[Milsurplus] U-2 and SR-71A

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 23:23:05 -0600

Got a chance to see the YF-12A when it came into Eglin years ago for 
armament testing.
Remember the guys from the alert crew placing 5 gal cans all over the ramp 
under the wings to catch
the fuel that was leaking out of the aircraft.  Was assigned to base comm 
at the time and
was in the control tower when the plane took off to go out and test a 
missile.  Watch
the aircraft go straight up and break the sound barrier twice from the 
ground to an
altitude above 70,000 feet.  The YF-12A was supposed to shoot down a drone 
B47 out over
the Gulf of Mexico.  The B-47 was at an altitude of 40,000 feet and when 
the YF-12A
started its dive towards the bomber and released the missile, the missile 
entered the
vertical stabilizer, thru the horizontal stabilizer and continued to the 
water before
it exploded.  It seems that those first tests the missile used a contact 
fuse and
because of the speed of the missile it did not explode on contact.  The 
crippled B-47
was flown back to Aux field 3 when it was landed.  As I maintained the 
radio equipment
at Field 3, I got a chance to see the B-47 with its big holes in the tail.

At 04:15 PM 1/27/2003 -0500, Howard L Ritter, Jr wrote:

>The SR-71A Blackbird is a dramatic, beautiful, and magnificent aircraft and
>a real credit to Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed "Skunkworks", just like its
>predecessor the U-2. However, it is a fantastically expensive and
>labor-intensive beast to operate, and its only advantage over the U-2 is
>that it's as fast as a scalded cat (several multiples of Mach 1) and can
>cruise a little higher (80,000 ft). The U-2 is on a Sunday drive in the
>country(70,000 ft above it) by comparison, and that can be a disadvantage
>(depending on the technological prowess of the guys on the ground whose
>photos are being snapped!) For high-altitude missions over friendly
>territory (e.g., S. Korea) bordering hostile territory, ability to outrun
>and outclimb unfriendly fighters and missiles isn't normally an advantage. I
>don't think the surveillance capabilities per se of the U-2 are inferior to
>those of the Blackbird. The need for the SR-71's capabilities declined with
>the number of hostile and technologically capable states, it became too
>expensive to justify continuing to operate, and it was deactivated (twice,
>actually: in 1990 and again in 1997 after a 2-year resurrection).
>
>Still, there will continue to be SOME situations where it would be nice to
>have the old girl, and lots of us former USAF types regret its mothballing.
>Come see both aircraft (as well as the the YF-12A, the prototype interceptor
>from which the Blackbird was derived) at the USAF Museum at Wright-Pat AFB
>outside Dayton ( http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/modern_flight/mf35.htm )
>next time you come to the Hamfest!
>
>--howard n7exn
>colonel usaf mc (ret)
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Joe Foley" <[email protected]>
>To: <[email protected]>
>Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 2:40 PM
>Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] CLASSIFIED: U-2 Cockpit Photo!
>
>
> > Would someone please explain to me why we use an early
> > '50's airplane for this mission instead of the '60's
> > version, the SR-71's?
> >
> > Was it TOO good?  Did it give us too much of an
> > advantage?
> >
> > TOO  BAD!!
> >
> > Joe
>
>
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