This is 100% accurate. This principle is why all the good jokes about the Marines come from the Navy (and vice versa). We're like siblings with a good healthy rivalry. Near constant competition creates near constant innovation.
@Brandon Perry stratotanker is not a carrier aircraft, it can refuel carrier aircraft if a drogue adaptor is fitted on the boom. But that has to be done on the ground, and the strato tanker cannot refuel other air Force aircraft with the drougue adapter fitted.not sure why the air force didn't add wing hard points to the strato tanker so they could use refueling pods so they could refuel airforce aircraft and Naval/nato aircraft on the same mission.
Some facts from a former engineer I met: 1: I believe the blackbird was primarily made of titanium and gold. There were stories of people stealing the fuel lines for cash. 2. Since the blackbird got so hot in flight, it had to be made with somewhat loose fitting parts. The plane would leak fuel and had to take off with 1/2 tank and refuel before going on missions. After it spent time in the air, the parts would heat up and expand to fill in the gaps.
The loose fitting parts were intentional yeah. this was because even though the fuselage was made of titanium, it expanded and contracted due to the heat stress of the supersonic aerodynamic friction and if they were tight fitting at room temp, they would break (fracture and explode) at the high temps the Blackbird reached.
@john smith Interesting story, and fun to imagine, but seriously unlikely. The plane only generated that heat when flying fast and high on mission over hostile territory. There are a number of common sense and legal reasons it would not fly like that when coming off mission over friendly territory. For example sonic booms created by an object flying that fast are not allowed over friendly civilian populations. Also the cooling effect of prolonged subsonic flight would cool the plane long before landing. It's fun to imagine though.
1.CIA founded fake companies all over the world to buy titanium from its major exporter - USSR 2. Yeah thats correct also SR-71 tires were made from aluminium mixed with rubber which gave them higher flash point helping it to whistand the high heat caused by friciton with the ground upon landing at extreme speeds and were pumped to 415 PSI (28 bar) He said that 3,3 Mach is 4000 km/h yeah at sea level but at 80000 feet its 3500 kmh
Titanium wasn’t just expensive back then it was rare since we didn’t have any in the US, so the CIA was low key buying it from Russia to build the SR71
@@cjthenarhwalking1378 availability was the concern, Ti Met had very low reserves so the CIA set up shell corporations to buy it anywhere they could. As the Soviets were a primary producer they supplied a lot of it. www.nap.edu/read/1712/chapter/1 This is a paper from 1983 called titanium past present and further talking about strategic availability of it.
@@cjthenarhwalking1378 Comon’ guys it’s just the ability to molecularly mix nickel with stainless steel. Any other definition was just propaganda fog. But it still is a pretty high tech process nevertheless although now more prevalent.
The SR-71's body was made of ~93% refined Titanium, so it was costly to produce and upkeep... It also used a special fuel called JP-7, and carried shots of Trietholborane. Costly liquids in their own right.
The pen was engineered because pencils require sharpening and there was concerns about graphite and wood particles floating around in 0g and potentially causing damage.
@@MotoroidARFC eh, I've worked around sawmills and lots of woodworking equipment before, can't imagine "pencil debris" would be any worse than sawdust when inhaled.
The pen was also developed by a private company on their own dime and given to both the US and Soviet space agencies for free... it was marketing to sell the 'space pen'
"Mach" is the multiple of the speed of sound. It varies depending on atmospheric conditions, but it'll generally be somewhere around 760 mph or 1200 kph. Speed of sound lowers as altitude increases, so it's difficult to say *exactly* how fast "Mach 3" is. Wikipedia says the SR-71 could do 2,200 mph (3,540 km/h) at 80,000 feet (24,000 m). I wouldn't automatically trust the "official" performance stats, though.
The true speed and altitude capability of the Blackbird is still classified, so the real numbers are probably higher than anything ever admitted to. If you can fly at 95000 feet, say it's 80000 so the enemy spends time and resources to develop a weapon that still can't threaten you.
you SERIOUSLY need to react to the LA Speed Story, you'll love it. Also, for additional reference on how fast this monster is, in 1990 it flew across the US from west coast to east coast in 1 hour and 7.5 minutes
And that's only the speed released to the public. The J58 ramjets were more efficient the faster it went. Because of that, theoretically, it would be able to fly faster than the airframe could withstand.
@@black_hydra1618 the X-15 was a rocket powered Aerospace craft and it was only ever an experimental one with no operational history. So trying to compare it to the SR-71 in unfair.
@@FriedrichBarb NEIN it was not desigdesigned to be a stealth bomber and someone made a replica of it and tested if it would work against radar and it didn't
Fun fact: the sr 71 blackbird leaked fuel when was on the runway because when it reached its maximum altitude the metal of the plane would get so hot it expand to fill in the gaps😄
And thus they only fuelled the the Blackbird enough to take off and It would later get the rest of its fuel to do the mission in mid-air as we saw at 18:08.
The fuel also had a really high ignition temperature, and doubled as a coolant for the body. They didn't build separate fuel tanks inside the body. The body *was* its fuel tank.
@@Knowbody42 Wrong. I asked my dad who worked on them and he said part of the body was fuel tanks in two tanks and the rest was cameras and countermeasure equipment. Never make a comment that you know nothing about ever again or someone with almost first hand knowledge will come and wreck you.
@@goeisha6076 come on now, play nice. While they had 'tanks', these tanks are not what most think of today. The tanks in the BB were interlocking panels that were purposely loose and allowed for heat expansion. It also had a very ahead of it's time gas replacement mechanism when dropping back to low altitude. No need to berate the guy.
@@weedass23 Yes, it got hot, which is why it was made of titanium and the skin was designed to expand as it heated up. I think I heard that the skin would glow at times.
Reidan007 uh huh, I'm sure you did. Mach 1 is 700mph, these planes went Mach 3. Also there's no point in even talking about bullet trains. Bullet trains can go 130mph; literally any jet plane is faster than that. Why lie in a UA-cam comment? Edit: 130mph was for the original model, my bad. Current models can reach 180mph. Still easily beat by any modern aircraft.
I just discovered ur channel and I love this dude and how you’re able to appreciate America’s military powers even though you live in Estonia. Glad we’re allies buddy
Ikr? Very personable. “Acts” properly on Qs & being surprised of neat things. Probably time for me to start a GFM acct to bring Artur here & send him to Hollywood. Capice? 😎👍
@@nationalistcanuck7800 Lol. Yes, the MiG-31 has escorted Blackbird, thanks to it's far longer range and more advanced R-33 missiles. You'd be an idiot to try and stick around and challenge those. So I'll give you that. But the MiG-25 and it's R-40's? No. Also, can you link the story about MiG-25's escorting Blackbird? Because I've never read or heard of that one.. Either way, the MiG-25 and it's R-40's wouldn't have been able to catch the SR-71.. First off, the R-40 had a short range, compared to the 120 km range of the R-33's that had just been put into service a couple years before MiG-31's escorted the Blackbird in 1986. Also, the R-40's more outdated seeker could be defeated by the Blackbird's Electronic Countermeasures. Blackbird was designed to maintain Mach 3.2 - 3.3 for up to 90 minutes at a time. While MiG-25 couldn't maintain speeds like that for more than a few minutes, or it's engines would literally start consuming themselves. Meaning, that the MiG-25 could never get close enough to lock with the R-40 because the Blackbird would just steadily outpace it and increase the gap even further. Which was the problem with SAM sites over Korea and the Soviet Union at the time. By the time the missiles were able to get up to full speed and altitude, the Blackbird had already travelled so far, already having been travelling at Mach 3.2, that it was well outside their range by then. Which is why it was fired at so many times without a single shoot down. The Soviet pilot who defected and stole a MiG-25, Viktor Belenko, who is brought up in this very video, even stated in his biography that MiG-25 pilots were told not to exceed Mach 2.5, and also states that speeds above Mach 2.8 could not be maintained safely. Nor, could any kind of missile launch happen above Mach 2.8.. When he brings up the story of the pilots who flew at Mach 3.2 over Israel, he heavily maintains that the engines had been severely damaged and effectively destroyed after just a few minutes sustaining those speeds, and that the pilots had been very lucky to make it back to the ground alive. So, again, the MiG-25 and it's armament at the time, could not catch an SR-71. As was stated in this video, the only real threat at the time came from the MiG-31 with it's new R-33's, and the development of more advanced SAM's by the Soviets. MiG-31 was still not as fast, nor could it climb as high as SR-71, but, thanks to the R-33's, it no longer needed to. Either way, the planes themselves could not touch SR-71 in pure sophistication and capability.
@@DarkTranqz I never said the Foxbats escorted the Blackbirds away from Soviet airspace, I said they CHASED them away from Soviet airspace. Chasing them and escorting them are not the same thing.
There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment. It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: "November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground." Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios. Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed." Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground." And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: "Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground." I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: "Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money." For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, "Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one." It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there.
The Mach is a unit used to represent how much faster a vehicle is going over the speed of sound, which is roughly 1200 km/h. So, Mach 3.2 is 3.2 times faster than the speed of sound.
@@Tooobuhz18 Maybe I'm underthinking this, but what you said would create a reason NOT to use mach numbers. Mach is an exact number and will never change. You need that. You can't have your standard changing based on conditions.
