SR-71 Reunion
06-22-2015, 07:18 AM
#1
Thread Starter
SR-71 Reunion
I wanted to share what was quite a unique experience last week. Over the year's I've gotten to know a few people in the full size SR-71 program. One of those contacts encouraged me to share my project with the full size SR-71 community at their reunion that they have once every 2 years. Last week all the pieces fell into place and I spent a few mornings doing flying demonstrations, and then setup everything in a convention hall where they were having their gathering. My wife and I added some sightseeing on the way out west and made it a bit of a family vacation as well. Overall, almost 4000 miles round trip by road, going from Missouri, to just inside California.
The plane, and for that matter the whole project, was very well received and I was honored to have been welcomed by this group of aviators. The whole experience was a bit surreal, as I met everyone from the retired director of propulsion of NASA's shuttle program, to the president of Lockheed. How many times when we put a person's name on the side of our scale plane do we think we'll actually meet that person? Part way through the event I had the thought of seeing if the crew members would sign the inside of the hatch, like is often done on the full size birds at times. My main contact, took this task up with enthusiasm, and the next thing I know my hatch is covered with just about every crew signature that was there, including several world record holders, and 2, 2 star generals.
Overall a great experience and an interesting reflection that you never quite know which direction your hobby takes you. Pictures are of my wife and I at the flying location, the setup at the convention hall, the hatch with all the signatures, and all the remaining SR-71 and U2 crew members in attendance after the Saturday night banquet.
Thanks,
Lance
The plane, and for that matter the whole project, was very well received and I was honored to have been welcomed by this group of aviators. The whole experience was a bit surreal, as I met everyone from the retired director of propulsion of NASA's shuttle program, to the president of Lockheed. How many times when we put a person's name on the side of our scale plane do we think we'll actually meet that person? Part way through the event I had the thought of seeing if the crew members would sign the inside of the hatch, like is often done on the full size birds at times. My main contact, took this task up with enthusiasm, and the next thing I know my hatch is covered with just about every crew signature that was there, including several world record holders, and 2, 2 star generals.
Overall a great experience and an interesting reflection that you never quite know which direction your hobby takes you. Pictures are of my wife and I at the flying location, the setup at the convention hall, the hatch with all the signatures, and all the remaining SR-71 and U2 crew members in attendance after the Saturday night banquet.
Thanks,
Lance
06-22-2015, 08:50 AM
#5
Thread Starter
They were really taken aback by how realistic it looked, sounded and smelled. It was neat to hear the conversations striking up behind me while flying, that were being triggered by what they were watching. I asked my contact, if they would be offended by some limited aerobatics, and he said no, that they would like it. He was right, because after an inverted pass, I heard conversations between crew and maintenance guys talking about they always thought the planes would do it, but the fuel tanks were not plumbed in a manner to keep the fuel supply up. My wife helped on ground things, and my contact in the program spotted for me. Kind of neat having a real SR-71 back seater, calling out times and spotting, while flying a model SR-71.
The runway was a pretty course grid asphalt, and the airport manager (the retired NASA director) suggested I not taxi back with the drag chute, and instead drop it on the runway, which was just how the full size would do it, which looked great cutting the chute while still rolling out on the center line. When I would do that, I'd hear some of them talking about having to go out and pick them up time and time again, or having to jump up and down on them, to get them packed into the planes in the first place.
It was after the flights that the genuine interest really took off. We as modelers take for granted that we all have to know a little bit about all the systems. For them, they all had their areas of knowledge, but not in the other areas. Aside from Pilots and RSO's, I met people that did electrical, hydraulic, and engines for example. So for them, to see one person, that had to know how all the separate systems work, plus be the pilot too, was surprising. We're all used to regular spectator questions, but these were different. They were very technical in nature, which then would lead to me asking how they would solve a similar problem on the full size bird.
An example, I'm asked about take-off and landing speeds, that leads to cruise and top speeds, that then shifts into 5 pilots starting to compare notes about the top speeds they ever went, as one of them points to the other, thinking he had went the fastest. Every one of them knew exactly the highest mach number they had flown, and I'll put it this way... they were all higher than what's in the books...
As far as the site went, I was apprehensive on a few issues, that turned out to be of no concern. There were 2 cell towers 3/4 of a mile to one end of the runway, and with me flying up to a 1/2 mile out, I was worried about potential radio issues. I had my wife watch on the laptop live for the first flight, and then reviewed the Weatronics logs after the flight and saw the radio towers had no impact at all on signal quality. Secondly, this was the first time flying at 5000 foot elevation, and the Jetcat engines and plane flew just fine. I could feel a little bit of a difference, but nothing of consequence.
