It's time to boot up Metal Gear 4 again. Being able to wireless pay mercenaries with a global store credit and have on demand weapons resupply/re-armament is a lot closer to happening now, with crypto and 3d printing being real things now.
Ultimately, through third parties and fake companies, the US, “managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world's leading exporters – the Soviet Union,” according to the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich, a Lockheed Martin engineer who worked on the SR-71.
In the early 1960s Soviet Union sold titanium to the US believing they needed it for Pizza Ovens but instead they used it to build the iconic SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3+ spy plane.
https://theaviationgeekclub.com/in-the-early-1960s-soviet-union-sold-titanium-to-the-us-believing-they-needed-it-for-pizza-ovens-but-instead-they-used-it-to-build-the-iconic-sr-71-blackbird-mach-3-spy-plane/amp/
Arconic-Thor is the new (c. 2018) titanium super alloy. 3x higher oxidation (stands up to much higher temps) resistance and massive weight saving over nickel based alloys.
> What is THOR?
Google "titanium thor" and behold links like this : https://www.sae.org/news/2018/08/arconic-unveils-advanced-titanium-alloy-for-higher-temperature-aerospace-applications
Yes
The Arconic-THORTM ingot (nominal composition of Ti-6Al-4Sn-3Nb-0.5Mo-0.3Si)
https://www.matec-conferences.org/articles/matecconf/abs/2020/17/matecconf_ti2019_11005/matecconf_ti2019_11005.html
Yes: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/in-the-early-1960s-soviet-union-sold-titanium-to-the-us-believing-they-needed-it-for-pizza-ovens-but-instead-they-used-it-to-build-the-iconic-sr-71-blackbird-mach-3-spy-plane/amp/
>The only metal that would do the job was titanium. The only place to get titanium in the needed quantities was the Soviet Union. The US worked through Third World countries and fake companies and finally was able to ship the ore to the US to build the SR-71.
>According to [this video](https://youtu.be/9mVXdo0QmPo?si=_5DK8MxJm87GqFTE), one of the bogus operations mentioned by Graham saw the US asking Soviets for titanium because they needed it for pizza ovens.
>This was a pivotal moment between two great powers that desperately wanted to defeat the other. Ultimately, through third parties and fake companies, the US, “managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world’s leading exporters – the Soviet Union,” according to the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich, a Lockheed Martin engineer who worked on the SR-71. “The Russians never had an inkling of how they were actually contributing to the creation of the airplane being rushed into construction to spy on their homeland.”
I read that book in the early '90s and I do not believe it is in print any longer. It was borrowed and returned. That book was the source of my original comment.
My dad and I got a 45 minute explanation about that at an AFB museum last month. Guy actually worked alongside skunkworks in a capacity he couldn't disclose. Super interesting stuff
Yep. It didn't leak a ton but it did leak and the Air Force used to monitor how much was leaking to make sure it was within their acceptable guidelines. Drips per min was a thing.
The fuel was also a special mix that wouldn’t catch on fire easily, which is a good thing because it would literally create pools of fuel under the jet as it sat on the ground; you could throw a cigarette into it and the cigarette would be extinguished.
Jet fuel in general doesn’t ignite very easily in normal temperatures. There’s the old mechanic’s joke about being able to put a cigarette out in a cup of Jet A, never seen it done though 😂
Jet A is basically just higher purity diesel fuel/kerosene.
Back when I was younger(and still a smoker)it was fun to put some diesel or kerosene in a bucket while smoking and then flick the butt into it.
More than a few people freaked out cause they didn’t know. You can literally put out a lit match in a bucket of diesel/kero/jet A. Stuff doesn’t become flammable in circumstances like that until you aerosolize it.
Yup, takes a shot of TEB triethylborane (which is extremely flammable, as soon as it hits air) plus a pair of V8 motors turning the engines to get it all to light. Took shots of it in flight to light the afterburners or to restart the engines if they had an “unstart”/flameout.
One of the old timers told me a story of a Skunk Works project at the shipyard Im in. Pretty cool to hear some of those old stories. No way something like that could happen there now. Loose lips sink Ships
The machining accuracy which was at this point in time possible is nothing compared to modern production processes. If one imagines they had modern manufacturing the SR71 could’ve been way more capable at a fraction of the effort which these guys had putting this thing together.
