SR-71 cutaway drawing - with a gift for all of you

[lowthreeohz]

Gratuitous me standing behind an SR-71 at Hill AFB Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah after closing hours.

Hill isn't in SLC, closer to Ogden.

[Chas_svo]

...and all on paper.

Lots of A&D companies were still building from paper into the 2000s. For real.

[turboford]

What a great read.

[Tyrone Biggums]

Very cool.

[Strychnine]

To anyone who has read the book already:
The Buick nailhead "start cart" on p.20 is cool as shit.

[Strychnine]

Awesome.

INTERVIEW SIM

Day four of the interview had been the most inspiring, but day three had been the most challenging. It consisted of a familiarization and evaluation in the SR-71 simulator (sim). A one hour briefing preceded the simulator session. An SR-71 instructor pilot {IP) reviewed a wealth of information about the switches, levers, and gauges in the cockpit. As I gazed intently at the cockpit drawings and tried to absorb my instructor's words, I found myself filled with wonder at glimpsing at the inside of an a i rcraft that had been so secret for so long.

Armed with my sparse knowledge of cockpit switchology, I climbed into the SR-71 simulator. The IP was going to evaluate my flying skills, or so I thought. He was actually going to test my stress capacity. Even with the previous hour's instruction, I felt unprepared to properly fly this sim, but I wasn't going to let him know that. Everyone wanted to look good, and fighter pilots would rather die than look bad. I was about to die.

With a death grip on the stick and eyes scanning frantically across a hostile instrument panel, I devoted half my strength to appearing unflustered and in control. The IP baited me with easy maneuvers and I gained an artificial sense ofcon* fidence. He told me I was doing well and asked if I would like to try Mach 3 speed. Already overloaded, I uttered a weak response and hoped it sounded positive. Again the instructor gave me an easy scenario and I found it a bit surreal to see the

Mach indicator read '3.' Throughout it all, the instructor questioned me, testing my recall and adaptability to a new cockpit. The stress level mounted. I was told I was doing well at Mach 3. As I was gaining some confidence, I was asked if I would like to try to maintain Mach 3 flight without the aid of the stability augmentation system (SAS). Most high performance aircraft have this system, and normally it is never turned off in flight. The SAS helps jets remain stable at break-neck speeds. My instructor assured me it was quite all right. As I turned the SAS off I thought, "These guys must be terrific pilots to fly like this!" I maintained control for three seconds, then the sim died. With a disheartening "thud" all gauges stopped functioning and the lights flickered off. With both hands clutching the stick, I stared blankly at frozen cockpit instruments. In a grave tone, my instructor announced I had broken the simulator. "My God," I thought, "they trusted me with all this secret information and I broke the million dollar sim!" With a long face and more shaking of his head, my instructor quietly asked me to get out of the sim and added he was doubtful if they could fix it anytime soon. All present agreed they had never seen anyone do anything like this before. I was barely able to walk. Drenched in sweat, I retreated to the cold silence of the briefing room. I sat there feeling a lot like the kid who just wrecked Dad's car. While I was imagining my instructor and the sim technicians discussing my lack of flying ability, they were, in fact, having quite a chuckle. This was all part of the stress test. Years later the same instructor confided in me that I had done very well in that phase of the interview, and he had strongly endorsed my selection for training.

[Strychnine]

I really hope at least one person here reads the whole book. It's awesome.

Following the weather briefing, we went to the Physiological Support Division
(PSD) building. All the space suits were stored, checked, and repaired there. The building was also where we ate and dressed before being driven out to the jet. For years, crews were told to eat a high protein, low residue meal before flight. As more was learned about nutrition, people realized a continued diet of steak and eggs before flying wasn't healthy over a long period of time. Even so, the small dining facility at PSD still had steak and eggs as its main entree right up to the end of the SR-71 program. Other menu items were available, and each crew member learned, some- times the hard way, what to eat and what not to eat before high altitude flights. As air pressure decreased at higher altitudes, gases inside our bodies expanded, so we stayed away from foods that produced intestinal gas. Like other phases oftraining, choosing what to eat was a learning process and everyone's body was different. I only ate a cheese omelet once. I thought I was going to give birth in the cockpit passing through 52,000 feet. I finally settled on peanut butter sandwiches; they seemed to work fine for me. We occasionally had visitors at PSD. One morning a small group of cadets joined Walt and me for our preflight meal. They ordered steak and eggs to keep with tradition. They looked bewildered as I hit the peanut butter and Walt dined on frosted flakes.

[Frank]

[Strychnine]

Another excerpt:

I was accustomed to being on the boom for just a few minutes to top off in fighters. In contrast, SR-71 refuelings took fifteen minutes or more which could seem like an eternity. This time was needed because the airplane took on an incredible amount of fuel. During a normal refueling we usually received over 11,000 gallons. This changed our gross weight by 70,000 pounds and caused a corresponding change in the center of gravity of our aircraft.

At the slow 300 knot range in which we were flying to refuel, the feel of the jet became sluggish as the SR filled with fuel. At these gross weights and slower airspeeds, the SR-71 became thrust limited during the last few minutes of refueling. In military power, we would start to fall off the boom. A disconnect was highly undesirable since the jet was less responsive now and to reconnect was more difficult. It also meant wasting time on the refueling track and this could affect our overall mission timing. The solution was to light one afterburner with careful finesse. The fine art of pulling the throttle ever so slightly up and just into the minimum burner range was handed down from one generation of SR pilots to the next. The SR is the only airplane I know that required the use of afterburner to stay on the boom.

Using one afterburner caused another problem: asymmetrical thrust. Some pilots used a little rudder to handle the yaw. Others left the rudders alone, flew sideways, and looked out the front quarter panel to see forward. The quarter panels were located on either side of the windshield. Only the left quarter panel was wired for defogging so we always lit the left burner to yaw right so we could use this feature if needed.

The most exciting moments on the refueling track were normally reserved for those final few minutes in afterburner on the boom with a very heavy jet. Once I selected min AB and the TEB dumped in, there was a pause, then the airplane lunged sideways and started to charge up the boom. With the left burner stabilized in min AB, I controlled our fore and aft position with right throttle. With this method, the pilot controlled the airplane by leading the power inputs. It was like flying a freight train because the airplane's inertia caused a lag between throttle input and aircraft response. It wasn't uncommon at this point for the director lights to resemble a pinball game, flashing from end to end as the fore and aft movements of the jet caused continual changes in relative position. I had to ignore the director lights, grit my teeth, and call on every bit of my experience to get to the end of the refueling track with a full tank.

[CJ]

Gratuitous scratch built SR-71 pictures? Sure seems like the place! I think I’ll have to fly it today! Thanks for the post!

[Binky]

Since knowing about the book 10+ years ago and looking for a copy - and failing - I finally had an opportunity to read the whole book.

I like crossing things off a list.

[4bangen]

why?

[talisman]

Hill isn't in SLC, closer to Ogden.

Close enough. If I said Ogden no one would know what the hell I was talking about.

[Darren M]

I really hope at least one person here reads the whole book. It's awesome.

Reading this and Chris Kyle's "American Gun" at the moment but I will read it! TY!

[RWhite]

I always found this an interesting timeline of the A-11/12 and SR-71.

http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/sr-71timeline.pdf