As an aside, the airport manager was very familiar with the full sized program as well, and I had to smile to myself, as I'd setup for landing, and I could hear him calling on the frequency radio, doing the calls, such as "Aspen30 entering downwind for runway 24". I later told him that I knew what that call sign was (all full sized SR-71's had a call sign that started with 'Aspen'), and he just grinned, and said that would stir up the desert / conspiracy people that listen in on airport frequencies in the area.
Lance
The runway was a pretty course grid asphalt, and the airport manager (the retired NASA director) suggested I not taxi back with the drag chute, and instead drop it on the runway, which was just how the full size would do it, which looked great cutting the chute while still rolling out on the center line. When I would do that, I'd hear some of them talking about having to go out and pick them up time and time again, or having to jump up and down on them, to get them packed into the planes in the first place.
It was after the flights that the genuine interest really took off. We as modelers take for granted that we all have to know a little bit about all the systems. For them, they all had their areas of knowledge, but not in the other areas. Aside from Pilots and RSO's, I met people that did electrical, hydraulic, and engines for example. So for them, to see one person, that had to know how all the separate systems work, plus be the pilot too, was surprising. We're all used to regular spectator questions, but these were different. They were very technical in nature, which then would lead to me asking how they would solve a similar problem on the full size bird.
An example, I'm asked about take-off and landing speeds, that leads to cruise and top speeds, that then shifts into 5 pilots starting to compare notes about the top speeds they ever went, as one of them points to the other, thinking he had went the fastest. Every one of them knew exactly the highest mach number they had flown, and I'll put it this way... they were all higher than what's in the books...
As far as the site went, I was apprehensive on a few issues, that turned out to be of no concern. There were 2 cell towers 3/4 of a mile to one end of the runway, and with me flying up to a 1/2 mile out, I was worried about potential radio issues. I had my wife watch on the laptop live for the first flight, and then reviewed the Weatronics logs after the flight and saw the radio towers had no impact at all on signal quality. Secondly, this was the first time flying at 5000 foot elevation, and the Jetcat engines and plane flew just fine. I could feel a little bit of a difference, but nothing of consequence.
As an aside, the airport manager was very familiar with the full sized program as well, and I had to smile to myself, as I'd setup for landing, and I could hear him calling on the frequency radio, doing the calls, such as "Aspen30 entering downwind for runway 24". I later told him that I knew what that call sign was (all full sized SR-71's had a call sign that started with 'Aspen'), and he just grinned, and said that would stir up the desert / conspiracy people that listen in on airport frequencies in the area.
Lance
Last edited by Lance Campbell; 06-22-2015 at 08:54 AM.
06-22-2015, 09:05 AM
#7
My Feedback: (57)
They were really taken aback by how realistic it looked, sounded and smelled. It was neat to hear the conversations striking up behind me while flying, that were being triggered by what they were watching. I asked my contact, if they would be offended by some limited aerobatics, and he said no, that they would like it. He was right, because after an inverted pass, I heard conversations between crew and maintenance guys talking about they always thought the planes would do it, but the fuel tanks were not plumbed in a manner to keep the fuel supply up. My wife helped on ground things, and my contact in the program spotted for me. Kind of neat having a real SR-71 back seater, calling out times and spotting, while flying a model SR-71.
The runway was a pretty course grid asphalt, and the airport manager (the retired NASA director) suggested I not taxi back with the drag chute, and instead drop it on the runway, which was just how the full size would do it, which looked great cutting the chute while still rolling out on the center line. When I would do that, I'd hear some of them talking about having to go out and pick them up time and time again, or having to jump up and down on them, to get them packed into the planes in the first place.
It was after the flights that the genuine interest really took off. We as modelers take for granted that we all have to know a little bit about all the systems. For them, they all had their areas of knowledge, but not in the other areas. Aside from Pilots and RSO's, I met people that did electrical, hydraulic, and engines for example. So for them, to see one person, that had to know how all the separate systems work, plus be the pilot too, was surprising. We're all used to regular spectator questions, but these were different. They were very technical in nature, which then would lead to me asking how they would solve a similar problem on the full size bird.
An example, I'm asked about take-off and landing speeds, that leads to cruise and top speeds, that then shifts into 5 pilots starting to compare notes about the top speeds they ever went, as one of them points to the other, thinking he had went the fastest. Every one of them knew exactly the highest mach number they had flown, and I'll put it this way... they were all higher than what's in the books...