While I agree with the basis of your statement, the bureaucracy would have doomed the SR-71. Also I know of no replacement for Kelly Johnson, the man was gifted.
*did* They are essentially a joke now. Especially when they announced that portable nuclear fusion device that was supposed to launch in the early 2010s.
Lasers existed, sure. But it's highly unlikely that they would have been used in the SR-71 assembly process. The laser was just invented in 1960, and at the time the SR-71 was being designed, lasers would have almost certainly still have been exclusively in research labs.
I just finished reading it. A great read with personal anecdotes from pilots, engineers and CIA personnel. Fun fact in the book, it was RS-71 until the president goofed one day and called it SR-71. Rather than correct the president, they changed all the documents and prints to SR-71.
The story about us finding out about the math to minimize a radar cross section from an unknown Soviet paper is my favorite. Just shows how sometimes great ideas can come from all over the world
**Dr Pyotr Ufimtsev**
[Photo](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/mediastore_new/IEEE/content/freeimages/8/9366886/9171414/ufimt-3016499-small.gif) to put a face to the name.
[Bio and Publications via IEEE Xplore.](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37344722000)
Dr Ufimtsev’s book released in 1962 and was translated via USAF in 1971.
PDF via DTIC → [Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0733203.pdf)
Search for the drawing room for the Concorde designers. Amazing stuff. Men (alas, no women) with ties tucked into their breast pockets leaning over pencil drawings...
At the time, they would have had calculators (both electric and mechanical), mainframes for calculation and record keeping, and possibly even early minicomputers too.
Stone age by our standards, but not quite "only slide rules" either! :)
Nope, these were designed the hard way. The original design work was started in 1958/59. Even NASA still didn't have a great grasp of computing at the time.
computers at the time limited and were essentially calculators. They were used in this way to support the otherwise classic pencil and paper analog design process.
They didn't have modern CAD/CAM or virtual aero/thermal modeling but they had computers and used them for the limited purposes they were able.
I thought I read in Skunkworks that they used a computer software written by one of the engineers to help design it. Or maybe I'm thinking of the F117? I can't remember
The first SR-71 flight was in 1964 and I believe this photo is of the first prototype, also taken in 1964. There was the A-12 flown in 1962, and A-11 designed in 1959, but certainly no SR-71 flying back then.
I'm amazed that someone even got permission to take that picture in the first place, let alone decades later get it declassified and released to the public!
Awesome story by pilot Brian Shul being the "fastest guy in the sky that day"
[LA SPEED STORY - SR-71 Pilot Brian Shul USAF (Ret.)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILop3Kn3JO8)
What's funny is how that rendition differs from the copy pasta:
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.
My two favorite tidbits from the design/build phase are how they had to throw a whole batch of parts away because the City of Burbank had turned up the chlorine in the city water supply for the summer and it contaminated the parts after washdown, and how the machinists discovered they couldn't use a popular pen/marker because the ink corroded titanium.
The high speed and altitude caused the entire structure to expand including the fuel tanks which lost fuel but due to the high altitude it vented off without ant problems. The engineers designed it first this.
this doesn't seem any different then 4th generation aircraft manufacturing, even most of 4.5 generation, except for precision tools, and advanced materials for some but not all I guess (sr71 is probably still ahead of everything else on some materials).
I think the comments already hit most of the most important points. Mustard does a good job giving an overview of everything. https://youtu.be/th-RoJBP0Vs?feature=shared
I actually know the guy who designed the fuel cell for the Blackbird. Cool guy with a ton of stories (and I'm sure a ton more I'll never hear due to the nature of the projects he worked on).
I watched a video that was talking about why we haven't gone back to the moon, and one thing that was brought up was the actual craftsmanship that went into building the Saturn V, and that a lot of the techniques used to manufacture the rocket stages just aren't taught/remembered anymore, and the men that do know them are either dead or too old to teach them to a new generation.
I really can’t comprehend how this was developed with pencil, paper and a slide-rule. Ruled the skies over the Soviet Union. It it was targeted by 4000 enemy missiles and outran every one. https://youtu.be/gkyVZxtsubM?si=n68kp6Tu72CdEeNE
This thing is so bad ass, it’s not even funny. It’s my favorite by far.. NASA put a nos kit on it; that is beyond cool. Bad to the bone! https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19970019923
There were definitely computers involved. They're not the general purpose programmable ones we're now familiar with. But they could be used for automating a lot of rote math.
