Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: swilliam@dtoa1.dt.navy.mil (Williams) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: SR-71 Blackbird question Message-ID: <1990Oct15.034147.13741@cbnews.att.com> Date: 15 Oct 90 03:41:47 GMT References: <1990Sep27.031756.7889@cbnews.att.com> <1990Oct8.030637.12403@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military-request@att.att.com Organization: David Taylor Research Center, Bethesda, MD Lines: 67 Approved: military@att.att.com From: swilliam@dtoa1.dt.navy.mil (Williams) >>The plane's design is twenty years old, still state of the art, and >>still the fastest plane made. > >1970s ??? The really amazing thing was that it was designed in the > >late 50's and early 60's. The first flight was December 22, 1964. > > Correction: the first flight was December 22, 1964; that is correct, but that was for SR-71A. An explanation follows: Procurement of this aircraft was authorised after consideration of competitive designs from Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed and North American, and detail design of the Lockheed submission began in 1959. Known then by the designation A-11, its orginal purpose was almost certainly to supersede the Lockheed U-2 for long-range high-altitute surveillance missions. Like the U-2, it was designed by a small team led by C. L. (Kelly) Johnson, Lockheed's Vice-President for Advanced Development Projects, in the ADP building at Burbank known as the "Skunk Works." For its construction, a new titanium alloy known as Beta B-120 was evolved specially by Lockheed and the Titanium Metals Corporaton, and 93 per cent by weight of the A-11's structure is built of this alloy, which has a tensile strength of up to 200,000 lb/sq in. Existence of the A-11 was not revealed officially until 29 February 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson stated at a news conference that it had already been tested in sustained flight at speeds of more than 1,735 knots (2,000 mph) and at heights in excess of 70,000 ft at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The following versions of the aircraft have been built: YF-12A. The first three A-11 aircraft (60-6934 to 60-6936), ordered on a USAF contract in FY 1960, were redesignated YF-12A in 1964, during which year they were evaluated as experimental all-weather fighters in the USAF's IMI (Improved Manned Interceptor) programme. First flight took place at Watertown Strip, in the Nevada desert, on 26 April 1962. The YF-12A was displayed publicly for the first time at Edwards AFB on 30 September 1964. YF-12C. Designation of the fourth aircraft (60-6937), ordered on the same contract as the three A-11/YF-12As and completed as the prototype for the SR-71 version. SR-71A. Strategic photographic and electronic reconnaissance aircraft, developed from the YF-12A via the YF-12C prototype. Development began in February 1963, and the first production SR-71A (60-7950) made its first flight at Edwards AFB on 22 December 1964. Existence first revealed officially, by President Johnson, on 24 July 1964. As in the YF-12C, the SR-71A fuselage is slightly longer than that of the YF-12A, the wing/body chine fairings extend fully forward to meet at the extreme nose, and there are no ventral fins. The SR-71A is substantially heavier than the YF-12A, carries considerably more fuel, and has a longer range. SR-71B. Originally tandem two-seat operational training version of the SR-71A, with second cockpit elevated aft of front (pilot's) cockpit. Fixed ventral tail-fins under nacelles reintroduced. Two aircraft known (61-7951 and '56). One aircraft was subsequently lost in a crash. SR-71C. Revised training version, modified from an SR-71A after the loss of one SR-71B in an accident. Source: Jane's All The World's Aircraft