In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s the American government specifically the Central Intelligence Agency or CIA wanted a replacement for the U2 Spy plane. The U2 was basically a powered glider! It was extremely light and with a huge wingspan in relation to its length; it could fly into the stratosphere. The U2 was used on covert spying missions over cold war countries mainly Russia.

Flying so high (70,000ft) it gave the U2 and invincibility for a while as ordinary fighter planes and Surface to Air Missiles (SAM’S) couldn’t reach it. Until Gary Powers was shot down in 1960 by a new generation of SAM. Alarm bells began ringing in the White House and a replacement for the U2 was ordered through Lockheed at their famous ‘Skunk Works’ it was known as a ‘Black Project’ and the aircraft’s true use was to be hidden by the rouse of building a high speed intercept fighter aircraft.

Clarence ‘Kelly’ Johnson was one of the chief designers of this radical new aircraft. The key element required were a top speed of over Mach 3+! (2,000 mph) and a service ceiling of 80,000ft! No aircraft at that time in the world could come close to those required figures and no aircraft has since! There are certain inherent problems at flying faster than sound. The sound barrier is dependent on your level above the sea, if one is to generalise its approximately 600mph.

Approaching the sound barrier the is a phenomenon know as compressibility, this is a build up of air in front of the aircraft, it feels like a physical barrier but it is invisible to the naked eye. To pass through the sound barrier you need to have a sleek very aerodynamic aircraft and a powerful one! The planned SR71 reconnaissance aircraft was required to go through the sound barrier at least twice. Metals at the time would not stand the heat build up at such fast speeds. Our atmosphere is thick and the friction of the air over the aircraft would distort ordinary metals and the aircraft would break up in mid air.

Titanium was the metal chosen as it was light and very heat resistant. Work began on the SR71 in 1962. A new type of engine would need to be developed to fly at over 2,000mph. Pratt and Whitney rose to the challenge and eventually designed the J58 which is a hybrid engine it has a normal Turbo Fan jet engine inside a Scram Jet engine!

(The Skunk Works)

Without going too deeply into the technical side of how it works, I will say that. At subsonic speeds the engine reacts like any other fighter jets Turbo Fan. However at speeds over 1,600mph a cone is closed in the front of the engine Nacelles and air is forced passed the Turbo Fan and sent at high speed and heat into the rear part of the engine which is a Scram Jet’ the fuel is ignited and its is akin to having reheat on all the time. Making for a very fast aircraft!

The shape of the SR71 is partially stealthy it has a very low Radar signature for an aircraft designed in 1962! It has long flat Titanium Chines which run the length of the aircraft. These Chines aid stability and increase lift for take off and landings. They also confuse enemy Radar as to the true shape and size of an approaching aircraft. These Chines are most visible around the nose of the aircraft and they stick out. The SR71 is painted in a very deep blue to blend into the night sky. Even the paint on the SR71 had to be designed to resist the extreme high temperatures encountered in Mach 3 travel. Even the basic hand tools required for maintenance have to be coated in a scratch resistant material to prevent chipping the paint on the SR71.

A well known fact is the SR71 or Blackbird as its known expands by 12 inches in length at supersonic speeds! The metal get so hot it literally expands, compression joints are fitted all around the Blackbird to take up the expansion. Even the fuel tanks expand and are fitted with expansion joints. This causes the fuel to leak out of the Blackbird all over the runway! The fuel tanks only seal after the SR71 is at operating temperatures. Mid air refuelling is essential for the Blackbird; it takes on most of its fuel mid-air to save on all up take off weight.

(All Analogue Instruments)

That gives you a background to the technical side of the aircraft. The Blackbird still holds some amazing records and some are only being released now that the SR71’s are all in Museum’s and most definitely retired. On July 28th 1976 an SR71 Blackbird set the absolute height record for a manned aircraft of 85,069ft! Remember your average passenger aircraft cruises at 35-40,000ft! The official top speed of the Blackbird is 2,193.2 mph! this is the official record; however crews reported on intruder missions over Russia the SR71 routinely exceeded 2,350 mph!

On September 1st 1974 an SR71 Blackbird flew from New York to London in 1hr and 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds! An average speed of Mach 2.68! This unbroken record included mid-air refuelling! A new flight suit had to made for the Blackbird pilots which was independent and contained a cooling system and a separate oxygen system. These specialised suits went onto be used in the Space Shuttle.