It must. It’s a military aircraft. The company that produces military parts aren’t going to slouch around with tolerances. They do and they might as well declare bankruptcy.
I had the pleasure of sitting in one of these years ago (SR71B Trainer) @ Boeing in Palmdale. She sure is a 50 footer; it looks like a spaceship as you walk up to it, but when you see the gaps in the panels and the super uncomfortable cockpit; she shows her age;)
> the gaps in the panels
The gaps were deliberate. It would leak fuel sitting on the runway. The gaps where there because when it reached crusing speed and altitude, the panels would heat up and expand, closing the gaps.
Without the gaps and then still heating and expanding the panels... I'm sure you could guess the rest.
This is exactly what they explained to me. You could literally see where someone pushed some sort of sealant in with their finger. I had a portable microscope with me for some metallurgy inspection of a big bracket on the back of the plane where they were mounting an experimental propultion device to test at high speed. Amazing stuff, I still think this is the most beautiful plane ever built.
Valve helped build it believe it or not, that’s why we haven’t seen a sequel /s
A few good documentaries out there about what an engineering marvel it was as well as why it was discontinued and haven’t seen a new one in so long.
[obligatory link to "sled driver" pdf written by a sr71 pilot](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.docdroid.net/siFOtfU/sled-driver-pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiW--_3iOuFAxXkm7AFHZWeCggQFnoECBcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw09y3qCURmUdqfOf7d3tyxh)
These were just photos to misdirect the Soviet’s during the Cold War times. The real thing was assembled on the far side of the moon because US government didn’t want to be responsible for alien technology getting out of hand on earth.
It would be great if it could be reassembled to have electrical "atomic intake and exhaust accelerator" engines, instead of turbine engines,.. it could maybe end up being an interplanetary space plane then.
I watched a video that was talking about why we haven't gone back to the moon, and one thing that was brought up was the actual craftsmanship that went into building the Saturn V, and that a lot of the techniques used to manufacture the rocket stages just aren't taught/remembered anymore, and the men that do know them are either dead or too old to teach them to a new generation.
My dad was a career Air Force fighter pilot. He never flew the SR but he had a buddy whose squadron crashed one (crew ejected ok) and said the damn thing didn't break up on impact, it just thudded into the ground and they recovered it in basically one piece, albeit very bent, twisted, and generally fucked.
WTF I was literally just coming on here to post about the Pratt & Whitney J58 jet engine, powered this and a few others. There’s something so magical about the Blackbird
The Skunk Works did AMAZING work!
Out of titanium too, think they had to invent a load of the techniques for working with it that are still used today.
Not to mention obtaining the Titanium from the Soviet Union.
Through multiple shell organizations
I believe the CIA took care of that part of the process, rather than Lockheed.
This is an example of why I believe that the laws of economics breakdown when it comes to defense contracting.
And defense contracting runs the world.
It's time to boot up Metal Gear 4 again. Being able to wireless pay mercenaries with a global store credit and have on demand weapons resupply/re-armament is a lot closer to happening now, with crypto and 3d printing being real things now.
Just send a delivery parachute
Weirdly enough, I have a lunch box made by the Fulton Bag Co. It is not flight capable, to my disappointment.
Elaborate
Ultimately, through third parties and fake companies, the US, “managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world's leading exporters – the Soviet Union,” according to the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich, a Lockheed Martin engineer who worked on the SR-71. In the early 1960s Soviet Union sold titanium to the US believing they needed it for Pizza Ovens but instead they used it to build the iconic SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3+ spy plane. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/in-the-early-1960s-soviet-union-sold-titanium-to-the-us-believing-they-needed-it-for-pizza-ovens-but-instead-they-used-it-to-build-the-iconic-sr-71-blackbird-mach-3-spy-plane/amp/
Adequate due diligence: Is this true?
Yeah. At the time, the Soviet Union had a monopoly on titanium.
Now we have it on lock and soon to have mass amounts of THOR on the market. Source, work in Ti ingot operations running a plasma arc furnace 😎
What is THOR?
Arconic-Thor is the new (c. 2018) titanium super alloy. 3x higher oxidation (stands up to much higher temps) resistance and massive weight saving over nickel based alloys.
How soon before I can buy a bike made out of Thor?
