Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The SR-71 Blackbird is, without a doubt, the most advanced airplane ever built in relation to the technology available at the time. It broke all aviation records, it flew incredible missions, and it became the stuff of legend. Lockheed Martin published its history in this collection of high resolution scans of old photos.

Above:

The SR-71 was a technological marvel. Practically every area of design required new approaches or breakthroughs in technology. To withstand high temperatures generated by friction in the upper atmosphere during sustained Mach 3 flight, the Blackbird required an array of specially developed materials including high temperature fuel, sealants, lubricants, wiring and other components. Ninety-three percent of the Blackbird’s airframe consisted of titanium alloy that allowed the aircraft to operate in a regime where temperatures range from 450 degrees Fahrenheit at its aft midsection to 950 degrees Fahrenheit near the engine exhaust. The cockpit canopy, made of special heat resistant glass, had to withstand surface temperatures as high as 640 degrees Fahrenheit.

Photos and captions courtesy of Lockheed Martin.

The history of the SR-71 in photos

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Two of the leading figures in the U-2 program, the CIA’s Richard Bissell and Lockheed designer Kelly Johnson, had as early as 1955 decided to explore a follow-on reconnaissance aircraft that would seek to remedy the U-2’s unexpected flaw—its easy tracking by Soviet radar.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

On 24 July 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson publicly announced the existence of the classified Lockheed SR-71 program. The first flight of the SR-71 would come on 22 December 1964. Operational aircraft deliveries began in 1966. Throughout its career, the SR-71, unofficially, universally known as Blackbird, remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The A-12 was a radical aircraft, with two large Pratt & Whitney J58 engines mid-mounted on the modified delta wing. Distinctive all-moving vertical tail surfaces were placed above the engine nacelles and canted inward. It was to be able to fly at Mach 3.2 at altitudes approaching 100,000 feet over a range of 3,800 miles. The most unusual element of the design was the elongated nose with its speedboat-like chines that gave it the appearance of a hooded cobra.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

A-12, YF-12, and the initial SR-71 aircraft were built by Lockheed in Burbank, California, and then transported overland to Area 51 for flight testing.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The official first flight for CIA and USAF representatives took place on 30 April 1962, and went off smoothly. Eight days later, Lockheed test pilot Lou Schalk took the A-12 supersonic for the first time.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The A-12, which was operated by the CIA, was produced from 1962 to 1964. I performed operational missions from 1963 until 1968. The aircraft was the precursor to the twin-seat YF-12 prototype interceptor and the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. The A-12’s final mission was flown in May 1968. The program and aircraft retired that June.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The initial SR-71s were built in Burbank, California. The first prototype (Serial Number 61-7950) was delivered to Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, California, on 29 October 1964.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Ben Rich, who would later be in charge of the design team for the F-117 Nighthawk, led a small six-man engineering team through the endless iterations to arrive at the final configuration of the A-12. They worked on a door stretched between two desks, laying out the information that was derived from the intensive wind-tunnel tests. From the data, the shape of the A-12 was derived.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The YF-12A was a proposed interceptor version of the A-12, which was first flown 7 August 1963. It was similar in most respects to the A-12.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The YF-12 was developed as a high-altitude Mach 3 interceptor for defense against supersonic bombers. The YF-12A was the forerunner of the highly sophisticated SR-71 high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The ramjet-powered D-21 drone was developed as a high-speed, unmanned strategic reconnaissance platform. Originally designed to be air-launched from atop specially equipped A-12s, designated M-21, they were later modified for underwing carriage and rocket-assisted launch by B-52 bombers.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

On 24 July 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson publicly announced the existence of the classified Lockheed SR-71 program. First flight of the SR-71 would come on 22 December 1964. Operational aircraft deliveries began in 1966.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The first operational SR-71 was a trainer version known as the SR-71B, which was delivered to Beale AFB, California, on 7 January 1966. The SR-71B had an elevated second cockpit for an instructor pilot.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

SR-71B (Serial Number 17956) celebrated 1,000 missions at Beale AFB, California, in January 1982. The aircraft served under the USAF until the program was initially cancelled in 1990. It was then operated by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, CA from 1991 to 1997 and was used jointly by NASA and Detachment 2 at Edwards AFB when the USAF program was reactivated in 1995. This SR-71 had more flight hours than any other SR-71, 3,967.5 hrs. The last flight of this aircraft was on 19 October 1997 at an airshow at Edwards AFB.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Because they were powered by a uniquely formulated jet fuel, SR-71 Blackbirds were refueled exclusively by KC-135Q tankers.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The J58 engine, developed in the 1950s by Pratt & Whitney, was designed to operate for extended speeds of Mach 3+ and at altitudes of more than 80,000 feet. The J58 was the first engine designed to operate for extended periods using its afterburner, and it was the first engine to be flight-qualified at Mach 3 for the Air Force. The SR-71 as well as the YF-12A and most of the A-12s are powered by two J58s.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

