Spy Planes

PASM aka pima air space museum is great! The SR there is an absolute beauty (aren't they all) and as mentioned above, there are a ton of other planes to see. Should you actually visit Tucson for that place, you've got to check out the boneyard as well as the Titan Missile museum. Just make sure you go when it cools down a bit...

 

Here are some pics of the one at Duxford and Pima. As well as the U2 at Duxford
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The two Smithsonian Air & Space museums have a U2 and a SR-71, if you're in the mood for a road trip to DC.

The new(ish) Udvar Hazy annex is definitely worth a visit. Not quite yet full, it houses some terrific aircraft and interesting side exhibits about Langley's work in not-too-distant Alexandria VA

 

The SAC museum in Ashford, Nebraska (30 minutes SW of Omaha) is amazing............

 

Uro...... Not sure how far you are from Pensacola/Ft Walton Beach but the Air Force Armament museum at Eglin AFB has an SR on display outside. It's a one of a kind "longtail" that had some type of radar in a rear boom. There are a bunch of other neat things at that museum. The real stand out though is the Naval Flight Museum at Pensacola, it's really something.

Forget that stuff.... They have an F-107..... Bet most people here aren't familiar

 

I see that in the picture. I am surprised. How did they get that? Is there even more than one? Or I guess that is Pima, that explains it.

Looks like a very good museum just from what you can see in the pictures.

 

I'm not sure where you're located.......There is an SR71 on static display at the Air Museum at the Bay of Alabama....not far from Gulf Shores. We walked thru the display about 4 years ago....That bird is HUGE. They also have a mothballed B52 outside. Also a big ship. In the bay is the USS Alabama....WW2 Battleship. Well worth the drive to see it all.


Geffen

 

After reading the wiki page a little bit more, I just realized how many of these planes have been lost (if the list is correct)! 12 out of 32, have ceased to be.

I consider myself VERY fortunate to have at least seen one in flight over Edwards AFB during a show many years ago. Takeoff and a fly-by. Will never forget that.

 

Not a great average.

Seen flybys at Reno Air Races. When they stroke the AB I have never seen an exhaust flame or whatever you call it that long before or since.

 

Agree on both counts!

 

Great book on the Sr-71, here.

While others my age had pictures of F40's on their wall, I had the SR71 everywhere. Finally got to Museum of Flight last year to see it and was well worth the trip to see it and Concorde, amongst the other great aircraft there.
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Sorry I missed your visit. The Seattle MOF is really a great place to visit.

 

60-6930 is less than 10 minutes from my house. You don't even have to pay to get in the museum to see it.

 

Only if you''re a "regular" person. That excludes me for sure.

I built a scaled SR-71 model rocket once and fired it off, if that counts. i can share pics with you. It wasn't designed for the "E" size rocket motor I stuffed into it. Broke up in the first 30 meters with an out of control rocket motor buzzing around the neighborhood. No casualties tho, except for my ego and some burnt asphalt.

 

John- If it makes you feel any better, the first German scientists working on liquid propellant rockets used a hay pile behind which to hide because of the frequency of failures. These failures frequently resulted in large pieces flying all over the place.

Brian- Of the three F-107As developed from the F-100B/YF-107 and eventually unsuccesssfully competing with the Thud, one was irreparably damaged in a crash and you know where the other two are

Taz
Terry phillips

 

lol. Werner is definately not my first name.

 

According to the sources that were cited for this comment on the wiki, it says: "The SR-71 line was in service from 1964 to 1998, with 12 of the 32 aircraft being destroyed in accidents, though none were lost to enemy action.[2][3]"

2. Landis and Jenkins 2005, pp. 100-101.
3. Pace 2004, pp. 126-127.

Look what I found here. I actually haven't gone through this yet and I don't know how much of this is true but this accounts for 20 planes that were actually lost with stories and articles... Could be possible that a few were restored.

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/srloss~1.htm
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/loss_2.htm
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/loss_3.htm
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/loss_4.htm

EDIT: Just scanned the pages quickly and I see the differential 8 in question are variants: A12, YF-12, M-21.

 

Lackland AFB in San Antonio has a rather lonely SR71 sitting out front....

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SR-71_Blackbird_on_display.jpg

 

Surprised nobody has mentioned the Blackbird Airpark in Palmdale - A-12, SR-71, U-2, F-117 and a D-21 drone. The Skunkworks are closeby as well where another F-117 is mounted out front on display as well.
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Anything is possible from a PR perspective and I'm sure only a handful of people really know if they were true accidents or not. With a plane like this, it leaves that door open for speculation.

 

I had a book on the SR-71 at one point and the history of each aircraft major damage event and loss is well documented, with tail numbers and complete description of what happened at each incident. Moreover, if somebody woulda shot one down they would have been bragging to high heaven that they did...

Remember that the SR-71 was designed in the late 1950's and accomplished what it did using that level of technology. For instance, if you look at the JT-11 engine, there is a cable and pulley arrangement that looks like something right off the back of your 1955 outboard runabout steering system that runs around the engine to operate the a valve (I think that is what it did, but I don't recall exactly). Anyway, it is not surprising considering the technology and what it was doing that they lost more than a few. Also, since the fleet was small, you didn't get as much learning from high time aircraft that you could put into the following ones and avoid problems in the other aircraft.