The LA speed story is great. I was lucky enough when I was a kid my dad pulled me out of school at Offutt air base ( former SAC HQ back then) to watch the blackbird come in on the farewell tour. Great day.
Artur: "Premiers in 15 minutes." Arnold: "I'll be back." Love your videos. Let me give you some more info I've read of in acclaimed books on this ahead-of-it's-time aircraft. Mach 3 = 3 times the speed of sound or 3,675 kph / 2,272 mph at sea level. The speed of sound is lower higher up as air density goes down. The SR-71 was built with some stealth tech to take advantage of new radar computing power. But the stealth tech of the day was not good enough yet to make the plane appear invisible on radar as they do today. They just wanted to make radar reflections off the airframe weaker. Speed would not be enough since missiles with solid fuel rocket motors were already exceeding mach 3. So they came up with another plan. Sophisticated computer electronics in the plane would detect a radar signal striking it, examine the radar pulse and then send out a modified reflection signal back to the enemy radar that is more powerful than the real weakened-by-stealth-tech reflected radar pulse. This fake return radar signal that the enemy would detect instead of the real reflection signal would be modified and timed to make the plane appear on enemy radar miles away from it's actual position. This is why they say the plane has been fired upon by missiles 1000 times over it operational career with no planes lost. In fact, you can read of the overflights during the old Israeli-Egypt war when it was claimed the USA had flown 2 spy planes over the country the previous day. In truth we only flew one SR-71 over to take photos. The second detected plane was the fake reflection. If you want to go along for the ride and see what a real mission in a Blackbird was actually like, then enjoy: theaviationist.com/2013/09/01/declassified-sr-71-mix/ One of my biggest aviation thrills was to visit an outdoor aircraft display at former Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, California, USA and actually TOUCH one of the mysterious SR-71s, one of thew retired craft being on display there. (They ARE real!). Most of my family on my mother's side is from that area. The Blackbird is sitting right next to the road, but many more cool aircraft to observe: virtualglobetrotting.com/map/castle-air-museum/view/google/ They are all retired now, but who knows what newer birds the USA has hidden away in locked hangars today? Peace, all.
The thing about using pencils in space is that when they break you end up with splinters and graphite in the air, not something you want in a closed air system. Therefore, space pens were worth it.
Joshua Sager that doesn’t solve the size .07 broken graphite pieces floating around and into/onto filters or surfaces that potentially could be electrical in nature & if I remember graphite is a hell of a conductor. And to echo William they too require gravity.
I was in E. Texas and heard a highly compressed quadruple sonic boom that lasted barely over a second. So...somewhere between mach 4 and 5. This was in the early 80's, so unless they have something else? Aurora? ( My understanding was Aurora was the name of a project NOT the plane). The sr71 was retired shortly after. This one was moving fast S. toward Nicaragua.
You should look up a few things. 1. The cone on the SR-71 was designed to move in and out not just for bypassing the compressor fans of the engine. They were also designed to move in and out to change the shock wave of the sonic boom entering the engine to prevent a flame out at such high speeds. 2. The F-15 eagle was the first plane to launch a missile to shoot down a satellite moving at 18,000 miles/hour. It was successful.
Atmospheric pressure does have an influence on the speed of sound. The higher you are the less pressure you have. Speed of sound drops, lift drops, drag is reduced and oxygen levels drop the higher you go.
American pen vs Soviet pencil in the space race: The pencil was NOT a good solution. Tiny bits of graphite from the pencil would break free while writing and get in the Soviet electrical systems which caused problems. There is a channel "Curious Droid" that has an excellent documentary of these writing instruments.
My dad has a story from when he was stationed at ft fucker, listening to whatever ATC it was (I don’t recall off top of my head), he had heard someone call up requesting permission to pass through controlled airspace to 80,000 ft. Tower told them they can go ahead and try if they could get up that high, short wile later they came back stating they where “descending” to 80,000.
My dad was a chief engineer for C l johnson. WW2 and Korea. His engineering expertice saved the planet from ozone distruction if left unchecked. Er2 Nasa manager. I miss him. I met his people including his bosses and coworkers. I also was Reg Blackwells prayer partner. Met his friends at a SR71 Symposium. I miss them and those days. God Bless you.
The true speed is still classified. However, it set an all-time speed record once when it flew across the U.S. Another SR-71 set an absolute speed record of 3,529.6 kilometers per hour (2,193.2 miles per hour), approximately Mach 3.3. As the fastest jet aircraft in the world, the SR-71 has an impressive collection of records and a history of service. On September 1, 1974, Major James Sullivan and his backseater, Major Noel F. Widdifield, set a speed record in SR-71A serial no. 64-17972, flying from New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes and 56 seconds, for an average speed of 1,806.96 mph. Less than two weeks later, the same airplane made a long-distance sprint from London to Los Angeles in record time.
Mine is the SR-71 had to move out of the way of Concorde and the pilot of the SR-71 looked over and saw everyone sitting comfortable in their lounge wear and sipping cocktails while the SR-71 pilot was sitting uncomfortably in his pressure suit eating from a tube
I have a story of a teacher who i had in high school who was a air force veteran. He had many stories of flying deep into soviet territory and how they tried to intercept him.
I appreciate you continuing to make and post this type of content, You have a great sense of humor as well. These review/analysis videos are awesome. Cheers to our allied Estonians, and cheers to you Artur. - from Newfoundland,Canada! I also just realized this video is from over a year ago lol
One of my college professors was a U2 pilot, when he got the word that Russian fighter were coming up and when he saw them way down below, he would do a slow 360 turn and when he was back on course he would see the Russian planes tumbling out of the sky due to lack of oxygen for their jet engines.
"Is that a nuclear explosion next to infantry?" - You should look up the test where 5 volunteers stood directly below an atomic detonation at 18K feet.
FYI- There are roughly 27 civilian SR-71's in the USA. Most of them decommissioned and then converted for civilian and light duty commercial use. It was a group purchase for the lot, and we all share a community airstrip where our backyards meet up with the airstrip which is for efficiency sake. They're nice for show, but owning one requires a lot of $$$ for upkeep. Also, grandma complains and says it's too bumpy of a ride and she often has trouble putting her eyeliner on until we get to altitude ( looks like she scribbles it on when she becomes impatient. lol ). She prefers the gyrocopter.
"Do [the FBI, CIA, Military, etc.] work together or are they rivals?" Yes, they essentially do the same basic job (protect America). However, each has a specialization so to speak. On the basic level, FBI is nation-wide law enforcement (Federal Bureau of Investigations), CIA is responsible for "what we know" (Central Intelligence Agency), and military is largely combative defense of America. This is excessively basic, there a hell of a lot of departments each that covers some specific purpose, and yes they overlap. They do cooperate, but often they might compete with each other to motivate doing jobs better. Love the videos, keep up the good work.
FBI is mainly Federal Police (extreme oversimplification of what they do but it gets the base idea across) under the DOJ (Department of Justice). Other DOJ agencies would be ATF, DEA, BOP, COPS (yes that is actually an acronym for a DOJ Agency), etc... CIA is the intelligence agency that works outside of the US, NSA is an intelligence agency that works within the US. The CIA is it's own department, while the NSA is under the DHS (Department of Homeland Security). The Military is under the DOD (Department of Defense) along with agencies like NCIS & CID. Yes they all work together....yes they all bitch about jurisdiction as that means funding......
"Yay, Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ..I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing!" (Sign over the entrance to the old SR-71 operating base Kadena, Japan).
I love it. Your right. When put to a task you just do it. My Co. told me and a buddy to go find a sprinkler system for our parade grounds. We did. We pulled it out of the yard of the base commanders house in the middle of the night!
The question now is: what do we have that's better? Because as my grandfather always said "the government won't tell you about one thing, until it's been replaced by something better."
The first blackbird I saw was in a museum in Huntsville Alabama in the early 90's. The plaque hailed it as cutting edge technology and "the best there is"... But even as a kid I was thinking "If it's cutting edge? Why's it in a museum?"
There's really no need for an expensive high altitude, high speed reconnaissance aircraft anymore now that satellites and UAV's have taken over that role.
The SR-71 was the last US military aircraft built completely without the use of C.A.D. or computer aided design. Slide rulers and calculators. Makes it even more incredible.
You know you’re riding the line of what’s physically possible when at the END OF ITS SERVICE LIFE you send two of your planes to NASA for them to study them.
There was a great demonstration by a SR-71 at the Paris Air Show one year. Once in the air, it demonstrated the phenomenal power of it's 2 engines by doing a low level flyby over the audience, flying by on only one engine at about a 60 degree sideway turn towards the audience. It was pretty cool to see and was on UA-cam at one time but I can't find the footage anymore.
When you were talking about the different ways soldiers do things it reminded me of when my dad told me about how in WWI or WWII Australian troops had to retreat from their trenches but it was impossible to do so while undetected. The soldiers then linked buckets on string connected to the triggers of their guns and put enough water to set the gun off periodically, tricking the enemy soldiers allowing them to escape. Imagine how those enemy soldiers would have reacted when the water ran out and they came to the trench to find it completely abandoned
We bought the titanium for the SR-71 from the Soviet Union, through a chain of shell companies, because the US has very few natural deposits of it. Hilarious.
