SR-71 Blackbird #17968

Originally posted by Spectre
Let me tell you that reading books and watching documentaries is nothing like being within inches of such an amazing aircraft.

Well, according to your thread you must be pretty fascinated about the SR71 (so am I)

Did you knew, that an A-12 once crashed in public land? And that pieces (titanium) of it still can be found on its crash site? The plane crashed in 1967 and in 1994, Tom Mahood (Area 51 expert) launched an expedition to find the crashsite. He did find it, he made pictures of the site, found pieces of titanium, everything, the thing is, he just does not want to tell you where he found it. He did make a guide that should give you enough hints to find the crashsite (in his opinion). Wouldn't it be amazing to have a piece of titanium of a real A-12?

I got fascinated by it and started to read his guide (shouldnt take more than an hour or maybe 2). In his guide he writes about several crash sites he found from other planes (F-4's, F-15) and describes where they can be found. These sites i also found on satellite imagery, but the most important crash site (A-12) can not be seen on any satellite photo, according to Mahood. As for me, living in the Netherlands, i'll probably never get the opportunity to go and have look in the area Mahood writes about, but maybe you are interested, so contact (U2U or email: [email protected]) me if you want to know more about it. I got maps, satellite imagery and more of the area (digitalized of course). Just let me know.

Here's the link to his guide:
www.serve.com...

Here are some other pictures of the crash site:
www.dreamlandresort.com...

Greetings

[Edited on 16-3-2004 by Mauser]

Hi, Mauser. Some people (like my poor wife) would say that "obsessed" isn't too strong a word to describe my Blackbird hobby. I make it up to her by going to horse shows, horse movies, rodeos, etc.; I already owe her a trip to see "Hidalgo" this weekend.

That site you mentioned is a favorite of mine. I am SO jealous of that guy. Unless one falls off a truck in front of my house I'll have to make do without titanium scraps and settle for gift shop souvenirs. If you can catch a cheap flight to Las Vegas I'll meet you there and drive you out to the desert. You can look for the 928 crash site and I'll wait in the car.

Too bad, i hoped that YOU would drive into the desert, find the wreck and send me some pieces of SR-71 titanium.

last wednsday i had a chance to see a sr-71 at pima air and space museum in tucson arizona, man it is a site. Such a beautiful bird. it was sitting there right next to the drone too. the best part was i got to tuch it. the tip of the engine cone was in arms length, so i looked around, made sure no one was looking and reached out and felt the magnificient beast. IF any of you live here in arizona, on april 9th pima a&s museum is having a sr-71 open cockpit. I guess yuo can go up and look at the cockpits and talk to people who actually flew it.

Hi, SabreOne. Sounds like you had fun at the museum. I, like you, could not resist touching the one I saw. It is bad form for a useum, I know, but it seemed like the thing to do at the time.

You mentioned the SR-71 special event, so I looked into it and got the details:
[quote from their website]
Friday, April 2nd & Saturday, April 3rd�.SR-71 Symposium Weekend�Each day 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Reserve this weekend for the exciting SR-71crew member reunion and Symposium. The Pima Air & Space Museum will hold a symposium and festival celebrating the now retired SR-71 �Blackbird� spy plane. A highly regarded reconnaissance aircraft, the SR-71 still holds the transatlantic speed record � from London to New York in less than two hours. During the weekend one of the crewmembers will be inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame. The symposium, entitled �Keeping the SR-71 Blackbird Spirit Alive,� will feature panel discussions by former crewmembers, as well as tours around the aircraft and cockpit.

Panels will begin at 10:15 AM and 1:15 PM on both Friday and Saturday, and sure to include plenty of Q&A time. Crewmembers will be available to talk with visitors and sign autographs throughout the day. Don�t miss your chance to experience this magnificent aircraft and the people who know it best!
[end quote]

I have some frequent flyer points I need to burn, so I might just try to get out to Arizona to attend that one. Thank you very much for the tip!

Spectre, I was just wondering if you are from Va? cause I'm from Va.