SR-71s logged a combined total of 53,490 hours of flight time, of which 11,675 had been spent at Mach 3 plus. They flew 3,551 operational sorties for a total of 17,294 hours, during which more than a thousand surface-to-air missiles had been fired at them. All missed.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The first of three reactivated SR-71s returned to the Air Force after extensive refurbishment on 28 June 1995 as Detachment 2 at Edwards AFB, California. The aircraft were being modified with datalinks when the Air Force program was defunded in October 1997.

Rare photos

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

On 24 July 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson publicly announced the existence of the classified Lockheed SR-71 program. First flight of the SR-71 would come on 22 December 1964. Operational aircraft deliveries began in 1966. Throughout its career, the SR-71, unofficially, universally known as Blackbird, remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. The US Air Force terminated the program in January 1990, closing out a twenty-four year operational career. The Blackbird program was briefly revived in 1997 and a small number of training flights were made, but funding was zeroed out. The program officially ended in 1999.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Unusual shot of SR-71 Blackbird (Air Force serial number 61-7974) with one engine in afterburner and the other either shut down or in mil power at Beale AFB, California, circa 1983. Nicknamed Ichi-Ban, this aircraft was destroyed in an April 1989 accident near the Philippines. Both crewmembers ejected and were rescued unharmed. It was the last Blackbird accident before the aircraft was retired.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Three generations of aircraft developed by the Skunk Works, the Lockheed and Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Projects group in Palmdale, California, are shown in this photo from July 2000. At the top, one of the five full-scale development F-117 Nighthawks (Air Force serial number 79-0782), which was still being flown at at the time, is being towed back to the Air Force test squadron, also located at this site. At the bottom, an SR-71 is towed back to the hangar. This aircraft (Air Force serial number 61-7962) was one of the Blackbirds kept in storage at Palmdale after the fleet was retired. In the middle is the X-35A Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator, which at this point was still about four months away from its first flight.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

The Advanced Tanker-Cargo Aircraft, or ATCA, was first proposed by officials from the US Air Force’s Strategic Air Command in 1967. The competition, originally intended to replace the KC-135 tanker, got underway in the mid 1970s, with a pair of wide-body commercial airliners, the 747 and DC-10, competing for the contract. The 747 prototype was fitted with an aerial refueling boom and a series of dry hook-ups were made with a number of different Air Force aircraft. Here, a crew in an SR-71 (Air Force serial number 61-7955) connects with the 747 while an F-111 crew flies safety chase. The Air Force selected the DC-10 as the ATCA winner and sixty KC-10 Extenders were eventually built.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

A high definition panorama shot of the cockpit.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Lockheed was given the official go-ahead on the A-12 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft on 29 August 1959. The A-12’s design was dominated by the aircraft’s propulsion system, which would give it the power needed to set the world speed and absolute records for its class. The single-seat A-12 was the forerunner of the SR-71. This photo shows the YF-12A, a two-seat interceptor variant for the US Air Force, being built in a cordoned-off section of the facility in Burbank, California.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Business goes on as usual at the front of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena (California) Airport while a crowd gathers on the roof to watch as a US Air Force SR-71 ‘Blackbird’ crew performs a high speed pass in this photo from December 1990. The Burbank Airport was the home of Lockheed Aircraft Company from 1928 until the early 1990s. The Blackbird family (A-12, YF-12, SR-71) was designed at the Burbank facility in the late 1950s/early 1960s and the aircraft were built there, so this flyby was a bit of a homecoming. Final assembly of the SR-71s took place at the Lockheed facility in Palmdale, California. The Blackbirds were operationally assigned to the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, California.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Thirty-five years ago, three US Air Force aircrews, flying the Mach 3+ SR-71 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, set three absolute world aviation records—the maximum performance by any type of aircraft—in two days. Capt. Al Joersz (pilot, right) and Maj. George Morgan (Reconnaissance Systems Operator, left) set the Absolute Speed record over Edwards AFB, California, on 28 July 1976. The officially recorded average speed of the two legs was 2,193.16 mph. The record still stands in 2011. Blackbird 958 is now on display at the Museum of Aviation at Warner Robins, Georgia.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Thirty-five years ago, three US Air Force aircrews, flying the Mach 3+ SR-71 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, set three absolute world aviation records—the maximum performance by any type of aircraft—in two days. This image, taken from the high-speed cameras at Edwards AFB, California, shows Capt. Al Joersz (pilot) and Maj. George Morgan (RSO) setting the Absolute Speed record on 28 July 1976.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