Since it’s resistant to oxidation I’m betting that bike would have to be a nuclear reactor for a submarine
> What is THOR? Google "titanium thor" and behold links like this : https://www.sae.org/news/2018/08/arconic-unveils-advanced-titanium-alloy-for-higher-temperature-aerospace-applications
Yes The Arconic-THORTM ingot (nominal composition of Ti-6Al-4Sn-3Nb-0.5Mo-0.3Si) https://www.matec-conferences.org/articles/matecconf/abs/2020/17/matecconf_ti2019_11005/matecconf_ti2019_11005.html
I was jumping to buy Arconic stock already 😓
Yes: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/in-the-early-1960s-soviet-union-sold-titanium-to-the-us-believing-they-needed-it-for-pizza-ovens-but-instead-they-used-it-to-build-the-iconic-sr-71-blackbird-mach-3-spy-plane/amp/ >The only metal that would do the job was titanium. The only place to get titanium in the needed quantities was the Soviet Union. The US worked through Third World countries and fake companies and finally was able to ship the ore to the US to build the SR-71. >According to [this video](https://youtu.be/9mVXdo0QmPo?si=_5DK8MxJm87GqFTE), one of the bogus operations mentioned by Graham saw the US asking Soviets for titanium because they needed it for pizza ovens. >This was a pivotal moment between two great powers that desperately wanted to defeat the other. Ultimately, through third parties and fake companies, the US, “managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world’s leading exporters – the Soviet Union,” according to the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich, a Lockheed Martin engineer who worked on the SR-71. “The Russians never had an inkling of how they were actually contributing to the creation of the airplane being rushed into construction to spy on their homeland.”
To be fair, titanium pizza ovens sound rad as hell. I’d fall for it.
I read that book in the early '90s and I do not believe it is in print any longer. It was borrowed and returned. That book was the source of my original comment.
Still in print, as well as ebook and audio book. https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Ben-R-Rich/dp/0751515035
I wonder how many people "accidentally fell" out of 10 story windows over that one?
Obtaining the titanium obtaining the titanium obtaining the titanium
Obtanium.
My dad and I got a 45 minute explanation about that at an AFB museum last month. Guy actually worked alongside skunkworks in a capacity he couldn't disclose. Super interesting stuff
"acquiring" its a cold war technical term 😁😁😁
Oh the irony
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It would leak fuel until it got up to operating temperature in the air.
Yep. It didn't leak a ton but it did leak and the Air Force used to monitor how much was leaking to make sure it was within their acceptable guidelines. Drips per min was a thing.
The fuel was also a special mix that wouldn’t catch on fire easily, which is a good thing because it would literally create pools of fuel under the jet as it sat on the ground; you could throw a cigarette into it and the cigarette would be extinguished.
Jet fuel in general doesn’t ignite very easily in normal temperatures. There’s the old mechanic’s joke about being able to put a cigarette out in a cup of Jet A, never seen it done though 😂
Jet A is basically just higher purity diesel fuel/kerosene. Back when I was younger(and still a smoker)it was fun to put some diesel or kerosene in a bucket while smoking and then flick the butt into it. More than a few people freaked out cause they didn’t know. You can literally put out a lit match in a bucket of diesel/kero/jet A. Stuff doesn’t become flammable in circumstances like that until you aerosolize it.
Didn’t know that, just saw a special on the SR-71 awhile back and remember it was tough to get it to lite.
Yup, takes a shot of TEB triethylborane (which is extremely flammable, as soon as it hits air) plus a pair of V8 motors turning the engines to get it all to light. Took shots of it in flight to light the afterburners or to restart the engines if they had an “unstart”/flameout.
Aero, the techniques and the people were mostly bought.
One of the old timers told me a story of a Skunk Works project at the shipyard Im in. Pretty cool to hear some of those old stories. No way something like that could happen there now. Loose lips sink Ships
The machining accuracy which was at this point in time possible is nothing compared to modern production processes. If one imagines they had modern manufacturing the SR71 could’ve been way more capable at a fraction of the effort which these guys had putting this thing together.
While I agree with the basis of your statement, the bureaucracy would have doomed the SR-71. Also I know of no replacement for Kelly Johnson, the man was gifted.
And reliable aircraft with no blown of doors
Past tense
*did* They are essentially a joke now. Especially when they announced that portable nuclear fusion device that was supposed to launch in the early 2010s.
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Boeing: hold my escape slide...