Nope, muzz, I'm from Tennessee. I travel through VA a lot on my way to Philly, RI, etc.

i could have swore the guy at the gate told me the 9th. O well good thing you dug up some info. I would have felt like a idiot showing up on the 9th Its a good 300 mile drive out there and back for me

Originally posted by SabreOne
i could have swore the guy at the gate told me the 9th. O well good thing you dug up some info. I would have felt like a idiot showing up on the 9th

Its a good 300 mile drive out there and back for me

It would not hurt to call them and check. If I hear back I will post the confirmation here. Hey, if you do show up keep an eye out for me. I'll be the guy with his jaw dragging the floor and taking 300 photos.

I called the Pima museum and verified that the SR-71 symposium is going to be the first weekend in April. I was hoping to go but I can't get a flight I can afford and don't have enough time to get a driving trip together.

If you make it, SabreOne, take lots of pictures.

I doubt i will be able to go, my car barely made it up there the first time. i had to keep it under 70 the entire time. Im sure they will have it again some time. I have many pictures from my trip but its just that i dont have a scanner. ill try to get the pictures on a disk if i can get the negitives back from my dad. I think that would be so awesome to see the inside of a sr-71 in person

I worked at Beale for three years on both the SR and the deuce. Somewhere I have some home movies taken when my ex-wife and I gave my parents a tour of one of the birds. Would people be interested in seeing some stills from the video (I could make them). I don't remember the quality being all that great (this was mid 80s), but it would be never-before seen images.

Charley

Originally posted by Charley
Would people be interested in seeing some stills from the video (I could make them).

I'd like to see some, post them here if you want to.

Greetings

Charley, count me in as interested. I would love to see anything new on the Blackbird and Dragon Lady, especially "behind the scenes" material. It sounds great!


Facefirst, great tip on the US Army Ordinance Museum. I got to tour it on the trip from which I just returned. Not only was it a great place with tons (Literally!) of military hardware from way back to the present, but I got to speak at length with the Museum Director, Dr. William Atwater. People may remember him from his "Tales of the Gun" interview on The History Channel. He was very knowledgeable, very personable, and I appreciate his taking the time to talk to me about the collection and his experiences as its manger.

On the way back I also got to see another Blackbird, number 972, at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport. When I get all my photos up I will post a link. They are not very good because the lighting made photography tricky to someone with my limited skills and equipment.



Edit: Embedded photo was way too big and I can't spell!



[Edited on 30-3-2004 by Spectre]

OK. I'll start looking for the video and then set the VCR up to the PC.. chuckle.. Haven't looked at that video in years. Don't care to see how much weight I gained.

I was fortunate enough to work on 972. A messy leaky love she was (as were they all).

Charley

Originally posted by Charley
I was fortunate enough to work on 972. A messy leaky love she was (as were they all).

Maybe you could have some input on this. One thing I noticed about 972 versus 968 was the material sealing the seams and gaps on the aircraft. On 968 it looked like plumbers' putty and was sort of smeared on. But on 972 it was all nice, black and evenly applied in straight lines. My guess is the differences are the result of the amount of money spent to get them ready for display. NASM no doubt had a bit more to spend than the VAM. 968 is outside, too.
I fellow I spoke to at NASM said that the prep to get 972 ready for exhibition in a Federal building involved removing the asbestos used in its construction. If it is true, that had to suck.

Finally, I got my photos of SR-71 #972 online -nothing fancy. I apologize in advance for the poor quality and odd sizes of the pictures. Also, Mozilla hates this page for some reason; I'll work on that.
Fun facts- This aircraft flew for 23 years and logged 2801 hours. In 1974 it set the New York to London speed record: 1 hour, 54 minutes.
If you like Blackbirds, this is one to see. She is gorgeous!

My tour of SR-71 #972

[more information]

Museum Page
Online photos that don't suck

there is also a SR at dulles intl airport its owned by the smithsonian in dc they got other stuff there too

now THAT is the sexiest plane in the world.
what would make it even sexier is if the plane was real instead of a replica. hey! i'd hit it

Originally posted by machinegunjordan
there is also a SR at dulles intl airport its owned by the smithsonian in dc they got other stuff there too

SR-71 #972 is the one at Dulles airport, Ntl Air & Space Museum UH annex.

silQ, why do you think it is a replica?