71 ended up on the port side of the runway after a fiery crash. I was stunned but I had work to do, so I wasn't able to stand and watch the rest of the action. I did see the two crew members escape the plane, but that's it.
You can read more about the crash here:
Loading…
theaviationgeekclub.com
Agree 100% on the secrets thing. These days secrets burn holes in people's integrity the same way money burns holes in their pockets.NUTHIN! and NO! kind of like the 6 gen fighter,, lots of smoke and mirrors, but no real flying hardware... the SR-71 was designed at a time when MEN could keep secrets, and Men like Kelly Johnson with a pencil and slide rule could design and produce an airplane in a place called the "skunkworks"!
We should have restarted F-22 production when we had the chance! and let NGAD come on its own time..
Now we have "Wild Willy Roper" and his sooper secret rebirth of the F-100 series, or new aircraft every 2 months,,, the last truly secret bird was the F-22, and like the SR-71, it was miles ahead of the competition for a long, long, time...
and NO, the YF-23 was not the better airplane, for once or maybe twice, USAF got it right!
Who came up with the name Aardvark?I wish I could have watched that one take off the next morning but my jet was a late flyer so I was still asleep.
Being under an F-111A on the test par with both AB's lit you could feel the sound in your soul. I can only imagine what that would be like on an SR.
My old jet.