This image shows Blackbird 958 on landing after setting one of its two absolute aviation records on 27 and 28 July 1976. To set the Absolute Speed record, Capt. Al Joersz (pilot) and Maj. George Morgan (RSO) had to cross the electronic timing gate, travel the twenty-five meter course, cross a second timing gate, turn around, and repeat the course from the opposite end to negate the effect of winds. The officially recorded average speed of the two legs was 2,193.16 mph.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

This image shows Blackbird 958 on landing after setting one of its two absolute aviation records on 27 and 28 July 1976. Maj. Pat Bledsoe (pilot) and Maj. John Fuller (RSO) set the Speed Over a Closed Course record on a 1,000 km (621 mile) circuit. Bledsoe completed the course at a speed of 2,092.29 mph breaking a record set by a Soviet pilot in 1967.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

1988 photo shows SR-71 with TR-1 in the background. The TR-1, a larger and considerably upgraded version of the original U-2, was later redisignated as U-2R.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

SR-71 in flight over California.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

Blackbird and X-35B parked together in a hangar at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The X-35B now resides at the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport.

Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

After a forty-one year career, Lockheed Martin photographer Denny Lombard will retire on 30 January 2011. Since moving behind the camera in 1982, he created some of the most enduring images in aviation history. The Spotlight photo this week is Denny’s seven all-time favorite images. Here’s number four. This image from 23 May 1995 captures the pure power of an SR-71 ‘Blackbird’ high altitude reconnaissance aircraft on takeoff.


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via Gizmodo
Rare photos of the SR-71 Blackbird show its amazing history

This Ball Machine Fakes Perpetual Motion As Long As the Sun Is Shining

This Ball Machine Fakes Perpetual Motion As Long As the Sun Is Shining

Why is watching a marble snake its way around a twisty maze so mesmerizing? Maybe it’s an allegory on the human condition as we all try to make our way through the world? What’s for certain is that they make for great desk toys, and as long as your office gets a bit of sun during the day, this one could—at least in theory—keep running until our local star eventually burns out.

This Ball Machine Fakes Perpetual Motion As Long As the Sun Is Shining

The $35 kit is all-assembly-required too, letting you finally put all of your Ikea skills to good use as you wire up the electric motor and solar cell, sync the gears, and basically procrastinate on that Excel sheet you should have really finished hours ago. Just don’t go gifting it to some kid and claiming it’s a legit science project because they’ll be heartbroken when they eventually learn they didn’t solve perpetual motion. [ThinkGeek]


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via Gizmodo
This Ball Machine Fakes Perpetual Motion As Long As the Sun Is Shining

Loading large flat files into MySQL with LOAD DATA INFILE and pt-fifo-split

It’s easy to load multiple rows of data from a file into a MySQL table with a single LOAD DATA INFILE command, but if the file is over a certain size you may want to load it in multiple chunks. When I have a file with millions of lines I typically use pt-fifo-split to separate the file into multiple chunks in order to limit the size of each transaction. Unlike most tools in Percona Toolkit, pt-fifo-split doesn’t actually interact with your database, but this is one MySQL use case where it’s very helpful.
Here’s a quick example in bash that illustrates how I can take a large tab-delimited file, break it into multiple 100,000 line chunks, and load the chunks into a table:
“`
FLAT_FILE="/tmp/big_file.txt"
FIFO_PATH="${FLAT_FILE}.fifo"
LOAD_FILE="${FLAT_FILE}.load"
CHUNK_SIZE=100000
Split the file
pt-fifo-split –force –lines ${CHUNK_SIZE} ${FLAT_FILE} –fifo ${FIFO_PATH} &
Sleep 10 seconds to assure ${FIFO_PATH} exists before entering loop
sleep 10
while [ -e ${FIFO_PATH} ]
do
# Write chunk to disk
cat ${FIFO_PATH} > ${LOAD_FILE}
# Load chunk into table
mysql –database=test \
–show-warnings \
-vve "load data infile ‘${LOAD_FILE}’ into table my_table;"
done
“`
YMMV, so you should do some testing to determine the optimal chunk size based on your schema, storage engine, replication setup, complexity of LOAD DATA INFILE statement, etc.
via Planet MySQL
Loading large flat files into MySQL with LOAD DATA INFILE and pt-fifo-split