Hahaha! That was way before Hillary. Pick up a history book before you make a stupid comment. Or did you learn all of your history from Confederate statues? 😀😀😀
When they detected a missile fired at them, they accelerated. They sometimes reached Mach 3.4 to 3.5. They often saw an explosion behind them which, since it had stopped in the air, immediately appeared to implode like a movie run backward. The plane was limited to cruising at Mach 3.2 because higher speeds rapidly pushed the skin temperatures up too high even for titanium.
He also tells a great story about a time he was request to buzz a tower in Germany, they got semi-lost in fog, almost hit the trees, and gave a general (iirc) the show of a lifetime.
I live by the March Airfield museum and the main hanger is 80% filled with a decommissioned SR-71 Blackbird and stuff like the camera pod and fight suit and a replacement ejector seat.
As a certified A&P aircraft mechanic, we covered the SR-71 in my technical training. The thing was designed to be a supersonic flyer, which meant that when it was sitting on the ground, it was always leaking oil. Once it surpassed Mach 1, the entire frame would seal off the leaks, but that meant there had to be quite a bit of oil just to make up for what was lost before then.
@@Mgl1206 it was the fuel. Fun fact about that fuel: it had to be specially designed for the SR-71. It also was not flammable. The pilots would put their cigars out in it before flights. The plane literally uses a fuel that doesn't burn.
I got to see a sr71 land at Wright and Paterson airforce base when I was a kid along with the flying wing on the ground. It was a awsome sight. I'll never forget it
I love Arthur's enthusiasm, It really makes my day sometimes. Makes me just wanna spread kindness! totally gonna buy a mug, forget how to let him know though.
I’ve read many books about the SR-71, and, from what I’ve read, the fastest I’ve seen the Blackbird recorded at was Mach 3.45 before it had to throttle back to just Mach 3.2 or run out of fuel too soon. No one knows it’s true top speed because it would just keep accelerating until they had to throttle back or run out of fuel. I do wonder what it’s been replaced with.
I mean truthfully they were replaced by satellites, they provide "real" time Intel. And if I remember correctly, they theoretically had no maximum speed, they would just accelerate themselves apart.
The problem with going faster wasn't fuel as the plane actually got more fuel efficient the faster it went. The problem was temperature and external forces on the plane. As the plane heated up the properties of the metal changed and eventually it couldn't hold together. In the video it said one of them "disintegrated around the pilot" and that's why. The pressures were so high that it couldn't hold together. After every mission they had to inspect the whole thing and replace parts, hence the enormous maintenance budget.
My great grandpa who passed two years ago was one of the pilots for the SR-71 during the Cold War. My family has his Mach 3 Club plaque on the wall and I have a picture of him and his plane on my wall. It’s the pride of my family. He was one of only 85 people to ever fly one. His name was Jack Kennon, and he is my namesake.
@@wtgames3264 I worked on B-52G's in the early 80's when I first joined the Air Force. There is no way you could call the aircrew cabin huge. The only place you could stand up in it was on the ladder going from the lower deck to the upper deck. And most of the space in the cabin was filled with electronics, making it a very cramped area to work and fly in.
@@nationalistcanuck7800 yeah But that's why they were slower Because THEY HAD STUFF TO SHOOT INSIDE THEM THIS GUY HAD CAMS OF MANY KINDS MUCH LIGHTER so Yeah Also Does your mig use RAMJET TECHNOLOGY? didn't think so
@Lord Quin Not even the deep web tho. Spend 5 minutes searching on google and you can find accounts from people who saw it on radar and whatnot saying that it went way faster than that.
Since the blackbird would heat up so much from the friction of passing by air, it caused the titanium to expand. So much so that they built it so that it would leak fuel while cold on purpose because when it gets hot the panel gaps in the fuselage would seal.
18:52 those dots in the exhaust are called "shock diamonds" caused by the exhaust coming out at supersonic speeds. The more diamonds you see, the faster it's coming out
Going to repost this story here for anyone that hasn't seen it (somehow). Awesome story about the SR-71 from Brian Schul's book Sled Driver : Flying the World's Fastest Jet. "There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment. It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: "November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground." Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios. Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed." Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground." And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: "Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground." I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: "Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money." For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, "Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one." It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there."
I enjoyed that thoroughly. Thank you. : ) It would have been funny (albeit highly unrealistic) if after that last traffic, the space shuttle just happened to be launching that day and chimed in......"Los Angeles Center, Atlantis here, can you give us a ground speed check?" "Atlantis..........I show you at 15,148 knots." "Appreciate that center, we're showing closer to 15,641 (18 thousand mph!)"
@@steezy853 correct, i posted this as well as a science site that goes into humidity, temp and other conditions that can change the speed at which "mach" speed occurs. Interesting subject.
Actually to be correct, your Mach number is a RATIO of your aircraft's speed to the LOCAL (where you are right now) speed of sound. The LOCAL speed of sound varies as the square root of the absolute temperature, so it is possible for an aircraft flying at an indicated speed of say, Mach 1.1 to be travelling SLOWER than another aircraft flying at Mach 1.0 !!! it depends upon the temperature of the air around each aircraft, Mach number you are flying at is a RATIO NOT a speed.
for the rivalry question between agencies, there is friendly rivalry from what I hear, but state agencies usually get stonewalled by the feds. I was a bounty hunter for 5 years - when one of my targets would be captured by a federal agency, they refuse to talk about or provide a chain of custody paper to release me from financial liability.
I remember them complaining... On the runway, fuel would leak out of the wings all over the ground. The plane had to get "up to speed" and altitude in order to warm the metal and seal the fuel tanks leaks. Oh, the problems of titanium planes.
Yep, that's why they fueled them on the ground right before take off. Also the engines were so good that the faster the plane went the more efficient they were. Awesome plane...
1:22 this is especially funny because the Russians built these planes solely to catch the U2, but by the time they finished them, we had replaced them with faster planes 6:10 it’s kinda like the rivalry between the army and the navy, it’s like sibling rivalry, they are always competing with each other, but they still will work together 8:35 you don’t need a lot of spy planes, more than a handful would be overkill
Soviets: "Ha, we have the fastest Interceptor ever built! Take that US." US: "Ok, fine. You can have your little Interceptor. But you want to know what we have?" Soviets: "Wha-" *Blackbird go whoosh*
2 things that will never cease to amaze me, landing on the moon in 69 with the computing power of a normal calculator, and the sr71. America was really on some innovation steroids back then
Even more so today. We just don't hear about all the wild weapons and technologies as everything is even more confidential today, even in the computer age. Funny thing is, all the crazy systems they have now won't be truly revealed till 30-40 years from now... And by that time they have something completely different in their hands. Pretty wild to think about
If NASA did Apollo-level commitment today, it would have to spend it's current annual budget on single project for a decade. No more space rave and cold war with soviet union, NASA can only dream of budget it used to have.
@@felipelopez2817 True that. We have more responsibilities to protect, yah protect the entire world, why wouldn't we get the best. We deserve it, we need it, the world needs it.
@@Nyx_2142 well... in a general sense, you’re not wrong lol. There are definite pros & cons to being in this game; financial for sure & economic maybe are definite potential drawbacks. Imo. 🤷♂️
The SR-71 BLACKBIRD is not a death machine, it is a high-speed high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. The SR-71 holds the all-time fastest, and highest altitude record holder of any aircraft that takes off and lands under its own power. The reconnisance cameras were able to take photos witb its camera, that could see the detail of something as small as a license plate on a car, while at it's normal cruising altitude of 80,000 ft. The YF-12A (CIA version) may have been armed and had the "hit it's own fired weapon" issue, but I have no data on that. Only a few YF-12A's ever existed.
Mach is the speed of sound. Mach 3 is three times the speed of sound. Everytime you increase the Mach, it multiplies that number by the speed of sound. Edit 2: As for the nuke next to soldiers, it was a test to analyze the damage of nuclear fallout on the human body. Edit 3: Modern missiles would be fully capable of shooting down the Blackbird. They can go to over Mach 4-5 nowadays.
It's more specific to say that the speed of sound is different depending on the altitude. The mach number is in reference to the speed of the object relative to the speed of sound in that medium. So mach 3 at 20,000 ft is slower than mach 3 at 1,000 ft. Still crazy impressive, though.
@@frankiepaul9869 my guy, that's not even remotely accurate. Mach is the ratio of 'the speed of an object in a medium' to 'the speed of sound in that medium.' if an object is going the speed of sound, it's going mach 1. If it's going twice the speed of sound, it's going mach 2. The speed of sound is dependent on the density of the medium (the air), so at much higher altitudes, the speed of sound is actually slightly slower. So many fighter jets can break the sound barrier (exceed mach 1) by simply getting close to mach 1, then drifting to a higher altitude. They don't get any faster, but the speed of sound 'slowed down' relative to them. As a side note, bullets and meteorites regularly exceed mach 1, and neither of these have engines. It has nothing to do with engine types.
@@UTbrother that's just not true my great great grandad helped develop the first jet engine and the team that developed that engine was based in mach , a small farming community just outside of Kimberley in Australia, thus the name mach. Its history man.
@@frankiepaul9869 setting as how neither Hans von Ohain nor Frank Whittle developed jet engines in Australia, I'm gonna have to call balogna sandwich on that one. The Bell X-1 was the first aircraft to exceed Mach 1, and that was developed in America. The first jet engines were developed in Britain and Germany. In the '30s and '40s. The name Mach is from Austrian physicist Ernst Mach, who died almost twenty years before the first jet engines were invented. You're an entertaining troll 😉.
