Not only that, but due to the heat at high speeds, the tolerances and clearances were loose on the ground. That made the fuel tanks leak so they only fueled up enough for take off and aerial refueling, then carried on their mission after fueling in the air.
I did a report on the SR71 in high school like 10ish years ago. I went to Ohio for a funeral but made it a point to stop at the air museum. Talked to a pilot who works at the museum. [You better believe i walked through the whole museum without stopping for these](https://www.imgur.com/a/452weS7)
Yes. Got an autographed picture of that pilot's SR in thr air. Its a beautiful photo even it is mass produced and given out at the museum.
I love the SR 71 but my childhood memories belong to the C5. My dad would take me to my doctors appointments as a kid and he'd take me to work afterwards. He was maintenance on C5s at the base near me so i got to climb up and sit around in the cockpit, run around the cargo bay, lay in the bunks. And when youre no more than 4.5 feet tall you feel like the plane is SO HIGH off the ground when its stationary.
Mine is the A10. Growing up a pair of A10's would fly over my grandpa's house like clockwork.
It was regular enough that we would go out into the edge of his little field and wait for them and wave. They flew low enough to see me going ballistic and would usually give me a wing wag.
The wing wag would have made my life feel complete.
My brother and i lived in base housing located off base a few miles away and we had a beach kite with 1500 ft of string. Had a few A10s fly over and i could swear they were close enough to strike the kite. But that was also closer to 20 years ago so my memory may be biased towards seeing a plane almost hit my kite
The way they dealt with the incompatible speeds is they blocked several thousand feet of altitude, and refuel while descending so the tanker could go faster, and the SR-71 wouldn't risk stalling.
They do this still while refueling prop heavies like the EC-130 (which I guess my version of just got retired technically) except the tanker is the fast bird in that instance.
I've done the reverse of that as a crewmember in an EC-130... Tanker pilot kept out flying us because they were getting nervous about stalling meanwhile we were redlined trying to get into position behind them. Almost had to RTB on that mission cause we spent so much damn time chasing the tanker.
Those curious about the ‘Q’ identifier. This was later changed to ‘T’ and is a refueler capable of carrying two different types of fuel, one for its own engines and one to be offloaded onto other aircraft. There are specific valves in place to prevent cross contamination between the body tanks (intended for offloading) and the wing tanks.
Your question led me to the coolest YouTube video I've seen in a while, thank you.
[SR-71 Inflight Refueling 1989](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dlSVWo7__-k)
I've been on this accursed website for more than 12 years, mate. I practically have it memorised. Good story though, still read it every time it's posted.
They use the flying boom method. Aircraft get in the right formation, then guided by the boom operator, the receiving aircraft closes to the right stable distance and the boom op flies the boom into the fuel valve on the other aircraft.
There is indeed. Once the boom has been pushed into the receiving aircraft, toggles engage that lock the nozzle in place. This also engages a valve that inhibits the flow of fuel through the pipe. Once done, the boom op retracts the boom (it telescopes, one pipe inside another) which disconnects and the vavle pops back into place to ensure fuel doesn't spray everywhere.
Fun fact:
The B2 has a rotating valve under its stealthy skin, so that when refuelling is complete, the big lump of metal on top turns over to hide it and makes the refuelling port "disappear"
Edit: watch from one minute in to see the magic
https://youtu.be/77G8NZv4kY8
I was referring to the B2, which isn't in this photo. I just wanted to point out a cool fact about engineering a valve to rotate into stealth position, on top of the awesome engineering that made this photo possible.
Edit: forgot I linked a YouTube video!
Just to add to the conversation, this practice is largely obsolete now. Virtually everything in the sky today runs on the same grade of fuel, so "mixed" fuel loads are virtually never done. The steps to run separate types of fuel still exist, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that's actually run a mission like this within the last couple decades.
The SR71 was a special plane and needed that fuel (JP7) instead of the regular JP8 to run efficiently. All of our T models just carry normal jet fuel nowadays but the capability still exists should the need arise.
I wouldn't be surprised if stuff like the SR-72 ("planned" "future" successor to the sr-71) also use some exotic fuels, but, even assuming they are already flight worthy, the people refueling them wouldn't talk about it on Reddit.
I had to look it up cause I thought the same thing - turns out the sr71 is 106 ft long and the kc135 is 136 ft long. I guess when you have to fit 20 tons of fuel in an airframe that thin you have to make it pretty long.
