SR71 "Blackbird" - short publicity film by US Air Force - circa 1979

[nyalldavis]

looks verry russian for an american plane, but then i remembered:

in soviate russia, wings swept forward

[dancono1]

The most amazing plane ever built and less computer technology on board than that is in front of you right now!!

[Keiichi0717]

wait...the camera man that is filming outside the blackbird...how is he going as fast as the blackbird?

[surmoke]

@Keiichi0717 Because the Blackbird isn't at it's top speed

[ddland45]

Still the fastest, sexiest, baddest MF plane ever built! 

[bosker7]

to bullseatpizza

I worked on the sr71 but did not see it fly I worked on it in burbank ca and it didn't fly out of there

[GreenLanturn93]

funny thing about the engines... the original design for them sought maximum efficiency but it turned out to be too efficient to the point that the engine screwed itself up so they had to modify it to be less efficient

[Ddraig64]

Designed using pencil, paper and slide-rule. The greatest technological marvel in the history of aviation.

[jeffman1900]

my most favorite plane ever. the fastest man plane ever built and flone during war. what an amazing aircraft

[skimowhite586]

It truly is the Bugatti of the airplanes

[olafsalomao]

I would give anything to pilot that plane

[aznflipboi51]

do we still make these?

[wdtvlive42]

@aznflipboi51

The tooling for the planes was intentionally destroyed by order of the US Government in the late 1960's, no new planes or spare parts could be produced after that time, as repairs became necessary some planes were butchered to keep the others flying.

[Fighterpilot1011]

@aznflipboi51 i believe we still do use these because where else would they put them lol

[blessedbeyourname96]

@aznflipboi51 no it took up too much fuel..its still marked as the fastest jet plane ever though..the reason it used to much fuel is cus they would have to build the gas tank with openings to let the fuel leak because if it was sealed then the pressure would be too much and it would cause the plane to crash bacause the plane does over 2,000 mph...learned that in JROTC

[rudi2122]

dear santa...

[fearospir]

I love how in order to avoid any enemy fire or rockets the pilots are told to keep flying... This was such an amazing plane and sattelites used to replace this plane is just so much bull...

[lilmuslemanjr]

its area 51

[TheAndroid360]

hey! its jetfire from transformers 2

[bnther36]

So when are we finally going to get to see the bird that replaced it?

[wdtvlive42]

@bnther36

No doubt the story will always remain "we don't need a replacement, satellites can do it all". Maybe if they'd also retired the U2's we could almost believe that. One thing's for sure, what ever did/does replace the SR71 will be too fast and too high to see anyway ;-)

[lilmuslemanjr]

@wdtvlive42 its called predator drones its more cheaper

[wdtvlive42]

@lilmuslemanjr

Or maybe the X-37B is doing a bit of spying during its 'testing'...

[Ckymatt22]

@wdtvlive42 you sure about your last statement? Because i'm pretty sure that has already been made... you see them everyday where ever you go ;) CCTV cameras are the new SR's my friend, your never alone ;) Always forever being watched.

[wdtvlive42]

@Ckymatt22

Ah, but that's only valid for the countries a government has control over, or an ability to place all those CCTV's *everywhere*. ie the SR71 wasn't used by the CIA to spy on America, it was used to spy on other countries. Then again maybe one day we'll discover the FBI also operated SR71's which did spy on America... But I understand your main point - the SR71 was just one of many information gathering devices.

[Ckymatt22]

@wdtvlive42 You also have to remember that America spy's on itself every single day... Just like every other high powered country. There will always be things that us as "common" people will never know. i.e. Area 51... yes you can see it on google earth! but..That doesn't mean it's at correct size ;)

Problem we have in our world is that other humans believe they have more power over their own kind when they really don't. Every single one of us is a pawn in some over species hands..

[bosker7]

I worked on the SR71 blackbird back in 1962 and it is an awsome plane That is all I can and will say

Len

[wdtvlive42]

@bosker7

It never stops amazing me this plane is ~50 years old.

[bullseatpizza]

@bosker7

Seeing as you worked on the SR71, can i ask what was it like to see witness it fly from the ground if you ever did? Ive allways wanted to see it fly but sadly ive only ever been within meters of one at Duxford Air Museum. If its a question that you cannot answer, i do fully understand. There is a lot of highly classified and top secret information still surrounding thisaircraft, as with many aircraft still today!