SR 71 is no longer in service. It's been out of service more then 10 years now. But we did replace one that can reach mock 6+. Its is unknown. No PICTURS or videos is available at this time.
So Artur, what's the deal with the big band aid on your neck? Just curious. :} Also, the video didn't mention that the USA at the time did not even have enough titanium to build a single Blackbird, and that the USSR was the only country in the world where titanium was found and mined in quantities big enough to build these aircraft. So the CIA set up a scheme involving phantom companies to buy the titanium needed for the A12/SR71 programme, from the USSR. Little did the Soviets know... :)
It’s funny how the US bought the titanium to build the planes from Russia without them even knowing about it.
This is a story in itself!
YES, amazing.
Its mind boggling for me lol
The CIA isn't completely stupid.
wait can you educate me about this pls
and even at 80+ thousand feet in the air, it's camera was so powerful it could read the license plate of a moving car from near-space.
Are you being serious orrrr
not today human yep 👍
I dont think so
That's impossible
@@homicideamplified7526 I don't know the exact circumstances, but yes, there is a picture somewhere that a blackbird took of a car's licence plate
Soviet Union: stop flying in soviet airspace!
US: No. We’re flying ABOVE Soviet airspace
big brain
More space than air at that point. I'd say they get a pass.
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@@DonnyDealer but, there is still enough for it fly at mach 3.3
The SR-71 never flew directly over Soviet airspace, just next to it. This fact has been verified by several SR-71 pilots.
"CIA, DEA, FBI, the Military. Did they work together or was it a rivalry?"
............YES
😂😂 how fucking right you are!
This is 100% accurate. This principle is why all the good jokes about the Marines come from the Navy (and vice versa). We're like siblings with a good healthy rivalry.
Near constant competition creates near constant innovation.
Best comment ever
@@justicar2747 "I’m with the C.I.D., although I told your boss I’m with the C.I.A. It throws people off who think I’m with the C.I.C."
this or this what is the answer
YES
What is the answer
The answer is yes
Russia: YOU'RE FLYING IN RUSSIAN TERRITORY
US: no im flying around Europe
Actually, we're almost back to base in Colorado. Your message was delayed
@@krisfrederick5001 lmao true
Russia: you’re in our airspace
Blackbird: no, we’re touring Asia, Moscow just happened to be in a our camera range.
@Brandon Perry stratotanker is not a carrier aircraft, it can refuel carrier aircraft if a drogue adaptor is fitted on the boom. But that has to be done on the ground, and the strato tanker cannot refuel other air Force aircraft with the drougue adapter fitted.not sure why the air force didn't add wing hard points to the strato tanker so they could use refueling pods so they could refuel airforce aircraft and Naval/nato aircraft on the same mission.
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mach 1 is the speed of sound, so saying something is mach 3, then it is going 3 times the speed of sound. Mach 1 is 332 m/s, 1195 kmph or 717 mph.
Yea but mach changes when going higher or lower
717 at sea level.
mach 3.2 = 3951.36 kmh
@@Redlinedjr at sea level. Its alot faster at higher altitude
@@boggless2771 he speed of sound decreases as you go up in altitude since there is less air for sound to propagate through
Some facts from a former engineer I met:
1: I believe the blackbird was primarily made of titanium and gold. There were stories of people stealing the fuel lines for cash.
2. Since the blackbird got so hot in flight, it had to be made with somewhat loose fitting parts. The plane would leak fuel and had to take off with 1/2 tank and refuel before going on missions. After it spent time in the air, the parts would heat up and expand to fill in the gaps.
The intentional leaking of fuel to design a plane that fit together so perfectly in flight is my favorite fun fact about the sr71.
The loose fitting parts were intentional yeah. this was because even though the fuselage was made of titanium, it expanded and contracted due to the heat stress of the supersonic aerodynamic friction and if they were tight fitting at room temp, they would break (fracture and explode) at the high temps the Blackbird reached.
Yeah, I felt like there's better videos out there explaining better why this plane is so legendary
@john smith Interesting story, and fun to imagine, but seriously unlikely. The plane only generated that heat when flying fast and high on mission over hostile territory. There are a number of common sense and legal reasons it would not fly like that when coming off mission over friendly territory. For example sonic booms created by an object flying that fast are not allowed over friendly civilian populations. Also the cooling effect of prolonged subsonic flight would cool the plane long before landing. It's fun to imagine though.
1.CIA founded fake companies all over the world to buy titanium from its major exporter - USSR
2. Yeah thats correct also SR-71 tires were made from aluminium mixed with rubber which gave them higher flash point helping it to whistand the high heat caused by friciton with the ground upon landing at extreme speeds and were pumped to 415 PSI (28 bar)
He said that 3,3 Mach is 4000 km/h yeah at sea level but at 80000 feet its 3500 kmh
Titanium wasn’t just expensive back then it was rare since we didn’t have any in the US, so the CIA was low key buying it from Russia to build the SR71
not really rare just a pain to refine
@@cjthenarhwalking1378 availability was the concern, Ti Met had very low reserves so the CIA set up shell corporations to buy it anywhere they could. As the Soviets were a primary producer they supplied a lot of it.
www.nap.edu/read/1712/chapter/1
This is a paper from 1983 called titanium past present and further talking about strategic availability of it.
@@cjthenarhwalking1378 Comon’ guys it’s just the ability to molecularly mix nickel with stainless steel. Any other definition was just propaganda fog. But it still is a pretty high tech process nevertheless although now more prevalent.
Ukraine has large deposits of titanium.....I wonder?
The SR-71's body was made of ~93% refined Titanium, so it was costly to produce and upkeep...
It also used a special fuel called JP-7, and carried shots of Trietholborane. Costly liquids in their own right.
The pen was engineered because pencils require sharpening and there was concerns about graphite and wood particles floating around in 0g and potentially causing damage.
Not just any damage, the concerns were that their particles could cause a fire on the spacecraft which would be no bueno
Can you imagine inhaling pencil debris?
This is what I came down here to say. So take my upvote!
@@MotoroidARFC eh, I've worked around sawmills and lots of woodworking equipment before, can't imagine "pencil debris" would be any worse than sawdust when inhaled.
The pen was also developed by a private company on their own dime and given to both the US and Soviet space agencies for free... it was marketing to sell the 'space pen'
"Sometimes I feel like the pentagon is pulling money out of an endless pit"
I mean yeah that's pretty much how it works xD
You'll be glad we had that pit if China or Iran or Russia decides to challenge our Republic.
As long as Americans are alive and paying taxes. Thats why the pentagon is fearful of Trump's response to COVID-19
The USA budget for the military Is 681.1 billion
@@SBS-RUTHLESS for now
it's not a endless pit. it's the tax payers.
"Mach" is the multiple of the speed of sound. It varies depending on atmospheric conditions, but it'll generally be somewhere around 760 mph or 1200 kph. Speed of sound lowers as altitude increases, so it's difficult to say *exactly* how fast "Mach 3" is. Wikipedia says the SR-71 could do 2,200 mph (3,540 km/h) at 80,000 feet (24,000 m).
I wouldn't automatically trust the "official" performance stats, though.
Supa fast bro 💨
O damn
The true speed and altitude capability of the Blackbird is still classified, so the real numbers are probably higher than anything ever admitted to. If you can fly at 95000 feet, say it's 80000 so the enemy spends time and resources to develop a weapon that still can't threaten you.
Yeah But hey I would say the offical stats just to say
Oh yeah this is fast
The Blackbird could most likely go at least Mach 5.
you SERIOUSLY need to react to the LA Speed Story, you'll love it. Also, for additional reference on how fast this monster is, in 1990 it flew across the US from west coast to east coast in 1 hour and 7.5 minutes
And that's only the speed released to the public. The J58 ramjets were more efficient the faster it went. Because of that, theoretically, it would be able to fly faster than the airframe could withstand.
x-15 is faster however didn't ave much as an impact on cold war, would've been the funniest thing if an x-15 pilot 1uped Brian.
@@black_hydra1618 the X-15 was a rocket powered Aerospace craft and it was only ever an experimental one with no operational history. So trying to compare it to the SR-71 in unfair.
@@MAOofDC your right.
The previous trans American continental record was held by a Boeing 747 at roughly 4 hours. The blackbird shattered it.
I don't know what is more incredible, the SR-71 Blackbird or the fact that this man found an Adidas collared shirt.
I think it was actually a gift someone sent. He shows them in another video 💪
@@FriedrichBarb NEIN it was not desigdesigned to be a stealth bomber and someone made a replica of it and tested if it would work against radar and it didn't
@@bamaman6478 well its undeniable its design was inspired from it
IrishSoyBoy the guy that is on ur pfp is a hero cuz he killed Hitler
I found and bought an adidas collared shirt in academy’s sports lmao
Fun fact: the sr 71 blackbird leaked fuel when was on the runway because when it reached its maximum altitude the metal of the plane would get so hot it expand to fill in the gaps😄
And thus they only fuelled the the Blackbird enough to take off and It would later get the rest of its fuel to do the mission in mid-air as we saw at 18:08.
The fuel also had a really high ignition temperature, and doubled as a coolant for the body.
They didn't build separate fuel tanks inside the body. The body *was* its fuel tank.
