I've always loved this one!

[Spaced Marine]

In his book, "Sled Driver", SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes: "I'll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt (my back-seater) and I were screaming across Southern California 13 miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft as we entered Los Angeles airspace. Though they didn't really control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope. I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its ground speed."90 knots" Center replied. Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same. "120 knot s," Center answered. We weren't the only ones p roud of our ground speed that day as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, "Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests ground speed readout." There was a slight pause, then the response, "525 knots on the ground, Dusty." Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my back-seater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison. "Center, Aspen 20, you got a ground speed readout for us?" There was a longer than normal pause.... "Aspen , I show 1,742 knots" (That's about 2004.658 mph for those who don't know) No further inquiries were heard on that frequency.

Whether this is true or just a part of aviation foklore, its pretty damned funny! Anyone else have a good one like this to share?

[kenlilly106]

Can't remember which book it was, maybe "SR-71: The Secret Missions Revealed", I'd have to go check.

The book had a lot of anecdotes about things that happened while flying the SR-71, one pilot recounted how odd his job seemed, in light of telling his wife about it.

He was flying out of Beale AFB, but obviously could not tell his wife about what he did, he recounted how one day his wife saw him off to work in the morning, he got to work, went through all the preflight checks, and flew a mission off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, he then flew back to Beale, completed all the post-flight work, and was home in time for dinner. He said it was odd sitting there at the table talking to his wife and the fact he couldn't tell her that he had been off the coast of Russia earlier that day.

Ken

[Karl Sander]

I hear that you've never been lost till you've been lost at Mach 3.

[David Walker]

I hear that you've never been lost till you've been lost at Mach 3.

But at least you get there in a hurry.

[Rapier01]

You know, I find it interesting there was no attempt to build a strike version of the Blackbird... I suppose there was no precision guided weapons capability so it makes sense. But had there been a strike variant, especially with some sort of PGM - I guess these days a JDAM or SDB- launched from Mach 3.3+ at 85 000ft would be one hell of a long range punch.

[lockheed2004]

Can't remember which book it was, maybe "SR-71: The Secret Missions Revealed", I'd have to go check.

The book had a lot of anecdotes about things that happened while flying the SR-71, one pilot recounted how odd his job seemed, in light of telling his wife about it.

He was flying out of Beale AFB, but obviously could not tell his wife about what he did, he recounted how one day his wife saw him off to work in the morning, he got to work, went through all the preflight checks, and flew a mission off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, he then flew back to Beale, completed all the post-flight work, and was home in time for dinner. He said it was odd sitting there at the table talking to his wife and the fact he couldn't tell her that he had been off the coast of Russia earlier that day.

Ken

This same story appeared in Ben Rich's book "Skunk Works". I'd recommend it. I know I was very impressed with the book as a whole. He shares a lot of interesting details about the aircraft he assisted in developing.

[Vesper]

You know, I find it interesting there was no attempt to build a strike version of the Blackbird... I suppose there was no precision guided weapons capability so it makes sense. But had there been a strike variant, especially with some sort of PGM - I guess these days a JDAM or SDB- launched from Mach 3.3+ at 85 000ft would be one hell of a long range punch.

Around the time when the YF-12 was being tested Lockheed pitched a bomber version to SAC, and I think the same went for the SR-71 as well.

Ves

[Just call me Ray]

You know, I find it interesting there was no attempt to build a strike version of the Blackbird...

That's because they were working on the B-70 at the same time, and after that there wasn't much value put into raw speed.

Another story I heard (this time from airliners.net) had some pilot requesting an altitude of 60k feet. The ATC controller, apparently thinking the request came from a Cessna, responded with "proceed to flight level six-zero-zero, if you think your little plane can climb that high!" The response the controller got was "ATC, descending to flight level six-zero-zero!" :lol:

[BAM'n'IVM]

Around the time when the YF-12 was being tested Lockheed pitched a bomber version to SAC, and I think the same went for the SR-71 as well.

Ves

Ben Rich's memoir mentions a bomber proposal, and its proposed payload - stainless steel darts that would be released at mach 3 and 80,000 feet... :lol:

[Val K]

My favorite quote from Sled Driver was: "We did Nebraska in 11 minutes today. I think that's the best way to do Nebraska"

[Karl Sander]

That's because they were working on the B-70 at the same time, and after that there wasn't much value put into raw speed.

