During the height of the Cold War, the United States was vigorously conceiving a top secret weapon that would give them the upper hand. The Lockheed Skunk Works took the project and the product of their painstaking planning was the SR71 Blackbird. The aircraft was a reconnaissance air vessel whose technology was way ahead of its time.
Reconnaissance is a military term for surveying a territory occupied by an enemy to gain valuable information that would give the operating faction an advantage. Reconnaissance missions are crucial in strategic planning of skirmishes that would determine the success or failure of a military operation and the Blackbirds capitalized on this.
Blackbirds are made up mostly of Titanium. During that time, there was a scarce supply in Titanium that delayed the production of Blackbirds. As a solution to this problem the C. I. A. Created several false companies that purchased Titanium from the Soviet Union which was the enemy of Americans during the war. It was such an irony that the Soviets unknowingly sold Titanium to their enemies.
Speed and stealth are the main weapons of a Blackbird that make it very successful. The aircraft travel at speeds that exceed that of sound by up to 3.5 times and it could travel at very high altitudes that add to its stealth. It was also designed such that Soviet radars could not detect it easily and it is able to survive missiles simply by outrunning them.
But at these kinds of flight velocities and altitudes, measures had to be taken to ensure the safety of pilots. At very high altitudes there is a chance that the pilots will lose consciousness which could be disastrous. The bodies of pilots could also be strained during emergency ejections while the aircraft is travelling at a high velocity. The solution to these dilemmas was to protect the pilots using a pressurized suit.
The Blackbird reaches extremely high velocities such that conventional brakes were not sufficient to slow it down in the runway. The engineers had to resort to using a parachute to aid the brakes in stopping the aircraft. The body of the jet also gets very high due to high velocity flight so the pilots need to wait for the body to cool down before they could get off it.
The aircraft possessed technologies that were way ahead of their time. New technologies were even developed specifically for the creation of Blackbirds and some are still applicable today.
It is amazing that in spite of the obstacles that faced the designers of the aircraft during that time, they were still able to create a highly sophisticated aircraft. But the SR71 Blackbird was note created free from flaws. During that time, the engineers were not able to solve the problem of fabricating a material that could resist the effects of temperature differential due to high speed flights. So the engineers opted to install an open fuel tank such the fuel even leaks out of it. Its purpose was to maintain a constant temperature throughout the tank and when it gets hot, it will expand it will seal itself to stop the leakage. Even with this imperfection, the Blackbird has still served its purpose excellently.
Reconnaissance is a military term for surveying a territory occupied by an enemy to gain valuable information that would give the operating faction an advantage. Reconnaissance missions are crucial in strategic planning of skirmishes that would determine the success or failure of a military operation and the Blackbirds capitalized on this.
Blackbirds are made up mostly of Titanium. During that time, there was a scarce supply in Titanium that delayed the production of Blackbirds. As a solution to this problem the C. I. A. Created several false companies that purchased Titanium from the Soviet Union which was the enemy of Americans during the war. It was such an irony that the Soviets unknowingly sold Titanium to their enemies.
Speed and stealth are the main weapons of a Blackbird that make it very successful. The aircraft travel at speeds that exceed that of sound by up to 3.5 times and it could travel at very high altitudes that add to its stealth. It was also designed such that Soviet radars could not detect it easily and it is able to survive missiles simply by outrunning them.
But at these kinds of flight velocities and altitudes, measures had to be taken to ensure the safety of pilots. At very high altitudes there is a chance that the pilots will lose consciousness which could be disastrous. The bodies of pilots could also be strained during emergency ejections while the aircraft is travelling at a high velocity. The solution to these dilemmas was to protect the pilots using a pressurized suit.
The Blackbird reaches extremely high velocities such that conventional brakes were not sufficient to slow it down in the runway. The engineers had to resort to using a parachute to aid the brakes in stopping the aircraft. The body of the jet also gets very high due to high velocity flight so the pilots need to wait for the body to cool down before they could get off it.
The aircraft possessed technologies that were way ahead of their time. New technologies were even developed specifically for the creation of Blackbirds and some are still applicable today.
It is amazing that in spite of the obstacles that faced the designers of the aircraft during that time, they were still able to create a highly sophisticated aircraft. But the SR71 Blackbird was note created free from flaws. During that time, the engineers were not able to solve the problem of fabricating a material that could resist the effects of temperature differential due to high speed flights. So the engineers opted to install an open fuel tank such the fuel even leaks out of it. Its purpose was to maintain a constant temperature throughout the tank and when it gets hot, it will expand it will seal itself to stop the leakage. Even with this imperfection, the Blackbird has still served its purpose excellently.
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Unknown - Monday, October 8, 2012
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