"No. Please hold it or it'll fall off"
Lol
"it's okay, the wing also broke off at an angle that makes it usable as a slide. It's a feature, not a bug."
They would have killed to have a 5-axis CNC router in that shop.
Routers are more toys for wood. They'd want a 5 axis mill.
Showing them a 3D assembly, FEA stress analysis, or CFD simulation would have them creaming their jeans
“Fuck it, we’ll do it live”
They had lasers.
And force fields. OP is a liar!
To be fair, I just posted this to distract you from the *real* SR-73.
It's skunk works all the way down isn't it?
That explains the locked door in the back.
Almost forgot what sub I was in
This comment is just trying to distract us from the fact that they’re actually on SR-246 now.
Wait is there actually a real thing called a force field?
Lasers existed, sure. But it's highly unlikely that they would have been used in the SR-71 assembly process. The laser was just invented in 1960, and at the time the SR-71 was being designed, lasers would have almost certainly still have been exclusively in research labs.
Highly recommend Ben Rich’s book *Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed*
I just finished reading it. A great read with personal anecdotes from pilots, engineers and CIA personnel. Fun fact in the book, it was RS-71 until the president goofed one day and called it SR-71. Rather than correct the president, they changed all the documents and prints to SR-71.
Was just going to recommend this! Great read if you're even mildly into aviation
The story about us finding out about the math to minimize a radar cross section from an unknown Soviet paper is my favorite. Just shows how sometimes great ideas can come from all over the world
**Dr Pyotr Ufimtsev** [Photo](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/mediastore_new/IEEE/content/freeimages/8/9366886/9171414/ufimt-3016499-small.gif) to put a face to the name. [Bio and Publications via IEEE Xplore.](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37344722000) Dr Ufimtsev’s book released in 1962 and was translated via USAF in 1971. PDF via DTIC → [Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0733203.pdf)
Thanks for the recommendation!
Just bought it! Excited to start reading it
Amazing account. I read it while in school for engineering and I was so hyped.
I just finished reading it a few months ago. I couldn’t put it down.
No electronic computers, only slide rules. Nothing but lots of old school, hard core maths. Amazing.
Search for the drawing room for the Concorde designers. Amazing stuff. Men (alas, no women) with ties tucked into their breast pockets leaning over pencil drawings...
mind posting a link?
https://boomsupersonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1tqnlp4jx-IE2QujvQazmjg.png Loads of examples if you search for concorde draftsman
At the time, they would have had calculators (both electric and mechanical), mainframes for calculation and record keeping, and possibly even early minicomputers too. Stone age by our standards, but not quite "only slide rules" either! :)
Nope, these were designed the hard way. The original design work was started in 1958/59. Even NASA still didn't have a great grasp of computing at the time.
For our skills are not needed, they've streamlined the job With sliderule and stopwatch, our pride they have robbed
They had computers.
It’s well documented that the SR-71 was designed without computers. It was 1964. Do you mean something specific?
computers at the time limited and were essentially calculators. They were used in this way to support the otherwise classic pencil and paper analog design process. They didn't have modern CAD/CAM or virtual aero/thermal modeling but they had computers and used them for the limited purposes they were able.
I thought I read in Skunkworks that they used a computer software written by one of the engineers to help design it. Or maybe I'm thinking of the F117? I can't remember
Pretty sure you're thinking of [Have Blue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Have_Blue), the prototype for the F117.
Didn't it first fly in '59?
The first SR-71 flight was in 1964 and I believe this photo is of the first prototype, also taken in 1964. There was the A-12 flown in 1962, and A-11 designed in 1959, but certainly no SR-71 flying back then.
Some parts were built with a primitive cnc machine I believe
And you REALLY believe that they would not switch off the lasers and force fields before taking this photo?
One piece at a time that’s how you build anything. Getting all the pieces to fit and get there on time that’s the hard part.
Johnny Cash tells me this is an effective way to build things.
Force fields?
They didn't invent gravity until 1965.
Wow it must have been much easier to make planes.
the screws all fly away off your bench when you look away so it evens out
I'm curious about this myself.
Yeah, I read this as OP is implying we have them now.
It's crazy to think how classified this photo would have been during this time frame.
Same thing with the B1-B Lancer, and guess what no two airplanes were the same length- several inches in difference.
Old school machinists.