Another story I heard (this time from airliners.net) had some pilot requesting an altitude of 60k feet. The ATC controller, apparently thinking the request came from a Cessna, responded with "proceed to flight level six-zero-zero, if you think your little plane can climb that high!" The response the controller got was "ATC, descending to flight level six-zero-zero!" :lol:

Ah, fun with ATC. :)

[Spruemeister]

My favorite quote from Sled Driver was: "We did Nebraska in 11 minutes today. I think that's the best way to do Nebraska"

Hey, I live in this beautiful prairie dog hostel and oasis called Nebraska and all I can say is,

"Thanks for making us a part of your vacation".

Rick L.

[MA Cooke]

"Skunk Works" by Ben Rich has several pilot's tales. One pilot told of taking off from Beale in the early morning hours, flying from darkness into daylight as he flew east, then flew back into darkness going back to Beale. He described it as "eerie"....I could only imagine.

Or the one time when a crew went over the north pole...talk about getting lost. Every direction is south, they were trying to figure out if they had created a diplomatic "can of worms", inadvertently flying into the Soviet Union. Of course they knew it was not purposeful, but try telling that to the Ruskies.

[J.C. Bahr]

I believe it was in 'Secret Missions' but one of the memorable ones that sticks in my mind was how they were low on the deck (can't remember why though) near Okinawa and came over a Japanese fishing trawler... pulled the nose straight up over the trawler and lit the burners in the process!

Must've been one heck of a racket!!!!

[yardbird78]

My favorite story about the Titanium Wonder Bird concerns the JP-7 fuel. It was specially engineered by Shell Oil company to have an extremely high flash point so that it didn't spontaneously ignite when the tanks (the skin of the plane) got hot during Mach 3 flight. This situation also caused it to be extremely difficult to ignite when they wanted to, such as engine start or afterburner ignition. They had to inject a shot of TEB, Trietheylborane, to get combustion started.

On to the story. This happened at Det 1 at Kadena AB, Okinawa. As most people know, the SR-71 leaks fuel in horrendous amounts when it is sitting on the ground. During one pre-mission engine start, the high octane gasoline tank on the "Buick" start cart starting leaking and the gas ignited from the hot manifold. A knowledgeable crew crew chief calmly took a big floor broom and swept puddles of leaked JP-7 onto the gasoline fire and this extinguished the fire. :( :lol:

[kenlilly106]

Ben Rich's memoir mentions a bomber proposal, and its proposed payload - stainless steel darts that would be released at mach 3 and 80,000 feet...

Yep, just looked it up in my copy, 1 million (yes million) foot-pounds of energy blasting a crater 130ft deep, equivalent to a nuclear weapon, but without the fallout.

The USAF was concerned about the lack of a precision guidance system and passed on the idea.

Ken

Edited July 26, 2006 by kenlilly106

[BAM'n'IVM]

Yeah, a 130 foot deep crater and they were worried about precision guidance...

[Tom_Kness]

Ben Rich's memoir mentions a bomber proposal, and its proposed payload - stainless steel darts that would be released at mach 3 and 80,000 feet...

Now thats what I call a lawndart!

[MaRiO FDZ]

Heard about the one that said

XX Center, this is [blackbird in question] requesting 65,000 ft.

- XX Center, [blackbird in question] Cleared for 65,000 ft. Sir, mind if I ask, how do you intend to climb to 65,000??

-[blackbird in question] Oh, no we're not going up, we're coming down!!

hahah

Take Care

[Karl Sander]

"Skunk Works" by Ben Rich has several pilot's tales. One pilot told of taking off from Beale in the early morning hours, flying from darkness into daylight as he flew east, then flew back into darkness going back to Beale. He described it as "eerie"....I could only imagine.

Circadian rhythyms.... such a crutch

[Karl Sander]

Heard about the one that said

hahah

Take Care

With these stories one wonders just what they put on their DD-175's (IFR flight plan) - because every center I've ever checked in with knew more or less what airframe I was (granted, sometimes they thought it was an A-6 instead of an EA-6B, but 420 at 22K is 420 at 22K...)

[Vince Maddux]

Yeah, a 130 foot deep crater and they were worried about precision guidance...

I read somewhere that something like this was in the works again. Not sure if it was ture or not. They caled the "God's Rods" I think they might have been a rumored Skunk works project. I like the idea myself

Vince

[Rapier01]

You probably saw in the New York Times...

Here is an article:

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001557.html

Times' Shaky Spacewar Story

For most of the planet, it will seem like a shocker. But, really, the fact that the Air Force is looking for President Bush's approval to put weapons in space is no revelation. The service has been shouting for orbiting arms for years.

The New York Times is reporting today that the Air Force wants a new national-security directive to "replace a 1996 Clinton administration policy that emphasized a more pacific use of space, including spy satellites' support for military operations, arms control and nonproliferation pacts."

