Blackbird!
 

I finally visited the Air Museum yesterday in Dayton Ohio. F'ing HUGE place! I spent about two hours walking around and didn't see half of it. I did peruse the Blackbird though and that alone was worth the trip. What a sleek device. They said it holds the altitude record at 85K feet or so and the speed record at 2,100 plus (is that knots or mph?). I think some folks think its faster than that.

107' long and 55' wingspan....after you take out for the engines and fuselage there is precious little left for actual wing! 150,000# loaded....I suppose mostly the fuselage is a humongous fuel tank, since its only duty was to fly far, fast and high and snap candid moments of the evil empire!

I also had good looks at the stealth bomber and stealth fighter.

The fighter has vents over the motor....folks here said this wouldn't work during our discussion of geese being sucked in a few weeks ago!

Anyway, it would take a couple of days to really do it right.

Admission is free, wear good shoes.

The only thing I didn't see was a C5A.

Two hours !! I guess you'll be going back !!

Sounds like you had an awesome visit. There certainly are some cool aircraft up there, for sure.

As for the 117. The screens arent fixed. Here it is doing what it does best.
Note: No vents.

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Riat2002/F117/index.html

Let us know the next time you go. How about some pics !

I usually don't think about taking any when I'm at places like that. AF, Pima, etc.
Too busy looking and "listening" to their stories of aviations yester-years.
And yerning....

great place to meet for a get together

Very cool Tom! I grew up going to that museum nearly every year. When I was little, like 4 or 5 my parents told me that I considered all the big planes to be my "friends" and I would go around to each of the ones outside and hug the front tires... :o I was a silly kid... :)

Last time I was there in July of 2008, I toured the X-plane hanger. I had to give my favorite, the XB-70 a pat on the front wheel for old times sake...

I have tons of pictures that I could upload to p-bucket. They're all hi-res so it might take all night... :eek: While I was in the x-plane hanger, I was lucky enough to be able to crawl up under the F-22 prototype and take detailed pictures of all the wiring and plumbing under the landing gear bay. If you think your MB vacuum system is complex, you should get a load of that!

I've been twice; once with my wife, and once with my ( at the time) college-aged son--left the wife at the campground.
For aviation lovers, it is a must see!
Among all the great aircraft, I think the one that impressed me the most was one of the cargo planes--You could play a game of basketball in there--and there was a row of seats way up high by the windows, but no floor under them. Also the trapeeze fighter that was supposed to engage fighters while the bomber stayed on target. Then the fighter was to catch up with the bomber and hook on to the trapeeze. Right! I think they were most likely considered expendable in a real combat situation.

Another thing that impressed me was the reduction in size of nuclear bombs as the technology improved, and the yield increased.

Great place to see. I need to get my nephew and take him there.

That's cool! I have a great memory of getting a large SR-71 model from an Uncle of mine as a kid. It's a beautiful plane, no doubt!

The "standard" cruise charts for the SR-71 were for flight at 80,000ft and a speed of Mach 3.2

It could go higher and faster than that.

I need to get back to the AF Museum... that place is awesome. The SAC Museum in Omaha is good, too -- they also have an SR-71. I was with a KC-135 command pilot when I stopped through, and he recognized the tail #. "Yeah, I have gassed that one up a few times. I probably took some of their money, too." (He frequently played poker with the crews in their lounge).

Tom -- have you been up the road to the Grissom Air Museum lately? They have made some neat acquisitions over the last few years. The vents you saw on the engines are probably just the standard static-display screens to keep birds and rodents out.

you should also try to go during the air show. The whole town closes for a week, its pretty awesome.

The Valkyrie -- that was a neat plane! The escape capsule always fascinated me.

Did they have a B-2 in the X-plane hangar? I got to tour one while on Guam; we were allowed to crawl all over, under, and in it, and take pics of anything but the rear end. They're quite proud of the exhaust area.

The B2 was in the "Cold War" hanger as I remember. I actually think it's an airframe test mule with no engines.

I was always amazed at the Blackbird. Tremendous performance in a time long ago. They did it the old-fashioned way: by brute force! Every now and then they still wish they had a few flying.

I used to live a few miles away from there...we had Dodge GTG's there quite often.

Next time, go to the Air Force One Annex...you'll get to walk through the plane that brought Kennedy's body back to Washington. It's quite a cool exhibit

I grew up in an "Air Show" family. My mom and dad were both hobby pilots and we drove all over the country for Air Shows. My two favorite planes were always the SR-71 and the F-18.

Theres actually some cool website that will give you the exact location of all remaining 71s along with google earth links to view them. Just Imagine what they've replaced the SR-71 with over the years that we have no clue about.....

I think the coolest plane I ever saw fly at a show was the B-1 Lancer(bomber.) It is absolutely insane to see something that huge and that maneuverable. Its also the loudest plane I've ever seen as well. Sadly we only ever saw it fly at one out of the hundreds of shows we went to back then.