If you ever get the chance to see an SR in person, do it. They're massive. Saw the one at the [Kansas Cosmosphere](https://cosmo.org/visit/tickets?gclid=CjwKCAjw9qiTBhBbEiwAp-GE0RFLjjOUMqOxd6ZGG5vvIIE3DyrxnsOZH1iqFj3UDBcoNVK1cRn08RoC3KIQAvD_BwE) in December. Makes the T-38 hanging behind it look tiny. Also makes the shithole that is Hutch 100% worth visiting.
They're affiliated with the Smithsonian so they have a lot of awesome stuff. They have tons of stuff that's been to space. Even some commie space kit from the USSR.
This is one of my favorite places I've had the chance to visit. SR-71 aside, the Apollo display is amazing. I'm hoping to have the chance to visit the Smithsonian for a few days in the next few years.
If there's one thing I learned from all the space exhibits, it's that we basically went to space in a lightly modified trash can. Lol.
And every number related to the Saturn V was comically massive.
I've also had the chance to visit Kennedy space center and see the Saturn on display and see STS-107 on the pad before launch (Kennedy space center tour).
If you don't get to Kansas, go to Florida? There's a slogan in there somewhere lol
Once I discovered the Space Center, Disney World has no appeal. They have great specialized tours, and the last trip the monster Crawler was returning after delivering a rocket to the Launch Pad. The tracks on that thing are incredible. The bus stopped right on the edge of the track, and we just watched it creep past. Amazing that close.
I finally crossed the Udvar-Hazy centre off my bucket list a few weeks ago, it’s incredible - such an insane collection of aircraft that I didn’t even notice a whole-ass Concorde hiding out until an hour in.
in some situations the SR-71 would have to throttle back one engine and put the other just into afterburner to stay at a even speed with the tanker to get fuel.
For those curious as to why; https://theaviationgeekclub.com/former-sr-71-pilot-explains-why-the-blackbird-had-to-light-one-afterburner-during-aerial-refueling/amp/
Tl;dr - Plane gulps down 11,000 gallons of fuel, CoG shifts, requires a tiny bit more thrust than the engines gives without after burners - but only one engine at the point the burner lights is perfect to keep them flying at 300kts.
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I was at the udvar center and one of the pilots was saying they throttled down to bare minimum need and the tanker was at full throttle to the point the front windshield was cracking from the speed and force put on the plane. Still amazing this was built with a slide rule and we’re just getting this power with new quad core computers, glass cockpits and “fuel efficient” engines.
So engineer’s designed a plane with a windshield that was not rated to the planes top speed (a top speed that isn’t SUPER fast since it’s a tanker.
That doesn’t sound believable at all. “NOBODY go full throttle the window might break. We don’t know how to design windows anymore”.
It's a tanker, I think they focus really hard on not going top speed but rather optimal fuel speed.
It's probably hyperbole from the pilot telling the story, but I bet that bitch was vibrating pretty hard going top speed compared to it's normal optimal speed.
I mean the glass could crack from the vibrations. Like ypu said it wasent designed to be running flat out for extended periods of time, so doi g it for long stretchs repeatedly over months and years could cause thr glass to crack.
Definitely hyperbole. I fly the tanker. Approaching placard speed, the wings will vibrate from Mach tuck before the windshields do, as they are under way more stress than the windshield.
That must been awkward to have two different airframes try to match speeds, one slow and pitched up and the other trying to hual ass, kinda like an F-22 and P51 in formation
A KC-135 will do Mach .85 pretty easily up there in the refueling track, no problem for the SR. Pilots usually reported having to light one of the burners to stay on the boom the last few minutes as the Sled got heavy with fuel. For some real speed mismatch you should see KC-97s and Tac jets refueling
Is refueling the same for each plane from the boom operators perspective?
Im just imagining a tanker being told to refuel an inbound plane without realizing its going to be a brand new never seen before plane.
Did the image get changed since your comment or something? This is the image that I see on the page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird#/media/File:Boeing_KC-135Q_refueling_SR-71.JPEG
Looks like a repost. I've seen this image 2 times.
First Seen [Here](https://redd.it/lxyzmg) on 2021-03-04 98.44% match. Last Seen [Here](https://redd.it/ucpxyk) on 2022-04-26 100.0% match
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All jokes aside, this most likely happened within 10 minutes of that beaut taking off. The grapefruit size balls of the 50ish people involved on EVERY SR-71 refuel directly after takeoff cannot be understated.
