Blackbird over the Middle East

Originally posted by ThePeaceMaker
Quite surprised the SR 71 wasn't allowed to land in the UK werent they based at Mildenhall at one point ? I missed my chance as a youngster to see the SR71 in flight, it was at the royal international air tattoo one year when I was a little nipper. I missed it because I was asleep

Campbeltown airport. Scotland. Rumored but I can't get conformation on that. But people seem to agree that's where alot of military craft's stop off at. The runway is quite long and in a sparse populated area. Seems like a good candidate.

I believe the article if Colonel Wilson said that if the UK didn't permit than its probably true. That was 73. After that it could have changed. Like I said I'm just now finding articles from people that were there.

I believe the article if Colonel Wilson said that if the UK didn't permit than its probably true. That was 73. After that it could have changed. Like I said I'm just now finding articles from people that were there.

Whoops double post. Don't know how that happened. Sorry

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Bigburgh

 

From what I can remember, a treaty was basically rammed down the throats of everyone involved at the conclusion of the war. The US gave both sides images from the Blackbird flights showing the other sides forces, so they knew they were withdrawing, and not building up for another round.

This may be be the reason to allow U.K. to permit the SR-71 to land there. If we can get confirmation for this.

Originally posted by ThePeaceMaker
Quite surprised the SR 71 wasn't allowed to land in the UK werent they based at Mildenhall at one point ? I missed my chance as a youngster to see the SR71 in flight, it was at the royal international air tattoo one year when I was a little nipper. I missed it because I was asleep

You know what. The 95th reconnaissance squadron was based there. But a list of aircraft does not turn up the Sr-71. The U-2 yes though. But that don't mean it didn't just happen to show from time to time. So its possible the blackbird may have been there. Time and leaks will tell.

reply to post by Bigburgh


From 1976 to 1990, the SR-71 Blackbird was flown out of Mildenhall by Detachment 4 of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing of the USAF

Was Mildenhall a air refuelling wing back then ?

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker


It's had refueling squadrons since the 50's.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
One of the things that really amazed me when I was younger is that the thing leaked like a sieve on the ground, but it heated up so much in flight the leaks stopped. It was several inches longer after flight, than before it, until it cooled down.

I remember reading that somewhere.

Apparently, they had to leave "gaps" in parts of the plane to allow for it to expand when it got hot during flight, so it used to drip fuel on the tarmac.

Amazing piece of technology for it's time. I built a model of one around 25 years ago, and even though it wasn't armed, it was my favourite because it was the fastest.

reply to post by Bigburgh


I had read quite some years back that SR71's had been at Mildenhall and Machrihanish (Campbelltown) Airport. I think it was during the 80's.. www.secretscotland.org.uk...

reply to post by douggie60


Midenhall was Definately used for the SR-71 , as for machrihanish it's been said to be a spooky base for black projects for a while now. There was a story about a chinook helicopter crashing over there because of wake turbulence from a black project aircraft, I don't how true that is though. The base doesn't have much going on at the moment, last I heard it closed down.

If the UK had deemed the operations vital to their interests, the SR-71 would have turned around there. It's no different than the French disallowing use of their airspace every time the US wants to fly a strike package to the Med. It depends on the scenario.
They were definitely based at Mildenhall subsequently.

Bigburgh

Originally posted by ThePeaceMaker
Quite surprised the SR 71 wasn't allowed to land in the UK werent they based at Mildenhall at one point ? I missed my chance as a youngster to see the SR71 in flight, it was at the royal international air tattoo one year when I was a little nipper. I missed it because I was asleep

You know what. The 95th reconnaissance squadron was based there. But a list of aircraft does not turn up the Sr-71. The U-2 yes though. But that don't mean it didn't just happen to show from time to time. So its possible the blackbird may have been there. Time and leaks will tell.

edit on 2-9-2013 by Bigburgh because: (no reason given)

edit on 2-9-2013 by Bigburgh because: (no reason given)

You mentioned the 95th. When I joined the USAF in the early 80s, they were operating U-2s out of RAF Alconbury. By the late 90s when I left the service, the 95th was under command our parent wing, the 55th Wing out of Offutt AFB, NE and were operating RC-135s. That squadron has a very long and interesting history. One of the oldest flying units, it's been around in one form or another since WWI. More can be found here;

95th Reconnaissance Squadron

Zaphod58
reply to post by Bigburgh

 

One of the things that really amazed me when I was younger is that the thing leaked like a sieve on the ground, but it heated up so much in flight the leaks stopped. It was several inches longer after flight, than before it, until it cooled down.

I have a wee bit of bird experience, and have been watching the thread, once you mentioned this, I know you know what you are talking about, JP-7 is nothing to mess with.

reply to post by BubbaJoe


It was a pain in the butt to light, and once it was lit it burned nicely, but you could damn near do anything you wanted with it prior to it lighting. All in all, a pain to handle though.

reply to post by BubbaJoe


JP-7 was rather harmless really,
it had a much lower flash point than say JP-4

reply to post by autopat51


Actually it was much higher. That's why they had to inject chemicals with the fuel to ignite it when they started engines. JP4 had a surprisingly low flashpoint (0F), although you could drop a match in it and not ignite it. JP7 on the other hand, had a really high flashpoint (140F).

reply to post by Zaphod58


i reread what i wrote..
yes , i was basackwards ha ha.
i was a crewchief on "Q" model tankers way back..was the 100th ARW at Beale afb
was later changed to the 9th srw..helped support the Blackbird all over the world
for about 8 years..was a wonderful time.

reply to post by autopat51


My father used to hate Q models. He was a -135 guy for years after his B-52 days. He could walk around any -135 blindfolded, and not hit anything, except that Q model. You guys had that extra antenna for the Blackbirds, and every single time you came in, he walked into it. He had so many scars on his head from that damn thing.