SR-71 Airplane nerds only

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Tue May 08, 2012 11:01 am

My dad did some of the early development and maintenance on these things. Lockheed Martin released some cool info on it. Check out the links on the lower right of the page.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/100yea ... kbird.html

I love this picture.

PC023-068 by Lockheed Martin, on Flickr

Pete Guthrie · **Posted:** Tue May 08, 2012 5:26 pm

did you know that it leaked fuel when stopped. the metal was made to expand when it got hot.. so much so that it shrank when cold. therefore it leaked fuel ..took off nearly empy

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

Very cool. You have to like anything that's 90% motor and looks like a space ship

JohnByers · **Posted:** Wed May 09, 2012 6:56 am

Arthur McDonald wrote:

Very cool. You have to like anything that's 90% motor and looks like a space ship

Agreed. Had a poster of this and a F14 as a kid on my wall. Very very cool!

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Wed May 09, 2012 8:56 am

Pete is spot on, the plane leaked fuel so badly on the ground when not heated by its blistering speed that it was launched nearly empty and refueled as soon as it was air borne. The dish shaped underbelly was designed to skip on the outer fringe of earths atmosphere much as a flat stone skips on water. The pilots of these craft are listed as astronauts. And the craft is listed as the only known operational ram jet. Truly the most remarkable plane ever built.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Wed May 09, 2012 9:13 am

I love this pic:

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