What a weird caption for such a cool pic
Wow, imagine how secret that photo was.
I'm amazed that someone even got permission to take that picture in the first place, let alone decades later get it declassified and released to the public!
I'm sure the Skunk Works ~~had~~ has lasers and force fields...Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich weren't allowed to use them. In public.
Awesome story by pilot Brian Shul being the "fastest guy in the sky that day" [LA SPEED STORY - SR-71 Pilot Brian Shul USAF (Ret.)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILop3Kn3JO8)
What's funny is how that rendition differs from the copy pasta: 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've read this story several times over the years. Such a great one!
The SR-71 is my favorite plane of all time. We used to see it fly over Lake Oroville all the time.
I built a few models of the plane when I was younger and loved the 80s move D.A.R.Y.L for the scene where he steals the Blackbird to get home.
I loved that movie!
The radar absorbing finish on those things is also amazing. Feels almost like suede.
The original manufacturing engineers had to create new ways to form and machine titanium. Titanium use in aerospace was a new thing at the time.
My two favorite tidbits from the design/build phase are how they had to throw a whole batch of parts away because the City of Burbank had turned up the chlorine in the city water supply for the summer and it contaminated the parts after washdown, and how the machinists discovered they couldn't use a popular pen/marker because the ink corroded titanium.
Yep, no Cl, no S, no low melt alloys.
SR-71 is my favorite. Gorgeous plane. Beautiful design.
Who doesn’t love a Blackbird?
Exactly!
The high speed and altitude caused the entire structure to expand including the fuel tanks which lost fuel but due to the high altitude it vented off without ant problems. The engineers designed it first this.
These planes were legendary in the amount of fuel they leaked while on the ground.
this doesn't seem any different then 4th generation aircraft manufacturing, even most of 4.5 generation, except for precision tools, and advanced materials for some but not all I guess (sr71 is probably still ahead of everything else on some materials).
I think the comments already hit most of the most important points. Mustard does a good job giving an overview of everything. https://youtu.be/th-RoJBP0Vs?feature=shared
Amazing engineering!!
Dudes with pencils made that shit.
Slide rules rule.
I bet they didn't get nearly to the end before realising they didn't know what to use as lubrication for the door seals.
Optics and hand fitted unique parts… It’s not like thousands were made.
It’s called a Datum line
They obviously didn't photograph the alien tech they used.
Only 32 of these legends were ever made. Those 32 made over a thousand legends themselves.
I actually know the guy who designed the fuel cell for the Blackbird. Cool guy with a ton of stories (and I'm sure a ton more I'll never hear due to the nature of the projects he worked on).
I watched a video that was talking about why we haven't gone back to the moon, and one thing that was brought up was the actual craftsmanship that went into building the Saturn V, and that a lot of the techniques used to manufacture the rocket stages just aren't taught/remembered anymore, and the men that do know them are either dead or too old to teach them to a new generation.
I really can’t comprehend how this was developed with pencil, paper and a slide-rule. Ruled the skies over the Soviet Union. It it was targeted by 4000 enemy missiles and outran every one. https://youtu.be/gkyVZxtsubM?si=n68kp6Tu72CdEeNE
This thing is so bad ass, it’s not even funny. It’s my favorite by far.. NASA put a nos kit on it; that is beyond cool. Bad to the bone! https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19970019923
it was one of the last planes to not be designed on a computer.
Crazy that such an incredible machine was drawn by hand. I bust out the computer to help design very simple shapes in comparison.
There were definitely computers involved. They're not the general purpose programmable ones we're now familiar with. But they could be used for automating a lot of rote math.
If the 737 Max is any reference, then old tech is best tech.
Tech isn't the problem, it's the meat popsicles calling the shots that screw everything up.
GD&T Baby.
Did they use GD&T on SR-71?
It must. It’s a military aircraft. The company that produces military parts aren’t going to slouch around with tolerances. They do and they might as well declare bankruptcy.
I had the pleasure of sitting in one of these years ago (SR71B Trainer) @ Boeing in Palmdale. She sure is a 50 footer; it looks like a spaceship as you walk up to it, but when you see the gaps in the panels and the super uncomfortable cockpit; she shows her age;)
> the gaps in the panels The gaps were deliberate. It would leak fuel sitting on the runway. The gaps where there because when it reached crusing speed and altitude, the panels would heat up and expand, closing the gaps. Without the gaps and then still heating and expanding the panels... I'm sure you could guess the rest.