Well, of course that's what the Air Force wants. Last year, an Air Force paper on "Counterspace Operations," signed by chief of staff Gen. John Jumper, declared that the "freedom to attack… denying space capability to the adversary" has become a "crucial first step in any military operation." In 2003, the service released a "Transformation Flight Plan," complete with a space weapons wish list -- from anti-satellite lasers to arms that could "strike ground targets anywhere in the world from space."

It's from this collection that the Times' Tim Weiner draws at least some of its examples of weapons in orbit. And I'm afraid Weiner may have confused the Air Force's equivalent of day dreams with full-blown, big-money Pentagon development efforts.

[An] Air Force space program, nicknamed Rods From God, aims to hurl cylinders of tungsten, titanium or uranium from the edge of space to destroy targets on the ground, striking at speeds of about 7,200 miles an hour with the force of a small nuclear weapon. Yes, "Rods from God" is mentioned in the 2003 "Flight Plan." But the idea was debunked so long ago that's it's hard to believe the service is actually pursuing the Rods in any serious way. As Columbia University physics professor Richard Garwin noted, the Rods could only work if they orbited at low altitudes. And that means they "could only deliver one-ninth the destructive energy per gram as a conventional bomb."

[Another] program would bounce laser beams off mirrors hung from space satellites or huge high-altitude blimps, redirecting the lethal rays down to targets around the world.

This is a project Defense Tech has reported on several times, most recently in early May. It's not as outlandish as "Rods from God." But the laser-mirror effort is still in its infancy, with the most basic of experiments now getting started. This is a long way from a weapon, folks.

A [third] seeks to turn radio waves into weapons whose powers could range "from tap on the shoulder to toast."

Obviously, the military is very interested in high-powered microwaves -- the Active Denial crowd control system is the best example. But microwave weapons, based in space? That's just wishful thinking.

The Air Force already has a potential weapon in space. In April, the Air Force launched the XSS-11, an experimental microsatellite with the technical ability to disrupt other nations' military reconnaissance and communications satellites.

This isn't quite right, either. The 305-pound, nine foot-long XSS-11 is a demonstrator to show how maneuverable and autonomous future mini-satellites might be. Down the road, those capabilities would be great to have on an anti-satellite device, sure. But it's a mistake, I think, to call the XSS-11 itself a "weapon." I'll have more to say about the XSS-11 in next month's Popular Mechanics.

A new Air Force strategy, Global Strike, calls for a military space plane carrying precision-guided weapons armed with a half-ton of munitions. General Lord told Congress last month that Global Strike would be "an incredible capability" to destroy command centers or missile bases "anywhere in the world."

Pentagon documents say the weapon, called the common aero vehicle, could strike from halfway around the world in 45 minutes. "This is the type of prompt Global Strike I have identified as a top priority for our space and missile force," General Lord said.

Now this project -- which we first looked at back in November 2003 -- is legit, with a hefty $91 million invested into it over the last two years. But, by making so little distinction between this effort and more pie-in-the-sky plans, the Times does its readers a bit of a disservice.

What's more, the paper of record actually ignores some of the Air Force's actual, working space weapons while spilling ink over the service's least-likely schemes. In October, the Air Force deployed a radio-frequency jammer, meant to disrupt opponents' satellite communications. And, according to Air Force documents, commercial spacecraft, neutral countries' launching pads – even weather satellites – are all on the potential target list. To me, that's truly shocking.

THERE'S MORE: Winds of Change has an interesting post up about the media-military divide. And Winds sister site Defense Industry Daily points out a new $19.5 contract for Boeing to start working on "large structure deployment and control from space." Be sure to check out Armchair Generalist's take on the Times story, too.

Edited July 26, 2006 by Rapier01

[Vince Maddux]

You probably saw in the New York Times...

Here is an article:

That could be it! If its true or not (this is the NY times) I still like the idea

Vince

[Scotsman]

Just catching up with this thread , J.C's story reminds me of a story/legend about the time the SR-71 attended the Greenham Common air display here in the UK. It arived on the Friday , and during the night some of "peace people" camped outside the base broke in and splashed white paint over the tail of the 71. Now that part is documened , and I remember thinking some very unkind things about the idiots who did it .

Therest of the story is that on the tuesday , when it came time to take the cleaned up Habu home , it was time for some payback, the Habu driver , so the story goes having been a Thunderbird pilot, takes off as normal, circles the field , finds the "Peace Camp", does a low pass, then goes vertical, and does the fuel dump, ignition trick , not low enough to do them harm but close enough to put the fear of god in them ...

I would have loved to have seen that - assuming it happened !