As far as the site went, I was apprehensive on a few issues, that turned out to be of no concern. There were 2 cell towers 3/4 of a mile to one end of the runway, and with me flying up to a 1/2 mile out, I was worried about potential radio issues. I had my wife watch on the laptop live for the first flight, and then reviewed the Weatronics logs after the flight and saw the radio towers had no impact at all on signal quality. Secondly, this was the first time flying at 5000 foot elevation, and the Jetcat engines and plane flew just fine. I could feel a little bit of a difference, but nothing of consequence.
As an aside, the airport manager was very familiar with the full sized program as well, and I had to smile to myself, as I'd setup for landing, and I could hear him calling on the frequency radio, doing the calls, such as "Aspen30 entering downwind for runway 24". I later told him that I knew what that call sign was (all full sized SR-71's had a call sign that started with 'Aspen'), and he just grinned, and said that would stir up the desert / conspiracy people that listen in on airport frequencies in the area.
Lance
The runway was a pretty course grid asphalt, and the airport manager (the retired NASA director) suggested I not taxi back with the drag chute, and instead drop it on the runway, which was just how the full size would do it, which looked great cutting the chute while still rolling out on the center line. When I would do that, I'd hear some of them talking about having to go out and pick them up time and time again, or having to jump up and down on them, to get them packed into the planes in the first place.
It was after the flights that the genuine interest really took off. We as modelers take for granted that we all have to know a little bit about all the systems. For them, they all had their areas of knowledge, but not in the other areas. Aside from Pilots and RSO's, I met people that did electrical, hydraulic, and engines for example. So for them, to see one person, that had to know how all the separate systems work, plus be the pilot too, was surprising. We're all used to regular spectator questions, but these were different. They were very technical in nature, which then would lead to me asking how they would solve a similar problem on the full size bird.
An example, I'm asked about take-off and landing speeds, that leads to cruise and top speeds, that then shifts into 5 pilots starting to compare notes about the top speeds they ever went, as one of them points to the other, thinking he had went the fastest. Every one of them knew exactly the highest mach number they had flown, and I'll put it this way... they were all higher than what's in the books...
As far as the site went, I was apprehensive on a few issues, that turned out to be of no concern. There were 2 cell towers 3/4 of a mile to one end of the runway, and with me flying up to a 1/2 mile out, I was worried about potential radio issues. I had my wife watch on the laptop live for the first flight, and then reviewed the Weatronics logs after the flight and saw the radio towers had no impact at all on signal quality. Secondly, this was the first time flying at 5000 foot elevation, and the Jetcat engines and plane flew just fine. I could feel a little bit of a difference, but nothing of consequence.
As an aside, the airport manager was very familiar with the full sized program as well, and I had to smile to myself, as I'd setup for landing, and I could hear him calling on the frequency radio, doing the calls, such as "Aspen30 entering downwind for runway 24". I later told him that I knew what that call sign was (all full sized SR-71's had a call sign that started with 'Aspen'), and he just grinned, and said that would stir up the desert / conspiracy people that listen in on airport frequencies in the area.
Lance
I love the last statement!
06-22-2015, 12:00 PM
#13
Thread Starter
You'll have to bear with me a bit, as I'm being a bit sensitive to pictures of specific people / names, given the nature of the programs.
I have 3 other pictures I can pass along. One is of the mission patches, spanning decades of NASA shuttle flights. These are not copies... they are THE patches that were in the control center where my contact worked at. There was a ceremony at the start of every mission that would entail an astronaut bringing in the patch and placing it at the front of the room. All mission patches had the names of the astronauts in them. It helped give focus that although the room was filled with people doing a great many technical things, that ultimately, they were in charge of 7-8 human lives, and to not ever loose focus of that. Over the decades, these patches would rotate through, and when the next one went up, the old one was taken down, and surprisingly, simply stored in a cardboard box, in a storeroom. When the program came to an abrupt end, these were almost tossed out, when my contact asked if he could have them, and described what he had in mind, which makes for an impressive display of his work, over the years.
The photo of a SR-71 canopy, was from a historical organization that I do not recall the name of unfortunately. I spoke with a couple of people, as we all scratched our heads on where it could have come from, considering all planes have their cockpits intact. One possible source is there were a few SR-71's or A-12, that had accidents. Disposing of these planes, after having been stripped of usable items, was not simple, and a few times they were simply buried. It's hypothetical that something could have been dug up, but that was just speculation.