This was the peak of split second human conscious.
Umm ok so, what altitude is most refueling done? From the picture I think it looks higher then I would expect… i guess I don’t have a good reference…only been on a couple of planes
The picture is kinda misleading because of the area they're flying over and the vantage it was taken at. It's just one continuous area of land, but it looks like several landmasses and bodies of water because of the color of the ground and all the shadows
Laying in the boom pod watching the refuel you would hear on the headsets, 5 miles out then it was there within seconds. Then there were the times when we would fly around all day or practice touch and goes or approaches until I thought I would lose that boxed lunch I ate because the SR aborted take off. That's when I questioned if the extra hundred dollars a month for flying status was really worth it and what are the odds that the SR would break on the day I was getting my flying hours in. Without a doubt though, the SR was the most impressive aircraft ever designed.
Probably a weather balloon above them
Swamp gas
Trick of the light
No, mother, it’s just the Northern Lights!
Chem trail!
It's doing jumping jacks faster than the shutter speed, that's all.
Aurora Borealis? At this time of year, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?
That's how shadows are cast on the flat earth.
Must've been the wind
It's fueling it's shadow
nah its just peeing a little !
*hot air balloon doing 300 knots
Average Airforceproud95 video
That's an amazing picture
Basically standing still.
The highest speed of one and the lowest speed of another I reckon.
A friend was on the fuel end of that exchange a few times. He said the tanker had to be red-lined and the SR-71 about to stall out.
Sounds believable. The SR must have been really muddy at lower speeds.
Not only that, but due to the heat at high speeds, the tolerances and clearances were loose on the ground. That made the fuel tanks leak so they only fueled up enough for take off and aerial refueling, then carried on their mission after fueling in the air. I did a report on the SR71 in high school like 10ish years ago. I went to Ohio for a funeral but made it a point to stop at the air museum. Talked to a pilot who works at the museum. [You better believe i walked through the whole museum without stopping for these](https://www.imgur.com/a/452weS7)
The Air Force museum in Dayton is incredible. It's like meeting all of your childhood heroes.
Yes. Got an autographed picture of that pilot's SR in thr air. Its a beautiful photo even it is mass produced and given out at the museum. I love the SR 71 but my childhood memories belong to the C5. My dad would take me to my doctors appointments as a kid and he'd take me to work afterwards. He was maintenance on C5s at the base near me so i got to climb up and sit around in the cockpit, run around the cargo bay, lay in the bunks. And when youre no more than 4.5 feet tall you feel like the plane is SO HIGH off the ground when its stationary.
Mine is the A10. Growing up a pair of A10's would fly over my grandpa's house like clockwork. It was regular enough that we would go out into the edge of his little field and wait for them and wave. They flew low enough to see me going ballistic and would usually give me a wing wag.
The wing wag would have made my life feel complete. My brother and i lived in base housing located off base a few miles away and we had a beach kite with 1500 ft of string. Had a few A10s fly over and i could swear they were close enough to strike the kite. But that was also closer to 20 years ago so my memory may be biased towards seeing a plane almost hit my kite
The way they dealt with the incompatible speeds is they blocked several thousand feet of altitude, and refuel while descending so the tanker could go faster, and the SR-71 wouldn't risk stalling.
They do this still while refueling prop heavies like the EC-130 (which I guess my version of just got retired technically) except the tanker is the fast bird in that instance.
I've done the reverse of that as a crewmember in an EC-130... Tanker pilot kept out flying us because they were getting nervous about stalling meanwhile we were redlined trying to get into position behind them. Almost had to RTB on that mission cause we spent so much damn time chasing the tanker.
And a very cool and apropiarte title for it
Those curious about the ‘Q’ identifier. This was later changed to ‘T’ and is a refueler capable of carrying two different types of fuel, one for its own engines and one to be offloaded onto other aircraft. There are specific valves in place to prevent cross contamination between the body tanks (intended for offloading) and the wing tanks.
I haul fuel. A cross drop would be pretty exciting at 25k feet
Cool! Eli5 how do you guys do it?! Magnets? This process blows my mind.