@@Knowbody42 Wrong. I asked my dad who worked on them and he said part of the body was fuel tanks in two tanks and the rest was cameras and countermeasure equipment. Never make a comment that you know nothing about ever again or someone with almost first hand knowledge will come and wreck you.
@@goeisha6076 come on now, play nice. While they had 'tanks', these tanks are not what most think of today. The tanks in the BB were interlocking panels that were purposely loose and allowed for heat expansion. It also had a very ahead of it's time gas replacement mechanism when dropping back to low altitude. No need to berate the guy.
@@brendenpischke6060 A few planes still do this.
"What's your defense strategy?"
Sr71 pilot: "drop a gear and disappear..."
I flew one now im retired faster than bullet trains. mach 10 7,00MPH also the plane would get really hot
@@weedass23 Yes, it got hot, which is why it was made of titanium and the skin was designed to expand as it heated up. I think I heard that the skin would glow at times.
@@StrikitRich if they make another plane similar to this and it sometimes glows I will be angry if they don't name it the Black Phoenix.
Reidan007 uh huh, I'm sure you did. Mach 1 is 700mph, these planes went Mach 3. Also there's no point in even talking about bullet trains. Bullet trains can go 130mph; literally any jet plane is faster than that. Why lie in a UA-cam comment?
Edit: 130mph was for the original model, my bad. Current models can reach 180mph. Still easily beat by any modern aircraft.
Yokolokosmoko great job patchy boy I hope the diesel treats you well
I just discovered ur channel and I love this dude and how you’re able to appreciate America’s military powers even though you live in Estonia. Glad we’re allies buddy
Ikr? Very personable. “Acts” properly on Qs & being surprised of neat things. Probably time for me to start a GFM acct to bring Artur here & send him to Hollywood. Capice? 😎👍
They're a NATO ally.
The black bird was the epitome of I’m not touching you.
Tell that to the MiG-25 Foxbat and the MiG-31 Foxhound and get back to me. They both escorted the Blackbird away from Soviet airspace.
@@nationalistcanuck7800
Lol. Yes, the MiG-31 has escorted Blackbird, thanks to it's far longer range and more advanced R-33 missiles. You'd be an idiot to try and stick around and challenge those. So I'll give you that. But the MiG-25 and it's R-40's? No. Also, can you link the story about MiG-25's escorting Blackbird? Because I've never read or heard of that one..
Either way, the MiG-25 and it's R-40's wouldn't have been able to catch the SR-71.. First off, the R-40 had a short range, compared to the 120 km range of the R-33's that had just been put into service a couple years before MiG-31's escorted the Blackbird in 1986. Also, the R-40's more outdated seeker could be defeated by the Blackbird's Electronic Countermeasures.
Blackbird was designed to maintain Mach 3.2 - 3.3 for up to 90 minutes at a time. While MiG-25 couldn't maintain speeds like that for more than a few minutes, or it's engines would literally start consuming themselves. Meaning, that the MiG-25 could never get close enough to lock with the R-40 because the Blackbird would just steadily outpace it and increase the gap even further.
Which was the problem with SAM sites over Korea and the Soviet Union at the time. By the time the missiles were able to get up to full speed and altitude, the Blackbird had already travelled so far, already having been travelling at Mach 3.2, that it was well outside their range by then. Which is why it was fired at so many times without a single shoot down.
The Soviet pilot who defected and stole a MiG-25, Viktor Belenko, who is brought up in this very video, even stated in his biography that MiG-25 pilots were told not to exceed Mach 2.5, and also states that speeds above Mach 2.8 could not be maintained safely. Nor, could any kind of missile launch happen above Mach 2.8.. When he brings up the story of the pilots who flew at Mach 3.2 over Israel, he heavily maintains that the engines had been severely damaged and effectively destroyed after just a few minutes sustaining those speeds, and that the pilots had been very lucky to make it back to the ground alive.
So, again, the MiG-25 and it's armament at the time, could not catch an SR-71. As was stated in this video, the only real threat at the time came from the MiG-31 with it's new R-33's, and the development of more advanced SAM's by the Soviets. MiG-31 was still not as fast, nor could it climb as high as SR-71, but, thanks to the R-33's, it no longer needed to. Either way, the planes themselves could not touch SR-71 in pure sophistication and capability.
@@DarkTranqz I never said the Foxbats escorted the Blackbirds away from Soviet airspace, I said they CHASED them away from Soviet airspace. Chasing them and escorting them are not the same thing.
Nationalist Canuck I read your comment and you said that they both escorted.
@@nationalistcanuck7800 you said escorted
There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment.
It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet.
I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury.
Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace.
We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: "November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground."
Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios.
Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed." Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground."
And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn.
Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: "Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground."
I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: "Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money."
For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, "Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one."
It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.
For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there.
MrMahn21 , wow, impressive! My tax dollars. I wonder whats out there now! It’s gotta be mind boggling. Peace, Phil
Thank you for leaving this comment and making me smile, I really don't smile much anymore.
yes so much this. I've got an audio of the 2 best stories on my youtube. LA speed story is the best
ua-cam.com/video/LiVAEkyYvC0/v-deo.html
I just told somebody this story today.
The Mach is a unit used to represent how much faster a vehicle is going over the speed of sound, which is roughly 1200 km/h. So, Mach 3.2 is 3.2 times faster than the speed of sound.
The reason they use Mach numbers rather than mpg or kmph is because the speed of sound is different at different altitudes
Wrong.. Mach 1 = speed of sound at sea level 767 mph or 667 kmh mach 3.2 = 2454.4 mph.
@@davevernon4993 good for you.
@@davevernon4993 767 mph is not 667 kmh, 767 mph is 1234 kmh which can be rounded to 1200 so Sage is right.
@@Tooobuhz18 Maybe I'm underthinking this, but what you said would create a reason NOT to use mach numbers. Mach is an exact number and will never change. You need that. You can't have your standard changing based on conditions.
The LA speed story is great. I was lucky enough when I was a kid my dad pulled me out of school at Offutt air base ( former SAC HQ back then) to watch the blackbird come in on the farewell tour. Great day.
Artur: "Premiers in 15 minutes."
Arnold: "I'll be back."
Love your videos. Let me give you some more info I've read of in
acclaimed books on this ahead-of-it's-time aircraft.
Mach 3 = 3 times the speed of sound or 3,675 kph / 2,272 mph at sea
level. The speed of sound is lower higher up as air density goes down.
The SR-71 was built with some stealth tech to take advantage of new
radar computing power.
But the stealth tech of the day was not good enough yet to make the
plane appear invisible on radar as they do today. They just wanted to
make radar reflections off the airframe weaker. Speed would not be
enough since missiles with solid fuel rocket motors were already
exceeding mach 3. So they came up with another plan.
Sophisticated computer electronics in the plane would detect a
radar signal striking it, examine the radar pulse and then send out a
modified reflection signal back to the enemy radar that is more powerful
than the real weakened-by-stealth-tech reflected radar pulse.
This fake return radar signal that the enemy would detect instead of
the real reflection signal would be modified and timed to make the plane
appear on enemy radar miles away from it's actual position. This is
why they say the plane has been fired upon by missiles 1000 times over
it operational career with no planes lost.
In fact, you can read of the overflights during the old
Israeli-Egypt war when it was claimed the USA had flown 2 spy planes
over the country the previous day. In truth we only flew one SR-71 over
to take photos. The second detected plane was the fake reflection.
If you want to go along for the ride and see what a real mission in
a Blackbird was actually like, then enjoy:
theaviationist.com/2013/09/01/declassified-sr-71-mix/
One of my biggest aviation thrills was to visit an outdoor aircraft
display at former Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, California, USA and
actually TOUCH one of the mysterious SR-71s, one of thew retired craft
being on display there. (They ARE real!). Most of my family on my
mother's side is from that area.
The Blackbird is sitting right next to the road, but many more cool
aircraft to observe:
virtualglobetrotting.com/map/castle-air-museum/view/google/
They are all retired now, but who knows what newer birds the USA
has hidden away in locked hangars today?
Peace, all.
UA-cam videos: 1) The Terminator Theme (1984) Live Cover
2) Arnold Pranks Fans as the Terminator...for Charity
14:09 That was the fastest someone understood how ramjets work in principle, in my experience.
The thing about using pencils in space is that when they break you end up with splinters and graphite in the air, not something you want in a closed air system. Therefore, space pens were worth it.
Thank you for making this point.
Yeah, that's why they used mechanical pencils.
Joshua Sager Those require gravity.
Space pens!
Joshua Sager that doesn’t solve the size .07 broken graphite pieces floating around and into/onto filters or surfaces that potentially could be electrical in nature & if I remember graphite is a hell of a conductor. And to echo William they too require gravity.
The genius of Kelly Johnson... Top speed is still classified.
That's because he's from Michigan.
FYI, he's also behind the U-2.
@@travelinman70 and the F-117 which all were tested at Area 51.
I was in E. Texas and heard a highly compressed quadruple sonic boom that lasted barely over a second. So...somewhere between mach 4 and 5. This was in the early 80's, so unless they have something else? Aurora? ( My understanding was Aurora was the name of a project NOT the plane). The sr71 was retired shortly after. This one was moving fast S. toward Nicaragua.
Mach 1 is the speed of sound so Mach 2 is x2 the speed of sound and so on.
Also I think you should check out amphibious assault ships
Aren't ships already amphibious XD
The sound of sound depends on your altitude. It’s fasest at sea level, and drops as you climb.