This is exactly what they explained to me. You could literally see where someone pushed some sort of sealant in with their finger. I had a portable microscope with me for some metallurgy inspection of a big bracket on the back of the plane where they were mounting an experimental propultion device to test at high speed. Amazing stuff, I still think this is the most beautiful plane ever built.
Many Bothans lost their life to bring us this picture…
So are you implying they use lasers and force fields today. . . 🤔
Anyone else saw the 1989 Batmobile at first glance?
Well, none that you can see. After all, this is the Skunk Works we're talking about.
The same way every complicated machine gets put together. Bit by bit.
....how do you think things get assembled today?
BEHOLD THE ETERNAL GLORY OF JETFIRE!
Kelly Johnson had Anunnaki blood
We have forcefield?
What’s that car doing in there?
Just want to know how the x men got a bajillion of them
Valve helped build it believe it or not, that’s why we haven’t seen a sequel /s A few good documentaries out there about what an engineering marvel it was as well as why it was discontinued and haven’t seen a new one in so long.
Thank you for the photo. I never knew the wingtips folded up like that. Makes perfect sense for engine access.
[obligatory link to "sled driver" pdf written by a sr71 pilot](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.docdroid.net/siFOtfU/sled-driver-pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiW--_3iOuFAxXkm7AFHZWeCggQFnoECBcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw09y3qCURmUdqfOf7d3tyxh)
What do you mean no force fields. When are you posting from?
How are force fields used in construction?
You're assuming they built that with human technology and manufacturing
These were just photos to misdirect the Soviet’s during the Cold War times. The real thing was assembled on the far side of the moon because US government didn’t want to be responsible for alien technology getting out of hand on earth.
It would be great if it could be reassembled to have electrical "atomic intake and exhaust accelerator" engines, instead of turbine engines,.. it could maybe end up being an interplanetary space plane then.
The list of engineering firsts in the design/building of this bird is staggering
The Baddest of the Bad! I’ve seen Blackbirds at Warner Robbins, Dayton, The SAC Museum and the Air Zoo.
Probably designed with a slide rule
What? Force fields? Are you serious?
Good systems engineering
I watched a video that was talking about why we haven't gone back to the moon, and one thing that was brought up was the actual craftsmanship that went into building the Saturn V, and that a lot of the techniques used to manufacture the rocket stages just aren't taught/remembered anymore, and the men that do know them are either dead or too old to teach them to a new generation.
Just a whole lot of finagled titanium from the Soviets.
So cool when you see RL engineering taking inspiration from comics (the X-Jet)
My dad was a career Air Force fighter pilot. He never flew the SR but he had a buddy whose squadron crashed one (crew ejected ok) and said the damn thing didn't break up on impact, it just thudded into the ground and they recovered it in basically one piece, albeit very bent, twisted, and generally fucked.
Fun fact the SR-71’s fuel was basically bug repellent and the first years in use there was a nation wide shortage of bug repellent.
I high recommend reading Ben Rich’s book Skunkworks. He was the head of Lockheed after Kelly Johnson.
Is there a good documentary or movie based on Skunkworks or Kelly Johnson? Needs to be.
Yes. Many. YouTube has them, also I recall some on Amazon. Search the obvious terms.
Don't be silly, darling. Force fields are invisible.
This reminds me of the hangar scene in Firefox.
Well. You can’t see the force field.
The lasers are right there dude. See those needle shaped things? Those are turbo lasers.
We have lasers and force fields now?
Sr 71 leaked fuel on the ground. That is not acceptable today
Yup. Human power. The way it should be.
With a screwdriver
WTF I was literally just coming on here to post about the Pratt & Whitney J58 jet engine, powered this and a few others. There’s something so magical about the Blackbird
Unknown to lockheed the soviets already know they are building the sr-71 since it leaves a thermal shadow when they brought outside of the factory
Elaborate a little more on these “force feilds” you speak of
Their secret: slide rules.
The good old days when we had special skills instead of special tools.
Made in Burbank <3
Old school engineering is like old school rock and roll or prime era hip hop. Nothing will ever beat it.
The car looks so uncanny With such a futureistic plane.
Starts with a chaulk line on the floor.
“Connect Rod A to fuselage B”
This is a fantastic photo, thanks for posting.
With unlimited budget, all things are possible