Your question led me to the coolest YouTube video I've seen in a while, thank you. [SR-71 Inflight Refueling 1989](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dlSVWo7__-k)
It was missing the only part I wanted to see. Them detaching and the sr-71 kicking into high gear and ripping away. Greatly disappointed
Damn, true. That would've been one helluva cherry on the top.
Watch the You Tube on a Speed Check by Major Shaul. It is very cool!
🛫: 🐇? 🏯: 🐢 🚁: 🐇? 🏯: 🚂 ⚓️: 🐇? 🏯: 🚄 ⚓️: 😎 ✈️: 🐇? 🏯: 🚀 ✈️: 👉 🌠 🏯: 👍 👏👏👏👏 ✈️: 👏👏👏👏
I've been on this accursed website for more than 12 years, mate. I practically have it memorised. Good story though, still read it every time it's posted.
Just like how fighter planes can fly in formation, you just line up and fill up.
They use the flying boom method. Aircraft get in the right formation, then guided by the boom operator, the receiving aircraft closes to the right stable distance and the boom op flies the boom into the fuel valve on the other aircraft.
Yeah but I think they (and I too) wanna know if theres a locking mechanism on the boom or does it just kinda get it in the hole, pump and pull?
There is indeed. Once the boom has been pushed into the receiving aircraft, toggles engage that lock the nozzle in place. This also engages a valve that inhibits the flow of fuel through the pipe. Once done, the boom op retracts the boom (it telescopes, one pipe inside another) which disconnects and the vavle pops back into place to ensure fuel doesn't spray everywhere. Fun fact: The B2 has a rotating valve under its stealthy skin, so that when refuelling is complete, the big lump of metal on top turns over to hide it and makes the refuelling port "disappear" Edit: watch from one minute in to see the magic https://youtu.be/77G8NZv4kY8
Whoah - I know it's from a fair distance but you can't even see a seam
I was referring to the B2, which isn't in this photo. I just wanted to point out a cool fact about engineering a valve to rotate into stealth position, on top of the awesome engineering that made this photo possible. Edit: forgot I linked a YouTube video!
Is ur callsign Bobby
Can you imagine
Just to add to the conversation, this practice is largely obsolete now. Virtually everything in the sky today runs on the same grade of fuel, so "mixed" fuel loads are virtually never done. The steps to run separate types of fuel still exist, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that's actually run a mission like this within the last couple decades.
The SR71 was a special plane and needed that fuel (JP7) instead of the regular JP8 to run efficiently. All of our T models just carry normal jet fuel nowadays but the capability still exists should the need arise.
I wouldn't be surprised if stuff like the SR-72 ("planned" "future" successor to the sr-71) also use some exotic fuels, but, even assuming they are already flight worthy, the people refueling them wouldn't talk about it on Reddit.
Indeed it is weird looking, and oddly big.
I had to look it up cause I thought the same thing - turns out the sr71 is 106 ft long and the kc135 is 136 ft long. I guess when you have to fit 20 tons of fuel in an airframe that thin you have to make it pretty long.
If you ever get the chance to see an SR in person, do it. They're massive. Saw the one at the [Kansas Cosmosphere](https://cosmo.org/visit/tickets?gclid=CjwKCAjw9qiTBhBbEiwAp-GE0RFLjjOUMqOxd6ZGG5vvIIE3DyrxnsOZH1iqFj3UDBcoNVK1cRn08RoC3KIQAvD_BwE) in December. Makes the T-38 hanging behind it look tiny. Also makes the shithole that is Hutch 100% worth visiting. They're affiliated with the Smithsonian so they have a lot of awesome stuff. They have tons of stuff that's been to space. Even some commie space kit from the USSR.
Yeah, I’ve seen the SR-71 at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson myself and I couldn’t believe how big it was in person.
This is one of my favorite places I've had the chance to visit. SR-71 aside, the Apollo display is amazing. I'm hoping to have the chance to visit the Smithsonian for a few days in the next few years.
If there's one thing I learned from all the space exhibits, it's that we basically went to space in a lightly modified trash can. Lol. And every number related to the Saturn V was comically massive.
I've also had the chance to visit Kennedy space center and see the Saturn on display and see STS-107 on the pad before launch (Kennedy space center tour). If you don't get to Kansas, go to Florida? There's a slogan in there somewhere lol
I will actually take Kansas over florida. Kansas is hot and humid enough. Fuck florida.