@@courtney5796 Thank you..You answered the actual question Artur asked.
ZGODS/CyberShadow8809 No, amphibious means it can go on both land and water, not just water.
Yep, around 760mph.
You should look up a few things. 1. The cone on the SR-71 was designed to move in and out not just for bypassing the compressor fans of the engine. They were also designed to move in and out to change the shock wave of the sonic boom entering the engine to prevent a flame out at such high speeds. 2. The F-15 eagle was the first plane to launch a missile to shoot down a satellite moving at 18,000 miles/hour. It was successful.
So Mach 3 means that they’re traveling 3 times the speed of sound. Mach = Speed of Sound
Which is 2,301 mph or 3,703 kmh.
Is that at seal level haha
Bob Brown yes actually.
Atmospheric pressure does have an influence on the speed of sound. The higher you are the less pressure you have. Speed of sound drops, lift drops, drag is reduced and oxygen levels drop the higher you go.
Did Germans come up with the word Mach?
My dad was one of the mechanics for the SR-71. The storied he has told me are so legendary!!!
American pen vs Soviet pencil in the space race: The pencil was NOT a good solution. Tiny bits of graphite from the pencil would break free while writing and get in the Soviet electrical systems which caused problems. There is a channel "Curious Droid" that has an excellent documentary of these writing instruments.
The Fischer space pen wasn’t created under contract by the us government tho. It was privately created and then gifted to NASA
@@jacobpegher1744 I'm confused. what does the time of creation have to do with Duvaren's post on the problems with the soviet pencil?
@@jacobpegher1744 How right you are! Rare known fact.
@@davidmiller9485 Have you watched the Curious Droid episode?
And powdered things in air and a small spark BOOOOOM
Just for kicks, you should react to the LA speed story. You'll love it.
Dude I love that story and go hawks
🤘😎👍
My dad has a story from when he was stationed at ft fucker, listening to whatever ATC it was (I don’t recall off top of my head), he had heard someone call up requesting permission to pass through controlled airspace to 80,000 ft. Tower told them they can go ahead and try if they could get up that high, short wile later they came back stating they where “descending” to 80,000.
@Matthew That story has been floating around the internet for years, and did you mean 'Ft. Rucker? Lmao
KumaBean well shit, my bad, didn’t even realize I fat fingered
My grandfather was one of the engineer that designed the engine in the Blackbird.
Your grandfather worked on the J58!? That's awesome
My dad was a chief engineer for C l johnson. WW2 and Korea. His engineering expertice saved the planet from ozone distruction if left unchecked. Er2 Nasa manager. I miss him. I met his people including his bosses and coworkers. I also was Reg Blackwells prayer partner. Met his friends at a SR71 Symposium. I miss them and those days. God Bless you.
ROBIONE uhhh let me guess!! Uhhhhhhhhh 5!
My grandfather was also an engineer on the blackbird
COOL
I’ve heard stories of blackbird pilots that said they would watch the sun rise in the west and set in the east.
How fast is the blackbird?
Murica: YES
*Hold my beer
Scramjets go MACH 10 that is 7,000 MPH
*laughs in democracy*
The true speed is still classified. However, it set an all-time speed record once when it flew across the U.S. Another SR-71 set an absolute speed record of 3,529.6 kilometers per hour (2,193.2 miles per hour), approximately Mach 3.3. As the fastest jet aircraft in the world, the SR-71 has an impressive collection of records and a history of service. On September 1, 1974, Major James Sullivan and his backseater, Major Noel F. Widdifield, set a speed record in SR-71A serial no. 64-17972, flying from New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes and 56 seconds, for an average speed of 1,806.96 mph. Less than two weeks later, the same airplane made a long-distance sprint from London to Los Angeles in record time.
LA speed check is a good story to hear.
Check out SR-71 and the L.A. Speed story! AWESOME you will love it
YES!
I love that story!
Mine is the SR-71 had to move out of the way of Concorde and the pilot of the SR-71 looked over and saw everyone sitting comfortable in their lounge wear and sipping cocktails while the SR-71 pilot was sitting uncomfortably in his pressure suit eating from a tube
I was looking to see if anyone mentions it before I did!
Great story! Also the SR-71 Buzzing the Tower story is good too.
Remember..."unofficially" the plane didn't go into Soviet AirSpace...unofficially.
Don't you mean "officially"? Because otherwise that sentence doesn't make sense.
that would mean that officially it went into soviet airspace, what you meant to say was the officially it didn't go into soviet airspace
I have a story of a teacher who i had in high school who was a air force veteran. He had many stories of flying deep into soviet territory and how they tried to intercept him.
Ok...fine. I am not an native english speaker, okay! Yeah...I guess two negatives there huh? Good catch guys.
I appreciate you continuing to make and post this type of content, You have a great sense of humor as well. These review/analysis videos are awesome. Cheers to our allied Estonians, and cheers to you Artur. - from Newfoundland,Canada! I also just realized this video is from over a year ago lol
My grandma was in the CIA when all this was happening during the Cold War. I've heard some crazy stories from her God rest her soul.
@Scott Chasteen if they did they should have used it to make something better than the MiG since then haha
You still have to watch “L.A. speed story” it’s a story from a sr71 blackbird pilot.
It’s such a great and funny story
Do a youtube search for "The SR-71 "Buzzing the tower" story you probably never heard before". You won't be disappointed.
Yessss he has to react to that
SR-71 tower buzz and the L.A. Speed Check are my favorite Blackbird stories.
I heard about it from the pilot himself. It was during the 1989 invasion of Panama when we removed Manuel Noriega from power
One of my college professors was a U2 pilot, when he got the word that Russian fighter were coming up and when he saw them way down below, he would do a slow 360 turn and when he was back on course he would see the Russian planes tumbling out of the sky due to lack of oxygen for their jet engines.
Er, the U2 also had a jet engine......
Finally someone who is anti-communist and hates Russia, I support this man, I’m from Ukraine, also don’t like the Russians.
JulDoesStuff I’m also Ukrainian but I live in America
SLAVA UKRAINI
the only thing good about communism is that we get amazing memes
@@zayannajam6691 Only communisam I like is their guns
*The Russians invited you to their sh*ty union*
*accept* *accept*
*two days later*
BLAYT DIMITRI OUR UNION DEAD
"Is that a nuclear explosion next to infantry?" - You should look up the test where 5 volunteers stood directly below an atomic detonation at 18K feet.
6EQUJ5 Wait till he finds out about the Davy crockett
Far from any radioactive particles, Square/Cube law reduced radiation to one millionth. That died decades later from.... Smoking?
I mean... it's a fast way to send your family almost half a million dollars...
The problem in premieres is that there are no good comments to look at :/
And it just lags the video.
And can't skip the cup segment
FYI- There are roughly 27 civilian SR-71's in the USA. Most of them decommissioned and then converted for civilian and light duty commercial use. It was a group purchase for the lot, and we all share a community airstrip where our backyards meet up with the airstrip which is for efficiency sake. They're nice for show, but owning one requires a lot of $$$ for upkeep. Also, grandma complains and says it's too bumpy of a ride and she often has trouble putting her eyeliner on until we get to altitude ( looks like she scribbles it on when she becomes impatient. lol ). She prefers the gyrocopter.
"Do [the FBI, CIA, Military, etc.] work together or are they rivals?"
Yes, they essentially do the same basic job (protect America). However, each has a specialization so to speak. On the basic level, FBI is nation-wide law enforcement (Federal Bureau of Investigations), CIA is responsible for "what we know" (Central Intelligence Agency), and military is largely combative defense of America. This is excessively basic, there a hell of a lot of departments each that covers some specific purpose, and yes they overlap. They do cooperate, but often they might compete with each other to motivate doing jobs better.
Love the videos, keep up the good work.
Also FBI is in charge of counterfeiting and terrorists while CIA is mostly working for the President and oversees
Lol I can relate
FBI yep so can i
Actually the secret service is in charge of counterfeiting cases. Seems odd, but it’s true.
FBI is mainly Federal Police (extreme oversimplification of what they do but it gets the base idea across) under the DOJ (Department of Justice). Other DOJ agencies would be ATF, DEA, BOP, COPS (yes that is actually an acronym for a DOJ Agency), etc... CIA is the intelligence agency that works outside of the US, NSA is an intelligence agency that works within the US. The CIA is it's own department, while the NSA is under the DHS (Department of Homeland Security). The Military is under the DOD (Department of Defense) along with agencies like NCIS & CID. Yes they all work together....yes they all bitch about jurisdiction as that means funding......
"Yay, Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ..I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing!"
(Sign over the entrance to the old SR-71 operating base Kadena, Japan).
F-117 NIGHTHAWK is the og stealth fighter. Like to let Artur see.
The. Have blue. Its older brother. And half its size almost.its what thw 117 came from
I WAS ABOUT TO COMMENT BOUT NIGHTHAWK
F22 , am i a joke to you
@@leoacert2865 the NIGHTHAWK is older
@@Micky_D_B i know that
I love it. Your right. When put to a task you just do it. My Co. told me and a buddy to go find a sprinkler system for our parade grounds. We did. We pulled it out of the yard of the base commanders house in the middle of the night!
The question now is: what do we have that's better? Because as my grandfather always said "the government won't tell you about one thing, until it's been replaced by something better."