Bake Muffins with Beautifully Domed Tops by Adding a Little More Flour

Bake Muffins with Beautifully Domed Tops by Adding a Little More Flour

Homemade muffins and cupcakes are usually a far cry from professionally baked ones, coming out flatter and more compact. If you really care about that domed, picture-perfect top, though, Food52 offers a few tricks.

Consulting expert baker Zoe Nathan, the Food52 folks tested a few different approaches, from adding more flour (increasing from 1 1/4 cups to 1 2/3 cups), starting at a higher temperature, using the oven’s convention setting, and leaving the original chocolate chunk muffins recipe as is.

The extra flour muffin was the only one that came out rounded. However, it also ended up tasting more flour-y and dryer, more like a purchased muffin than homemade. Despite the sinking of the muffin in the original recipe, however, staff preferred that version.

A floury muffin taste might not be worth the mounded look, but if you want to try it, Food52 suggests going with lighter and airier recipes (without heavy add-ins) and making the batter as light as possible by using a folding motion.

Check out their post for even more tips and details.

How to Make Domed Muffins | Food52


via Lifehacker
Bake Muffins with Beautifully Domed Tops by Adding a Little More Flour

My Most Useful MySQL Performance Tools

Here is a list of my most useful tools that I use when doing performance audits.Please note, I am writing this mainly for myself, because I sometimes end up trying to find them in my other blog post about mastering indexing and this may save me time as well as a few changes that have happened over the years.Regular Slow Log Reportpt-query-digest slow_query.log  >slow.txtAll Queries (that use indexes) for a certain tablept-query-digest slow_query.log  –filter ‘($event->{fingerprint} =~ m/^(!?select|update|delete)/) &&  ($event->{arg} =~ m/mytable /) ‘ –limit=100% >mytable.txtLongest Running Select Queries – most painful queries with response time % right next to them.pt-query-digest slow_query.log  –filter ‘($event->{fingerprint} =~ m/^(!?select)/)’  –order-by=Query_time:max > select.txtFilter the slow log for all Select queries for a certain tablept-query-digest slow_query.log  –filter ‘($event->{fingerprint} =~ m/^(!?select)/) &&  ($event->{arg} =~ m/mytable /) ‘ –no-report –output=slowlog >mytable.logFind unused indexes from pre-filtered table’s logs  pt-index-usage mytable.log –host 127.0.0.1 –tables mytable >mytable_indexes.txt Find Top 15 Largest tables on a server (use with caution) – (from http://ift.tt/Ifs2kC)—————————–delimiter $$create procedure dba.largest()beginSELECT CONCAT(TABLE_SCHEMA, ‘.’, TABLE_NAME) AS TABLE_NAME,CONCAT(ROUND(TABLE_ROWS / 1000000, 2), ‘M’) ROWS,CONCAT(ROUND(DATA_LENGTH / ( 1024 * 1024 * 1024 ), 2), ‘G’) DATA,CONCAT(ROUND(INDEX_LENGTH / ( 1024 * 1024 * 1024 ), 2), ‘G’) IDX,CONCAT(ROUND(( DATA_LENGTH + INDEX_LENGTH ) / ( 1024 * 1024 * 1024 ), 2), ‘G’) TOTAL_SIZE,ROUND(INDEX_LENGTH / DATA_LENGTH, 2) IDXFRACFROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLESORDER BY DATA_LENGTH + INDEX_LENGTH DESCLIMIT 15;end $$delimiter ;———————————ToDo:Run filtered log against database with the percona toolkit log player to test index improvements.
via Planet MySQL
My Most Useful MySQL Performance Tools

2014: The Year in Photos, September-December

A protester holds her hands up in front of a police car in Ferguson, Missouri, on November 25, 2014 during demonstrations a day after violent protests and looting following the grand jury decision in the fatal shooting of a 18-year-old black teenager Michael Brown. Protest marches sprang up in cities across the US on November 25, amid a tense security operation in Ferguson, the Missouri town at the center of the country’s latest racially-charged stand-off.





via In Focus
2014: The Year in Photos, September-December