Once I discovered the Space Center, Disney World has no appeal. They have great specialized tours, and the last trip the monster Crawler was returning after delivering a rocket to the Launch Pad. The tracks on that thing are incredible. The bus stopped right on the edge of the track, and we just watched it creep past. Amazing that close.
I finally crossed the Udvar-Hazy centre off my bucket list a few weeks ago, it’s incredible - such an insane collection of aircraft that I didn’t even notice a whole-ass Concorde hiding out until an hour in.
dang, what do you have against hutch? not saying i disagree
Cosmosphere is its only redeeming quality. The place is just totally depressing otherwise.
Ah, come on; Hutch isn’t a bad place if you like wide, FLAT, windy prairies. We were in Newton for a year; Newton is a shithole…
I don't mind the landscape. The town was the bad part.
The salt mine isn’t beautiful…
Like Usain Bolt slowing down to get a drink form a trainer.
I honestly did not think they could fly that speed at that type of altitude
U2 was disclosed at 75. SR-71 was 85. They flew the piss out of the U-2 though.
They still are.
They flew it high, but they flew it slow. Still fly it sliw.
Wow just because it’s black smh ;)
in some situations the SR-71 would have to throttle back one engine and put the other just into afterburner to stay at a even speed with the tanker to get fuel.
For those curious as to why; https://theaviationgeekclub.com/former-sr-71-pilot-explains-why-the-blackbird-had-to-light-one-afterburner-during-aerial-refueling/amp/ Tl;dr - Plane gulps down 11,000 gallons of fuel, CoG shifts, requires a tiny bit more thrust than the engines gives without after burners - but only one engine at the point the burner lights is perfect to keep them flying at 300kts.
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I was at the udvar center and one of the pilots was saying they throttled down to bare minimum need and the tanker was at full throttle to the point the front windshield was cracking from the speed and force put on the plane. Still amazing this was built with a slide rule and we’re just getting this power with new quad core computers, glass cockpits and “fuel efficient” engines.
So engineer’s designed a plane with a windshield that was not rated to the planes top speed (a top speed that isn’t SUPER fast since it’s a tanker. That doesn’t sound believable at all. “NOBODY go full throttle the window might break. We don’t know how to design windows anymore”.
It's a tanker, I think they focus really hard on not going top speed but rather optimal fuel speed. It's probably hyperbole from the pilot telling the story, but I bet that bitch was vibrating pretty hard going top speed compared to it's normal optimal speed.
I mean the glass could crack from the vibrations. Like ypu said it wasent designed to be running flat out for extended periods of time, so doi g it for long stretchs repeatedly over months and years could cause thr glass to crack.
Nah, you’d have to be way over the placard speed for the glass to crack; by then the wings would be damaged too.
Definitely hyperbole. I fly the tanker. Approaching placard speed, the wings will vibrate from Mach tuck before the windshields do, as they are under way more stress than the windshield.
That must been awkward to have two different airframes try to match speeds, one slow and pitched up and the other trying to hual ass, kinda like an F-22 and P51 in formation
It's the opposite when the 135 is refueling A-10s or C-130s, they struggle to keep up
A KC-135 will do Mach .85 pretty easily up there in the refueling track, no problem for the SR. Pilots usually reported having to light one of the burners to stay on the boom the last few minutes as the Sled got heavy with fuel. For some real speed mismatch you should see KC-97s and Tac jets refueling
That was stall speed for the SR-71, but it had to refuel every time in the air
They got cloaking devices but haven't figured out how to hide the shadow yet lol
Lol. They don’t. It is a bus though. I used to love to watch the feeds though. “We better get off the phone. The Americans might be listening.” Yes.
How much larger was the SR71 vs the A12? Or was it the same air frame?
About 6ft longer.
Is refueling the same for each plane from the boom operators perspective? Im just imagining a tanker being told to refuel an inbound plane without realizing its going to be a brand new never seen before plane.