The missions carried out by the SR71’s are still classified and will remain that way, as will the true top speed of the Blackbird. The SR1 71’s were retired in 1993 as they were too costly to maintain. Three examples were briefly pulled out of storage and were upgraded to use modern reconnaissance equipment and were fully serviced. However they too never flew a mission in anger and were retired in 1998.

Never again will we see the fastest aircraft ever built fly! Remember it flew in 1964 and we haven’t bettered the technology since. I have seen an SR71 Blackbird up close at Duxford Aircraft Museum in Cambridgeshire, I promise you they are huge! and still a very intimidating aircraft to be near!

Lord Banks

So you want to Eject!

My friends and I would go out for the evening and may walk into a bar with very unfriendly locals looking for a fight and we would whisper to one and other,

“Eject, eject, eject”

This obviously is a direct reference to a Pilot and or crew ejecting from a doomed aircraft. Did you know the ‘Ejector Seat’ is a British invention by the Martin Baker Company? Also did you know that since 1946 over 7,000 pilots have been saved from certain death by ejector seats!

It was discovered in the latter years of the Second World War that aircraft were nudging the ‘Sound Barrier’ around 600mph at sea level. The standard procedure to leave a doomed WWII aircraft was to open the canopy and if possible invert the aircraft and fall out of the cockpit, then open your parachute. However at speeds over 300 mph the wind resistance could pin a pilot in his seat and he would perish with his aircraft. Sometimes the pilot was strong enough to leave the cockpit against the slip stream but the slipstream then caught him or her and tangled them with the tail of the aircraft! Dead all the same!

In 1945 the Martin Baker aircraft company began tests on rocket powered seats that would literally eject the pilot a great distance from the doomed aircraft. This being a new invention no one knew if the human body could withstand the ‘G’ forces entailed in an ejection? A volunteer was used as a human test dummy! It was soon discovered that at speed to eject from a fighter aircraft would put the body into great pain, however the pilot had an above average chance of living!

In 1946 the first ejection was achieved from ground zero! The seat worked perfectly the test volunteer walked away; however he was one inch shorter! Temporarily the G force is so great as the rocket motors fire it compresses your spine and the fluid between your spinal column discs is squirted out! Most if not all pilots blackout the instant they pull the ejection seat handle.

The ejection handle is normally located at the base of the ejection seat it is yellow and black in colour to not be confused with any other aircraft equipment! However depending on the cockpit layout the handles can be located remotely. There is a version of the Martin Baker ejector seat that has been customised to fire a pilot out from an aircraft underwater!

I have researched pilots that have ejected and it hurts! They black out and often have face lacerations from the exploding canopies; on occasion depending on the build of the pilot both of their arms are dislocated! The pilot is in excruciating pain but alive! That is the whole point of the ejector seat! In today’s money it costs £2,000,000 or $4,000,000 to train a fighter pilot! Ejections seats save pilots and the governments of which ever country millions!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc-XiO4ojzk

When a pilot or crew member ejects and lives (They normally do) the Martin Baker Company will send you a gold tie pin or badge depending on your choice! This still happens to this day!

Lord Banks

Image via Wikipedia

There are several types of aerial flight vehicles.  There are two that are easily most valuable and safe to those that fly.  This value can be seen by comparing and contrasting the A-10 Thunderbolt II and the T-38 Talon. The A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft. There were 715 built at a cost of $11.7 million per aircraft. It’s primary mission is one of a close support ground-attack aircraft currently in-service by the United States Air Force. The  A-10, more commonly known by its nickname “Warthog” or simply “Hog”,   provides close air support of ground forcesair support of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles and other ground targets.

 The T-38 Talon is a jet used for advanced training.  It is a two-seater aircraft that is used by Unites States Air Force, NASA astronaughts, and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.  There were 1,187 produced. It is an aircraft utilized in different Training Squadrons, Training Wings of the USAF, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and allied national air forces. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s or N.A.S.A.’s instruction astronaut pilots use the T-38 for practicing Shuttle landing techniques. The T-38 is the aircraft of choice for a Shuttle Training Aircraft Trainer for instructing astronaut pilots and mission specialists.

