#sr71 blackbird

[casposters]

(via Stu Shepherd Art - Fine Art America)

[spockvarietyhour]

SR-71 Blackbird “D.A.R.Y.L.” (1985)

[pepperjunkie]

SR-71 and F-16..

[projecthabu]

     When you picture a test pilot or astronaut wearing a pressure suit and strutting to their sleek ship, the mental image is not complete without them toting along a little metal briefcase connected to their suits via hoses. This yellow box is a portable liquid oxygen converter and serves the all important function of cooling the human inside the suit. Without cooling, the heavy layers of a pressure suit would cause the crew member to overheat within a matter of minutes.

     The simple device has no moving parts or electronics. It contains a small tank full of super cold liquid oxygen, constantly heating up and boiling away into a gas. The cold gas expands through the coil of tubing surrounding the tank, then travels through a hose into the suit where it’s distributed through the crew member's cooling garment throughout the suit. Some of the oxygen is directed to the crew member’s helmet, allowing them to breathe 100% pure oxygen prior to the flight, purging their blood of nitrogen, thus avoiding decompression sickness, otherwise known as the bends.

     When the pressure suited individual sits in the cockpit, a supporting crew member will disconnect the portable system and connect the ship’s integral oxygen system which serves the same purposes during flight. Equipment identical to this was used during the Blackbird program. This interesting little artifact lies on display at Blackbird Airpark in Palmdale, California.

[pepperjunkie]

SR-71 Blackbird escorted by F-4 Phantom II..

[projecthabu]

     No cockpit demands as much intense focus as an SR-71 Blackbird’s, and in frustrating irony, no cockpit offers a better view. There was no time to look out the window. The plane knew when your eyes started to wander to the spectacle of earth from 85,000 feet; that’s when something would go wrong. There was much to monitor. The many “steam gauge” instruments reflect a bygone era, giving the pilot information ranging from heading to compressor inlet temperature, each dial representing a critically important system.

      Even though this cockpit was operated through 2,854 flight hours, it looks brand new. That’s because it was only ever flown using the gloved hands of a crew member wearing the essential high altitude pressure suit. Every control is large enough to be adjusted with those bulky pressure suit gloves. 

     You sit atop your throne, the SR-1 ejection seat, which carries a rare 100% success rate. To operate the circuit breakers, you must reach beside and behind your seat, outside your field of view through the pressure suit helmet. To make sure you actuate the correct breaker, you count down the rows and columns by feel.

     March Field Air Museum in Riverside, California, is kind enough to display SR-71A 17975 with her cockpit open. This gives us a rare peek inside the world of the Blackbird, allowing us to look inside something that was formerly top secret and reserved only for a privileged few crew members. These photos were captured using a camera extended into the cockpit via monopod. At no point did I or my equipment come in contact with the artifact.

[marksonbilly]

[navigatorsnorth]

Inktober 12/31 - Speed

Hello my name is Nav and I am a big fan of very fast aircraft both real and fictional.

The SR71 Blackbird is pretty much the coolest plane ever built. One of these days I'm going to buy myself a model. Until then I'll just have to stick to drawings.