For everybody in the NYC area there is a Blackbird at the INTREPID museum. The thing takes up most of the forward catapult area. Itis a amazing plane looking more like a spaceship than a plane designed in the 1950's. It is also very stealthy with a very small radar cross section. It is too bad that they are not still flying them. As far as speed goes the B-70 was supposed to do mach 3.2 as well and carry bombs! It was supposed to be protected by a new fighter the F108. It could also cruise at M3.2! Too bad it was never built!

My favorite plane on the INTREPID has got to be the A6 prototype. I always had a soft spot for the Intruder...

Driving by on 9A a few months back I was amazed at just how big an F-15 really is.

Isn't that the plane with the leaky fuel tanks? It was designed that way because when it flies and gets hot, the tanks seal up?

Yes.

I will never forget how loud the RAF Avro Vulcan bomber was when it flew over us at a Toronto air show many years ago. I think it was the low altitude combined with the gigantic delta wing to reflect the noise back down to the ground. It was deafening. And really, really cool.

The first announcement of the A-11, which later became the SR-71.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWZ5iITPAi0&feature=related

At Dulles Airport Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in VA
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t.../Blackbird.jpg
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71, the world's fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War.

This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its last flight, March 6, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight's conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Longer history of the SR-71 here
http://collections.nasm.si.edu/code/emuseum.asp?style=single&currentrecord=175&page=collection&profile=objects&searchdesc=Aeronautics:%2 0Aircraft&newvalues=1&newstyle=expanded&newcurrentrecord=175

I wonder if they discard them before they have something better.

Can you say "Aurora"? Wait, did I say that out loud??? :eek:

That thing looks like a plecostamus (sp?). Butt ugly, sorry!

Every time I go by Grissom its with my autocrosser on the trailer!

ONe of my old fart lunch buddies is a plane nut. He says they still fly one sr70. CIA, he says. He also says it will go faster than what they said.

Quick, go look outcher winder......!

Speaking of large and in charge:cool:

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9567/mig314if6.jpg

I had an uncle who was an Air Traffic Controller at Albuquerque Center in the 60's / 70's. I remember that he used to tell stories of tracking military aircraft on radar as they crossed Colorado in 10 minutes. That was the SR-71, before it's existance was publicly known.

Larger and in charger?
http://www.wallpaper.net.au/wallpape...r-1024x768.jpg

Interesting shots. A buddy of mine in high school -- we spearheaded an intra-mural basketball team -- was always talking about going to the AF Acadamy in CO and he did, in fact, go. Some years back the OlyWA paper had a bit about him being one of the original stealth fighter pilots.

He was a good basketball player, bit too short for the varsity, around 5'8", but he could shoot it and was quite the gunner. Pre-requisite for his current job, perhaps. I was going to give his name but what's the point?

If he flies those things he'd appreciate not having it broadcast over the internet.

I just got convinced to go to Dayton to see the Blackbird. A nice long run for the Mercedes.(any excuse) The most awsome plane that I have seen was the Spruce Goose. Amazing woodwork. I think it is the largest ever built. Thanks for the post. Topgun

That reminds me.....I gotta go see the goose before I die too!

You won't be disappointed...there are many, many aircraft in the hangers there. I've been going there twice a year since I was a kid...started taking my kids when they were babies.

Make sure to stop at the cafeteria and try the "space ice cream" It's kina like flavored styrofoam...LOL

You can spend 3 days there and not see everything.

My employer has a few engines on display there...look at the jet engine in the Tomahawk Missle...it's one of ours! Still makeing them too!!

Also, if you call ahead and request a tour, you can see the Memphis Belle being restored.

If you are interested, the original Wright "B" flyer is located in Carrillon Park, a museum of sorts, about 20 miles away from the museum off of I-75 at Edwin C. Moses Blvd. Just follow the signs...

If that is the case--then by all means do NOT see the 'goose.

Live long.

Let me guess... Williams? :)

Here's some shots I took of the Blackbird last July:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71...m/IMG_2868.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71...m/IMG_2899.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71...m/IMG_2964.jpg

Here's a link to a slide show of all the pictures I took (about 121).

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/kartek/Dayton%202008/AF%20Museum/?albumview=slideshow

Looks good in black...too bad they never gave one a proper paint job:D



http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/331...benzs60et2.jpg

Yep!! If Barry keeps his promise to invest heavily in un-manned aircraft, then I'll continue to work here for many years!!

No idea if this is true or not (I am sure that at some point somewhere something like this happened) but everytime I read this I just have to grin....

http://www.lawenforcementforums.com/forums/f27/sr-71-radio-chatter-15027/

When you come back, look up. The C5 can be seen flying over the area or on the operational runway.

Here's one I shot outside the museum:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71...m/IMG_2997.jpg

I've noticed that Williams is being tapped to supply engines for quite a few of the new compact class of jets. Should be some job security... :)

What I like about the Blackbird is it just looks right....kindof like the intuitively designed jaguars of the fifties and sixties....before computers ruined the looks of race cars!

The newer fighter jets (a lot of them anyway) now look wrong...kindof like a Chris Bangle design.

The Blackbird is the personification of speed!

Now those things are BIG!