The A-10 aircraft has a Length of 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m), a Wingspan of 57 ft 6 in (17.53 m) if and a Height of 14 ft 8 in (4.47) m.The A-10’s airframe is exceptionally durable. It can survive offensive onslaughts of direct hits from 57 mm armor-piercing projectiles including high-explosives and 23 mm cannon fire.  The A-10 has self sealing modular fuel tanks, and specially modified landing gear.  The cockpit and some of the internal flight control systems are shielded by 900 pounds of titanium armor, and covered by a Kevlar shield.  The A-10’s General Electric TF34-GE-100 turbofan engines are located behind the wing near the rear of the fuselage. This is done to lessen the chance of sucking foreign objects into the engine air take.  Their placement also allows the dissipation of heat from the aircrafts engine operation and helps it remain “unlockable” by surface and air to air missiles.

The T-38 trainer aircraft is Length: 46 ft 4.5 in (14.14 m) long, has a Wingspan of 25 ft 3 in (7.7 m), and a Height of 12 ft 10.5 in (3.92 m).T-38 trainer aircraft is constructed of honeycomb material, configured with small protruding wings, and seats the student pilot and instructor in tandem.  The T-38 has two turbojet intakes for engines located at the wing ends, thusly making it extremely maneuverable at low altitudes.  These aircraft are used for weapons training, and are currently undergoing structural overhaul and technological avionics modifications to extend their service life to 2020.  Over 50,000 pilots have trained in this aircraft.

Thrust is given to the A-10 Thunderbolt by Two General Electric TF34-GE-100 turbofans providing 9,065 pounds per engine.  The A-1o Thunderbolt is armed with one 30 mm seven barrel Gatling gun.  Its top speed is 420 MPH (Mach 0.56) and has a range of 800 miles.  

While the T-38 is powered by Two General Electric J85-GE-5 turbojet engines with afterburners that produce 2,900 pounds. The T-38 has no armament.  It can fly at a top speed of 812 MOH for 1,0000 miles.

   Both of these aircrafts are exponentially capable and superior aircraft. Their most interesting and most positive benefits are their manuvureabilty, overall enduring fortification qualities, their battlefield versatility and their upgradedibilty. Their absolute nessitiy and overall importance to the many different countries that use this aircraft as an actual flight training vehicle is very understandable; especially to the fortunate pilots that have made battlefield accomplishments and completed the transmission to orbital space flight.

The development of the Concorde was the result of an agreement between the British and French Governments. The work of developing the first two prototypes was begun by Aerospatiale in Toulouse and British Aircraft Corporation at Filton, Bristol in February 1965. The Concorde was ready for sales by 1972. Concorde 002 first landed in Dallas to coincide with the inauguration of the Fort Worth Airport in 1973

At first, there were orders from many airlines for the purchase of the aircraft from the companies. However, these orders were eventually cancelled owing to many reasons. Chief among these was the Oil Crisis of 1973, which was already affecting airlines all over the world and would have added to their financial problems if they were to buy the fuel guzzling Concorde. However, other reasons too such as the air crash of Tupolev Tu-144 at an air show in Paris and the criticism faced from environmentalists for the high decibel noise the aircraft made as it took off and when it broke the sound barrier worked against its success. In the end, only British Airways and Air France bought the aircraft thanks to the loan assistance they received from their respective governments.

The Concorde could carry around 100 passengers and at Mach 2 speed, they could comfortably cross the Atlantic in 3 hours when the same would mean a flight of 7 hours in a traditional 747 or similar aircraft. The most amazing thing about the Concorde was its design. In designing the supersonic aircraft, the engineers encountered many problems. As the aircraft flew at Mach 2 speed, a lot of heat was generated because of the air compression inside the aircraft. The temperature could even reach the boiling point for water, but for the sophisticated air-conditioning system. This allowed the cabin and fuel to remain more or less unaffected by the rise in external temperature.

Another special feature of the aircraft is that it used an extra 20% fuel, which combined with the exhaust gas to propel the plane. The plane could withstand the supersonic shock and cope with the need to balance the centre of gravity with help of its 33 fuel tanks. The fuel was pumped to the rear end when the plane gathered speed and towards the front side as it slowed down at the end of the flight.

In 2003, after 27 years the Concorde was withdrawn operation. A Concorde crash had occurred in July 2000 which had made the public distrustful of them. During that time, the airlines realized that they could make more money by transporting their Concorde passengers first class on their traditional aircraft than they could in the Concorde. Thus, the Concorde did not remain in service long after the companies resumed operation following the crash which had killed all 100 passengers. Given the extra security in the post 9-11 world and the rising cost of fuel, this decision was permanent. There were limited attempts by a few parties to buy the airlines, but they never came to fruition. Today, most of the remaining Concordes sit in museums.