The first blackbird I saw was in a museum in Huntsville Alabama in the early 90's. The plaque hailed it as cutting edge technology and "the best there is"... But even as a kid I was thinking "If it's cutting edge? Why's it in a museum?"
well spy planes aren't really as necessary when you have satellites.
There's really no need for an expensive high altitude, high speed reconnaissance aircraft anymore now that satellites and UAV's have taken over that role.
my father says the same thing
For the SR-71's purpose...it was said in the video. Drones and Satellites.
The entire military budget for the USA in 2019 was 3.1% of the Gross Domestic Product.
Be an organ and marrow donor ASAP and adopt and donate to bed nets
Why would anyone dislike the video, it's just an Estonian lad looking at some cool tech
Estonian Chad* ;D
People dislike just to dislike
Addryen Lara I’m disliking your comment. 😂 jk
They are Russian.
Raymond Gill XD
The SR-71 was the last US military aircraft built completely without the use of C.A.D. or computer aided design. Slide rulers and calculators. Makes it even more incredible.
You know you’re riding the line of what’s physically possible when at the END OF ITS SERVICE LIFE you send two of your planes to NASA for them to study them.
Yeah Im saying nasa use that tech To make space travel affordable for all
SpaceX you too
6:04 “all of the spying is done by the CIA”. Well that’s kinda their job. We love you Artur, don’t change.
Never count out the NSA XD they spy without anyone knowing how much nor where their eyes are
The CIA does everything outside the US, the NSA does everything inside the US. At least they are supposed to stay within those boundaries.
There was a great demonstration by a SR-71 at the Paris Air Show one year. Once in the air, it demonstrated the phenomenal power of it's 2 engines by doing a low level flyby over the audience, flying by on only one engine at about a 60 degree sideway turn towards the audience. It was pretty cool to see and was on UA-cam at one time but I can't find the footage anymore.
A plane that should be on everyone's Christmas list.
They also used a shell company to get the titanium from Russia 😂
Lol crap. I just seen this comment after i wrote the same thing. Good stuff
Well Russia was the largest supplier of titanium at the time so that makes sense.
No they didn't get it from Russia. They got it from the Soviet Union.
Rij Roh?
They didnt use A shell company, they used aLOT of them. Like 12 or 15, if I recall correctly.
When you were talking about the different ways soldiers do things it reminded me of when my dad told me about how in WWI or WWII Australian troops had to retreat from their trenches but it was impossible to do so while undetected. The soldiers then linked buckets on string connected to the triggers of their guns and put enough water to set the gun off periodically, tricking the enemy soldiers allowing them to escape. Imagine how those enemy soldiers would have reacted when the water ran out and they came to the trench to find it completely abandoned
We bought the titanium for the SR-71 from the Soviet Union, through a chain of shell companies, because the US has very few natural deposits of it. Hilarious.
It's okay they bought their uranium from us :p
@@clintlarvenz2570 thanks Hillary
Hahaha! That was way before Hillary. Pick up a history book before you make a stupid comment. Or did you learn all of your history from Confederate statues? 😀😀😀
@@RugNug She signed off on a sale of uranium, who cares who did it first
Odd, considering that titanium is the 7th most abundant element on Earth. Now the refining process, that is the limited part.
When they detected a missile fired at them, they accelerated. They sometimes reached Mach 3.4 to 3.5. They often saw an explosion behind them which, since it had stopped in the air, immediately appeared to implode like a movie run backward.
The plane was limited to cruising at Mach 3.2 because higher speeds rapidly pushed the skin temperatures up too high even for titanium.
I know it's already been recommended but you need to watch or listen to the SR-71 L.A. Speed Check. It's a good funny story about the SR-71.
Skimmed the comments to see if anyone mentioned this or else I would. The video he reacted to just does no justice to how amazing this plane is
One of the best plane stories I ever heard. He definitely needs to react to it
He also tells a great story about a time he was request to buzz a tower in Germany, they got semi-lost in fog, almost hit the trees, and gave a general (iirc) the show of a lifetime.
Yes! Hilarious story
I live by the March Airfield museum and the main hanger is 80% filled with a decommissioned SR-71 Blackbird and stuff like the camera pod and fight suit and a replacement ejector seat.
As a certified A&P aircraft mechanic, we covered the SR-71 in my technical training. The thing was designed to be a supersonic flyer, which meant that when it was sitting on the ground, it was always leaking oil. Once it surpassed Mach 1, the entire frame would seal off the leaks, but that meant there had to be quite a bit of oil just to make up for what was lost before then.
That’s what aerial refueling is for, also i think the fuel was used for cooling not oil.
Fuel, not oil. I think you work at a A&P grocery store.
@@Mgl1206 it was the fuel. Fun fact about that fuel: it had to be specially designed for the SR-71. It also was not flammable. The pilots would put their cigars out in it before flights. The plane literally uses a fuel that doesn't burn.
JP-7 And indeed it does burn under the right conditions.
@@bransonwalter5588they actually used the fuel as engine coolant before injecting it into the engine to do that it would be hot enough to burn
I got to see a sr71 land at Wright and Paterson airforce base when I was a kid along with the flying wing on the ground. It was a awsome sight. I'll never forget it
I love Arthur's enthusiasm, It really makes my day sometimes. Makes me just wanna spread kindness! totally gonna buy a mug, forget how to let him know though.
I’ve read many books about the SR-71, and, from what I’ve read, the fastest I’ve seen the Blackbird recorded at was Mach 3.45 before it had to throttle back to just Mach 3.2 or run out of fuel too soon. No one knows it’s true top speed because it would just keep accelerating until they had to throttle back or run out of fuel.
I do wonder what it’s been replaced with.
I mean truthfully they were replaced by satellites, they provide "real" time Intel. And if I remember correctly, they theoretically had no maximum speed, they would just accelerate themselves apart.
The problem with going faster wasn't fuel as the plane actually got more fuel efficient the faster it went. The problem was temperature and external forces on the plane. As the plane heated up the properties of the metal changed and eventually it couldn't hold together. In the video it said one of them "disintegrated around the pilot" and that's why. The pressures were so high that it couldn't hold together. After every mission they had to inspect the whole thing and replace parts, hence the enormous maintenance budget.
"Mach" is the speed of sound, about 700 miles per hour or 1,126 km per hour.
that depends on the altitude
@@hofadry1073 Correct, I believe the measure I gave was at sea level.
and the speed of sound is 600mph
Mach 1 is the speed of sound= 767.269 mph/1234.8kph.
Mach 3.2 is 2455.261 mph/3951.36kph
@@marksmess136 This depends on altitude! as i have said in my previous comment
My great grandpa who passed two years ago was one of the pilots for the SR-71 during the Cold War. My family has his Mach 3 Club plaque on the wall and I have a picture of him and his plane on my wall. It’s the pride of my family. He was one of only 85 people to ever fly one. His name was Jack Kennon, and he is my namesake.
I know I'm late but I met him before he passed. He was doing a presentation on the SR-71 and I had a talk with him about it.
"where those Infantry Men next to a Nuclear explosion" Yes! react to
Atomic Veterans
Yes. They were battlefield, small-yield, nuclear artillery. Because why not? And because if we didn't Russia would (and did, I'm pretty sure).
You should learn about the b-52 stratusfortress
It’s actually pretty cool, it has a pretty awesome history
Ah the BUFF. Love those big bastards.
skinnypete1982 I’ve been inside of one, the look of the outside of the airframe looks small, but on the inside it’s huge
@@wtgames3264 I worked on B-52G's in the early 80's when I first joined the Air Force. There is no way you could call the aircrew cabin huge. The only place you could stand up in it was on the ladder going from the lower deck to the upper deck. And most of the space in the cabin was filled with electronics, making it a very cramped area to work and fly in.
dwgale01 im saying the surface area is huge, in my opinion it was
Or the B-1 bone would be another good bomber
2:15 I believe that was from a test for the Davey Crockett which was a recoiless rifle that shot miniature nukes up to 3km.
Thats a terrorfying recoilless rifle. That thing the jeep mounded launcher that even tanks are scared of
Kyle Oien tanks
I think anything would be scared of it
I know this was posted months ago but I found you yesterday and you’re so genuinely exciting to watch. You gained a fan for life man. Keep it up👍
2:16 That wasn't just a nuclear explosion next to US infantrymen. They were there to go see if troops could fight near the detonation.
when they retired the last 4 they broke air speed records on their way to retirement!.
Now do the Soviet MiG-25 and MiG-31, both have set speed records except they were designed for *GASP!* combat.
The sr71 was then and is now the fastest plane ever created
@@nationalistcanuck7800 yeah But that's why they were slower
Because THEY HAD STUFF TO SHOOT INSIDE THEM
THIS GUY HAD CAMS OF MANY KINDS
MUCH LIGHTER
so Yeah
Also Does your mig use RAMJET TECHNOLOGY?
didn't think so
Nationalist Canuck salty
@@scarbacon2102 yeah but my comment probably stopped him
The A12 was lighter and faster but we'll never know the specs as it was only operated by the CIA
@Lord Quin Not even the deep web tho. Spend 5 minutes searching on google and you can find accounts from people who saw it on radar and whatnot saying that it went way faster than that.
Since the blackbird would heat up so much from the friction of passing by air, it caused the titanium to expand. So much so that they built it so that it would leak fuel while cold on purpose because when it gets hot the panel gaps in the fuselage would seal.