The last photo, is myself with the helmet and next to, one of the orange David Clark space suits, used by both the U2 and SR-71 crews, and I believe the early Shuttle crews as well. This display was by a gentleman that was a personal collector that enjoys collecting different flight suits, especially those in the U2 and SR-71 programs. He had items from the early days (such as a flight suit and helmet like the one Gary Powers used in the U2) up to when the programs were retired. He was glad to share details with you about the suits and the systems that supported them. It was pretty neat to be able to carefully be 'hands-on' with some of these pieces and see how they really worked. Speaking of Gary Powers, I met a gentleman that was in the program with him and his roommate for a bit. He was one of the few pilots that actually flew operational missions in both the U2 and the SR-71.
Like I said above, it was quite a surreal 4-5 days, with so many names, faces, and stories, that I was privileged to be a part of.
Lance
I have 3 other pictures I can pass along. One is of the mission patches, spanning decades of NASA shuttle flights. These are not copies... they are THE patches that were in the control center where my contact worked at. There was a ceremony at the start of every mission that would entail an astronaut bringing in the patch and placing it at the front of the room. All mission patches had the names of the astronauts in them. It helped give focus that although the room was filled with people doing a great many technical things, that ultimately, they were in charge of 7-8 human lives, and to not ever loose focus of that. Over the decades, these patches would rotate through, and when the next one went up, the old one was taken down, and surprisingly, simply stored in a cardboard box, in a storeroom. When the program came to an abrupt end, these were almost tossed out, when my contact asked if he could have them, and described what he had in mind, which makes for an impressive display of his work, over the years.
The photo of a SR-71 canopy, was from a historical organization that I do not recall the name of unfortunately. I spoke with a couple of people, as we all scratched our heads on where it could have come from, considering all planes have their cockpits intact. One possible source is there were a few SR-71's or A-12, that had accidents. Disposing of these planes, after having been stripped of usable items, was not simple, and a few times they were simply buried. It's hypothetical that something could have been dug up, but that was just speculation.
The last photo, is myself with the helmet and next to, one of the orange David Clark space suits, used by both the U2 and SR-71 crews, and I believe the early Shuttle crews as well. This display was by a gentleman that was a personal collector that enjoys collecting different flight suits, especially those in the U2 and SR-71 programs. He had items from the early days (such as a flight suit and helmet like the one Gary Powers used in the U2) up to when the programs were retired. He was glad to share details with you about the suits and the systems that supported them. It was pretty neat to be able to carefully be 'hands-on' with some of these pieces and see how they really worked. Speaking of Gary Powers, I met a gentleman that was in the program with him and his roommate for a bit. He was one of the few pilots that actually flew operational missions in both the U2 and the SR-71.
Like I said above, it was quite a surreal 4-5 days, with so many names, faces, and stories, that I was privileged to be a part of.
Lance
06-22-2015, 03:46 PM
#18
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This is a truly remarkable recreation of a fabulous chunk of historic aviation pioneering technology and people, Lance. Although I am not a rc jet guy, I hang out here a lot, probably because I was assigned to the 9th SRW at Beale, and worked on the Mission Recorder/Telemetry systems for the Blackbird. It was a completely remarkable assignment, and was the highlight of my time served in the USAF.
Your attendance at that reunion had to be a truly extraordinary event not only for you and your family, but also for the many guys who turned out to see, meet and greet.
I want to echo the comments of others... Your trip, PLUS the creation of the Habu, warrants as much publicity as you can get.
YOUR work and activity is what makes it meaningful for so many.
Thank you for your work, dedication to the Blackbird, and above all, sharing your story here.
My Hat's OFF to you, Sir!
Your attendance at that reunion had to be a truly extraordinary event not only for you and your family, but also for the many guys who turned out to see, meet and greet.
I want to echo the comments of others... Your trip, PLUS the creation of the Habu, warrants as much publicity as you can get.
YOUR work and activity is what makes it meaningful for so many.
Thank you for your work, dedication to the Blackbird, and above all, sharing your story here.
My Hat's OFF to you, Sir!
06-23-2015, 12:19 AM
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I like the bit about stirring up the the conspiracy theorists.
Your post reminded me of a story from Brian Schul, a sr71 pilot, about the sr71 being the king of speed. It is worth a read. http://www.econrates.com/reality/schul.html
T
Your post reminded me of a story from Brian Schul, a sr71 pilot, about the sr71 being the king of speed. It is worth a read. http://www.econrates.com/reality/schul.html
T
06-23-2015, 11:25 AM
#25
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Direct Link to SR-71 story & Libiya mission.
http://www.sidgates.us/HOBBIES/Full%20Scale/SR-71%20Article.htm
My home page and link to SR-71 story.
http://www.sidgates.us/
http://www.sidgates.us/HOBBIES/Full%20Scale/SR-71%20Article.htm
My home page and link to SR-71 story.
http://www.sidgates.us/