Uh... you do WHAT for a living?
02-16-2003, 07:40 AM
#21
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Los Lunas, New Mexico, USA.
Posts: 34,642
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Vehicle: 2001 Hyundai Tiburon, 2004 Kia Sorento, 2010 Kia Soul
Blacktibby, the Aurora project is very quiet. Yes, it's denied all over, but there are things going on in the deserts and out off the Cali coast that can't be explained. The SR71 is pretty much gone now and you can't think that we'd get rid of a plane like that without a replacement.
Remember that the F117 and the B1 bombers were both denied and rumored for many years.
As for the 71's speed, yes, the records it holds and such are well known and documented, but in acutality, it's KNOWN to fly MUCH faster. That's why their shoulder patches say Mach 3 +. We let the world know we've got the fastest. How fast it is is none of their business.
3 is around it's normal or high normal operating areas, but it can go almost 2 times as fast. Problems? It runs out of fuel, FAST.
Remember that the F117 and the B1 bombers were both denied and rumored for many years.
As for the 71's speed, yes, the records it holds and such are well known and documented, but in acutality, it's KNOWN to fly MUCH faster. That's why their shoulder patches say Mach 3 +. We let the world know we've got the fastest. How fast it is is none of their business.
3 is around it's normal or high normal operating areas, but it can go almost 2 times as fast. Problems? It runs out of fuel, FAST.
02-16-2003, 08:08 AM
#22
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 566
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
QUOTE
3 is around it's normal or high normal operating areas, but it can go almost 2 times as fast. Problems? It runs out of fuel, FAST.
Not to doubt you or anything, but I am having a hard time finding info to support this. Know of any links or anything?
02-16-2003, 10:07 AM
#23
Senior Member
Yeah I remember watching a documentary on that plane on discovery channel... All I could remember was the fuel leaks all over and it had to be refueld right away...
02-21-2003, 06:27 AM
#24
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 749
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
They have a giant engine similar to an F-15 engine in a truck on the ground just to start the SR-71's!!! They have to fire up the ground engine then use it start the others spinning.
Also, during development, Kelly Johnson (lead designer at Lockheed's Skunk Works) developed a human "finite-element" computer. To test structure and loading, they divided the plans up into sections (with the design specs). Each section was given a separate table in this huge hangar and each table had two to five engineers at it. Someone would pose a problem like, during takeoff, what are the forces on the wing.
The wing table would do some calculations and pass those off to all the structure tables. Each structure table would do all their calculations (by hand/slide-rule, of course) and then pass the results on to the next table, which used the last tables result as their input. The process was repeated until a solution was found, or a problem. If their was a problem, everyone revised the plans to solve it and the process was repeated.
All without computers. Wow!
Kelly Johnson also used to throw a lit cigarette into puddles of the fuel during High Level (read: generals) tours of the facility. Everyone always freked out, but it was stable enough not to burn (needs really high temperatures to atomize)
Some good books on the SR-71 are "Sled Driver" and "Untouchables". I have copies signed by the author, Brian Shul (I think that was his name), who was a pilot, or Sled Driver as they called themselves.
They also do some awesome things with the aerodynamics. The spike moves in and out to keep the shock wave from the Mach 3+ air outside of the engine. Believe it or not, that spike actually helps slow the air down to sub-sonic speeds before it gets into the engine.
The engines use bleed air vents to help control lift, and it was one of the first planes where the entire body was the wing.
In case you can't tell, I'm sorta into this stuff. smile.gif
Great pic, Random!
ac
[ February 21, 2003, 01:29 PM: Message edited by: Curtas ]
Also, during development, Kelly Johnson (lead designer at Lockheed's Skunk Works) developed a human "finite-element" computer. To test structure and loading, they divided the plans up into sections (with the design specs). Each section was given a separate table in this huge hangar and each table had two to five engineers at it. Someone would pose a problem like, during takeoff, what are the forces on the wing.
The wing table would do some calculations and pass those off to all the structure tables. Each structure table would do all their calculations (by hand/slide-rule, of course) and then pass the results on to the next table, which used the last tables result as their input. The process was repeated until a solution was found, or a problem. If their was a problem, everyone revised the plans to solve it and the process was repeated.
All without computers. Wow!
Kelly Johnson also used to throw a lit cigarette into puddles of the fuel during High Level (read: generals) tours of the facility. Everyone always freked out, but it was stable enough not to burn (needs really high temperatures to atomize)
Some good books on the SR-71 are "Sled Driver" and "Untouchables". I have copies signed by the author, Brian Shul (I think that was his name), who was a pilot, or Sled Driver as they called themselves.
They also do some awesome things with the aerodynamics. The spike moves in and out to keep the shock wave from the Mach 3+ air outside of the engine. Believe it or not, that spike actually helps slow the air down to sub-sonic speeds before it gets into the engine.
The engines use bleed air vents to help control lift, and it was one of the first planes where the entire body was the wing.
In case you can't tell, I'm sorta into this stuff. smile.gif
Great pic, Random!
ac
[ February 21, 2003, 01:29 PM: Message edited by: Curtas ]