America from American point of view: 'If we have the money, we will attempt it!'
Secret time? We make our own money and have wats called a fiat system. That means our money has value because we say it has vaule 😎😎 ‘merica 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Very Well summed up
Even if America does not have the money they will attempt it...
OriginalTharios
While people like you cry about it, others fix it. Get with the program.
More like: “... we will attempt it if not we will make more money”
Have you heard about the SR-72 coming out? It’s insane.
Yeah supposedly it’s only a “design proposition”.
But come on it’s probably already made, if they made the sr-71 in the 70s...........
Can’t see why they’d need it we have sattalites and other abilities I can’t see the need for a highflying plane like this anymore
I swear the us has portals to other planets and we just get ready for interplanetary warfare the us DONT NEED ALL THIS SHI
It is supposed to fly at Mach 6
@@kills456 the only thing that I could think of would be the arrival speed for the pictures.
Aegis combat system would be a cool reaction since its one of the only things keeping the US navy safe
o dont worry, navy has a few secrets of it's own ;)
Anonymous Alexander well we only know what they have if they tell us so you never know
I've seen one in person on the ground and its incredible. Love it.
18:52 those dots in the exhaust are called "shock diamonds" caused by the exhaust coming out at supersonic speeds. The more diamonds you see, the faster it's coming out
Going to repost this story here for anyone that hasn't seen it (somehow). Awesome story about the SR-71 from Brian Schul's book Sled Driver : Flying the World's Fastest Jet.
"There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment.
It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet.
I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury.
Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace.
We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: "November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground."
Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios.
Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed." Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground."
And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn.
Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: "Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground."
I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: "Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money."
For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, "Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one."
It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.
For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there."
I just freaking love that story
Hopefully Artur doesn't read this, cause then there'd be no reason for him to react to it in video form
I enjoyed that thoroughly. Thank you. : )
It would have been funny (albeit highly unrealistic) if after that last traffic, the space shuttle just happened to be launching that day and chimed in......"Los Angeles Center, Atlantis here, can you give us a ground speed check?" "Atlantis..........I show you at 15,148 knots." "Appreciate that center, we're showing closer to 15,641 (18 thousand mph!)"
just becuase im not seeing any comments about it
1 mach is the speed of sound at ground level. so mach 3 would be three times the speed of sound
Mach 1 is about the speed of sound Mach 2 is roughly twice the speed of sound etc
It’s not exact it’s about
@@steezy853 correct, i posted this as well as a science site that goes into humidity, temp and other conditions that can change the speed at which "mach" speed occurs. Interesting subject.
Actually to be correct, your Mach number is a RATIO of your aircraft's speed to the LOCAL (where you are right now) speed of sound. The LOCAL speed of sound varies as the square root of the absolute temperature, so it is possible for an aircraft flying at an indicated speed of say, Mach 1.1 to be travelling SLOWER than another aircraft flying at Mach 1.0 !!! it depends upon the temperature of the air around each aircraft, Mach number you are flying at is a RATIO NOT a speed.
@@martinjones12 idk man im just a dude at likes fast things
for the rivalry question between agencies, there is friendly rivalry from what I hear, but state agencies usually get stonewalled by the feds. I was a bounty hunter for 5 years - when one of my targets would be captured by a federal agency, they refuse to talk about or provide a chain of custody paper to release me from financial liability.
My Estonian friend you want to talk about Future Weapons this is the same plane I think the X-Men's use
No. They got the imaginary civilian passenger version ;-) www.timcroshaw.com/project/x-men-first-class/
@@Doggeslife yeah, everybody sat where the fuel was supposed to be. Never really made sense to me.
We already have future weapons in the US, CAG uses infrared goggles that can see through multiple walls
I remember them complaining... On the runway, fuel would leak out of the wings all over the ground. The plane had to get "up to speed" and altitude in order to warm the metal and seal the fuel tanks leaks. Oh, the problems of titanium planes.
Yep, that's why they fueled them on the ground right before take off. Also the engines were so good that the faster the plane went the more efficient they were. Awesome plane...
1:22 this is especially funny because the Russians built these planes solely to catch the U2, but by the time they finished them, we had replaced them with faster planes
6:10 it’s kinda like the rivalry between the army and the navy, it’s like sibling rivalry, they are always competing with each other, but they still will work together
8:35 you don’t need a lot of spy planes, more than a handful would be overkill
I've seen one of these up close in person. This thing is HUGE for a jet
Soviets: "Ha, we have the fastest Interceptor ever built! Take that US."
US: "Ok, fine. You can have your little Interceptor. But you want to know what we have?"
Soviets: "Wha-"
*Blackbird go whoosh*
2 things that will never cease to amaze me, landing on the moon in 69 with the computing power of a normal calculator, and the sr71. America was really on some innovation steroids back then
Even more so today. We just don't hear about all the wild weapons and technologies as everything is even more confidential today, even in the computer age. Funny thing is, all the crazy systems they have now won't be truly revealed till 30-40 years from now... And by that time they have something completely different in their hands. Pretty wild to think about
@@JustinSmith24 there are several rumored successors to the SR-71, but of course nothing is ever confirmed.
If NASA did Apollo-level commitment today, it would have to spend it's current annual budget on single project for a decade. No more space rave and cold war with soviet union, NASA can only dream of budget it used to have.
"I feel like the Pentagon is just pulling money out of an endless pit" it's called debt
I think you can do whatever you want when you’re the most powerful country in the world🥱
@@felipelopez2817 True that. We have more responsibilities to protect, yah protect the entire world, why wouldn't we get the best. We deserve it, we need it, the world needs it.
To my knowledge, most of the US debt is owed to the US.
@@Nyx_2142 well... in a general sense, you’re not wrong lol. There are definite pros & cons to being in this game; financial for sure & economic maybe are definite potential drawbacks. Imo. 🤷♂️
@Ron Ray Correct, they pull it out of the tax payer's pocket.
The SR-71 BLACKBIRD is not a death machine, it is a high-speed high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. The SR-71 holds the all-time fastest, and highest altitude record holder of any aircraft that takes off and lands under its own power. The reconnisance cameras were able to take photos witb its camera, that could see the detail of something as small as a license plate on a car, while at it's normal cruising altitude of 80,000 ft.
The YF-12A (CIA version) may have been armed and had the "hit it's own fired weapon" issue, but I have no data on that. Only a few YF-12A's ever existed.
“Or I just misunderstood everything” lmao 😂
Mach is speed in relation to sound so mach 1 is 1x the speed of sound
Mach is the speed of sound. Mach 3 is three times the speed of sound. Everytime you increase the Mach, it multiplies that number by the speed of sound.
Edit 2: As for the nuke next to soldiers, it was a test to analyze the damage of nuclear fallout on the human body.
Edit 3: Modern missiles would be fully capable of shooting down the Blackbird. They can go to over Mach 4-5 nowadays.
It's more specific to say that the speed of sound is different depending on the altitude. The mach number is in reference to the speed of the object relative to the speed of sound in that medium. So mach 3 at 20,000 ft is slower than mach 3 at 1,000 ft. Still crazy impressive, though.
No mach is a type of engine it has nothing to do with speed. Nice try Google detective.
@@frankiepaul9869 my guy, that's not even remotely accurate. Mach is the ratio of 'the speed of an object in a medium' to 'the speed of sound in that medium.' if an object is going the speed of sound, it's going mach 1. If it's going twice the speed of sound, it's going mach 2. The speed of sound is dependent on the density of the medium (the air), so at much higher altitudes, the speed of sound is actually slightly slower. So many fighter jets can break the sound barrier (exceed mach 1) by simply getting close to mach 1, then drifting to a higher altitude. They don't get any faster, but the speed of sound 'slowed down' relative to them.
As a side note, bullets and meteorites regularly exceed mach 1, and neither of these have engines. It has nothing to do with engine types.
@@UTbrother that's just not true my great great grandad helped develop the first jet engine and the team that developed that engine was based in mach , a small farming community just outside of Kimberley in Australia, thus the name mach. Its history man.
@@frankiepaul9869 setting as how neither Hans von Ohain nor Frank Whittle developed jet engines in Australia, I'm gonna have to call balogna sandwich on that one. The Bell X-1 was the first aircraft to exceed Mach 1, and that was developed in America. The first jet engines were developed in Britain and Germany. In the '30s and '40s. The name Mach is from Austrian physicist Ernst Mach, who died almost twenty years before the first jet engines were invented. You're an entertaining troll 😉.
Glad I found your channel, It's fun to hear your take Haha Cheers from Arkansas USA
SR 71 is no longer in service. It's been out of service more then 10 years now. But we did replace one that can reach mock 6+. Its is unknown. No PICTURS or videos is available at this time.
Mach*
It is the SR72
Aurora
18:00
Most of our fiscal year budget is allocated to defense spending. It's currently at 700 billion for 2020.
So Artur, what's the deal with the big band aid on your neck? Just curious. :}
Also, the video didn't mention that the USA at the time did not even have enough titanium to build a single Blackbird, and that the USSR was the only country in the world where titanium was found and mined in quantities big enough to build these aircraft. So the CIA set up a scheme involving phantom companies to buy the titanium needed for the A12/SR71 programme, from the USSR. Little did the Soviets know... :)
I really enjoy your analysis and ‘personal discovery’. Well done sir.