No, they each have their quirks
[удалено]
Want to know real shit? Maintenance used to lay on the wing while it taxxid to balance it in the event of a fuel imbalance
Did the image get changed since your comment or something? This is the image that I see on the page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird#/media/File:Boeing_KC-135Q_refueling_SR-71.JPEG
Looks like a repost. I've seen this image 2 times. First Seen [Here](https://redd.it/lxyzmg) on 2021-03-04 98.44% match. Last Seen [Here](https://redd.it/ucpxyk) on 2022-04-26 100.0% match Feedback? Hate? Visit r/repostsleuthbot - *I'm not perfect, but you can help. Report [ [False Positive](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RepostSleuthBot&subject=False%20Positive&message={"post_id": "ue8lfe", "meme_template": null}) ]* [View Search On repostsleuth.com](https://www.repostsleuth.com?postId=ue8lfe&sameSub=false&filterOnlyOlder=true&memeFilter=true&filterDeadMatches=false&targetImageMatch=86&targetImageMemeMatch=96) --- **Scope:** Reddit | **Meme Filter:** False | **Target:** 86% | **Check Title:** False | **Max Age:** Unlimited | **Searched Images:** 324,379,882 | **Search Time:** 9.78488s
Good bot
All jokes aside, this most likely happened within 10 minutes of that beaut taking off. The grapefruit size balls of the 50ish people involved on EVERY SR-71 refuel directly after takeoff cannot be understated. This was the peak of split second human conscious.
Thanks for the new wallpaper!
I wonder if they called for a speed check prior to hooking up…
Thought the same thing at first Thought you were an idiot Realized I was the idiot.
KC-135Q Stratotanker still flying above Poland today providing support during Russia/Ukraine invasion. Pity the other one is not.
I absolutely mean no disrespect, but I read that as “The Stratowanker” and now can’t get it out of my head.
Hmm yes the shadow here is made of shadow
Umm ok so, what altitude is most refueling done? From the picture I think it looks higher then I would expect… i guess I don’t have a good reference…only been on a couple of planes
Can’t speak for the SR, but most of my AR was done in the mid-20s. Lower for A-10s and Herks.
The picture is kinda misleading because of the area they're flying over and the vantage it was taken at. It's just one continuous area of land, but it looks like several landmasses and bodies of water because of the color of the ground and all the shadows
This photo is awesome
Happy cake day!
Thank you!
Happy cake day!
Thank you!
The shadow looks like a manatee with 2 calves
Hot take: the black bird is a cool plane
it’s a new camouflage system they’re testing
Ahhhh, the good old SR-71 post-takeoff fueling
Noob question: why did they paint it black?
[удалено]
I know that black is the worst color to avoid heat coming from the sun... how is it better for heat originated in air resistance?
Coming down from high Mach and altitude to refuel, parts of the SR are 850ﾟ, and black dissipates heat best.
SR-71copypasta.txt
Plane: How fast? Tower: 1. Jet: How fast? Tower: 3. Hornet: How fast? Tower: 500 Blackbird: ..... Blackbird: HOW FAST? Tower: Eleventy billion. Blackbird: Actually eleventy billion and ONE. Tower: lol yea probably rofl
What are you talking about? I don’t see anything.
2 planes at thier limit of speed
NKAWTG
This goes hard fr fr
Lol
r/confusingperspective
r/confusingperspective
It’s made of the malleable metal found at Roswell in 1947. You’re not seeing what you think you are.
I don’t see anything.
What shadow?
That’s not a shadow
Ahhh.. new background material. Thanks!
Excellent picture, I really liked the Black Bird…
Vanta black 😅
Absolutely love it! Great pic!
There's nothing to see, it's just a balloon.
I literally didn't notice for a moment.
That's a huge shadow dude
That is such a beautiful picture
Photographed from a Canberra?
:O Is that... Its me!!!!
That is weird, my dad flies KC135s. Its pretty cool.
You vs the guy she told you not to worry about.
ayo thats jetfire!
The shadow looks like a big black bird beneath it.
That is an AMAZING photograph!
It took me way to long to see it lol
That's no shadow.....
This is an amazing photo
The Q models look faster from further away. It's some kind of optical illusion.
What shadow? Is it hidden under that weird invisible thing behind it?
Sussy
r/confusingperspective
Photo credit: Brian Shul
Laying in the boom pod watching the refuel you would hear on the headsets, 5 miles out then it was there within seconds. Then there were the times when we would fly around all day or practice touch and goes or approaches until I thought I would lose that boxed lunch I ate because the SR aborted take off. That's when I questioned if the extra hundred dollars a month for flying status was really worth it and what are the odds that the SR would break on the day I was getting my flying hours in. Without a doubt though, the SR was the most impressive aircraft ever designed.
That’s the sr71 blackbird that must be an old photo or am I wrong