SR71 Blackbird Project

[-akyla-]

Wohoo. thats a great model you've got there!!!

[warthogmadman987]

@warthogmadman987:

 

yes that is true, i forgot about it, lol, must have burned into my memory :-)

maybe somewhere in my brain there is data, that tells me exactly what the bird locks like and that i used it, lmao.

 

which is could visit it some day in the near future again, but well, some day it will happen:-)

 

@yeniceri: thanks, i will see what max will do to this file, i hope it will export and import it how it is supposed to be :-)

 

 

Let me know if you are ever back in the states around here. Would be great to hang sometime!

[borchi_2b]

sure why not, its a very kind offer. maybe at the museum :-)

[Deadman]

The Simulator is at the the Frontiers of Flight Museum one of the best museums around I really need to check this out:thumbup:

 

The Link Simulator Company's SR-71 Flight Simulator was developed during 1963 – 1965 under a deep "black" security blanket because it and the team Link assigned to it were given access to CIA OXCART and USAF R-12 / SR-71 clearances, the complete list of names of classified vendors supplying parts and software that had to be simulated, the total aircraft performance envelope data and a government-produced satellite photo montage of almost the entire continental United States to provide optical imagery for the RSO's portion of the Flight Simulator. This later capability was mounted on a separate, large, rectangular glass plate (approximately 6 feet by 12 feet in size) over which moved an optical sighting head that traveled at the scaled speed and direction of the Blackbird during its simulated flight. Realistic and accurate images were then displayed in the Optical View Sight and SLR RCD (Radar Correlator Display) in the RSO cockpit. Imagery was not provided to the pilot's simulator, which like the RSO simulator, had translucent window panels with varying degrees of lighting to change a simulated flight from daylight to night flying conditions.

Instructor positions were behind both the pilot's and the RSO's cockpits, with monitoring, malfunction and emergency problem controls provided. The simulator halves could be flown as separate cockpits with different training agendas or in a team mode, where intercom, instrument readings and air vehicle/sub-systems performance were integrated. Although most simulator flights were in a flight suit "shirt sleeve" environment, selected flights during a crew's checkout training were made with the crew wearing the complete David Clark Company's Full Pressure Suit.

In 1965, when the first Beale AFB Instructor Pilot/RSO crew (wearing civilian clothes only) visited the Flight Simulator during USAF checkout and acceptance trials at Link's upstate New York facilities, they were surprised to park in front of a busy, active grocery store and then be escorted quietly to a side door that led them into a hidden, rear portion of the building that was Link's highly classified "Skunkworks" type facility for the Blackbird program. Total secrecy was so complete that no one in the New York township site was aware of what was going on behind the busy checkout stands selling foodstuffs and beverages.

In 1965, the Flight Simulator was transferred to Beale AFB, California and the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing's SAGE building, which provided vault level security for it plus the Wing Headquarters, Flight Mission Planning, and Intelligence Analysis / Exploitation of Blackbird mission products.

Besides SR-71 flight crew training and currency usage, the Flight Simulator was used several times by Lockheed and CIA operatives to analyze Groom Lake A-12 problems and accidents with similar assistance provided for SR-71 flights at Edwards AFB. Another unique feature was that an actual flight mission tape for the SR-71 ANS could be loaded into the Flight Simulator's digital computers, which had been designed and programmed by Link engineers to emulate the Nortronics ANS. During Category II testing at Edwards AFB, some types of ANS navigation errors could be duplicated in the Flight Simulator at Beale AFB, with Link engineers then often assisting in software fixes to the main ANS flight software programs.

At the conclusion of SR-71 flying at Beale AFB, the Flight Simulator (minus the RSO optical imagery system) was transferred to the NASA Dryden facility at Edwards AFB in support of NASA SR-71 flight operations. Upon completion of all USAF and NASA SR-71 operations at Edwards, the Flight Simulator was moved in July, 2006 to the Frontiers of Flight Museum on Love Field Airport in Dallas, Texas (flightmuseum.com) and, with support from the Museum and Link (now, L-3 Communications Simulation and Training Division), it is intended to be available for viewing by Museum visitors.

[nesher]

Nice information you got here, Deadman.:thumbup:

Thx for sharing.

 

If I'm in the States, I'll probably visit the museum in Texas (if there will be any chances to go there from NY, 'cause that's the place where I'll be probably during a friend visit....hopefully...but still hangs in the air...)

[nesher]

Any current news about your SR71 model, Borchi?

[Mnemonic]

Cool Borchi! Keep going! :)

[borchi_2b]

well news, yes, that i have to fix something at the wing part, to be able to make the gear in the rear :-)

might take this week

 

hehe will get it done donґt worry

[Deadman]

Some pictures of the SR-71 sim Rear and front cockpit

[borchi_2b]

ooohhh yeah,

thats nice. thanks,

i allready have some of the front cockpit and only one of the rear, i can use every picture you guys can give me, especially detail shots from the black bird.

there are flaps at the engines which open at full throttle,

i am thinkig about modeling them too

but i am not sure.

what concearns me more is that i do not find any lomtool in the modifier list in which i could look for the canopy refelctions. hmm yeniceri might be able to help out?

otherwise i will put a picture on the glas that simulates the reflections of a high flight over the clouds, but i donґt know if it will work in the game though

[The_GOZR]

Are you sure the proportions are right ?, i've seen this bird many many times and in RL it is a big plane.

 

[warthogmadman987]

Are you sure the proportions are right ?, i've seen this bird many many times and in RL it is a big plane.

 

 

 

The more I look at it the more I think they cockpit is way to big.

[The_GOZR]

Exactly.

[borchi_2b]

well i locked at many pictures for many hours and well i i thought the same, that it is such a big bird, but it is only about 32 meters long.

• Crew: 2
  
• Payload: 3,500 lb (1,600 kg) of sensors
  
• Length: 107 ft 5 in (32.74 m)
  
• Wingspan: 55 ft 7 in (16.94 m)
  
• Height: 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m)
  
• Wing area: 1,800 ft2 (170 m2)
  
• Empty weight: 67,500 lb (30 600 kg)
  
• Loaded weight: 170,000 lb (77 000 kg)
  
• Max takeoff weight: 172,000 lb (78 000 kg)
  
• Powerplant: 2Ч Pratt & Whitney J58-1 continuous-bleed afterburning turbojets, 32,500 lbf (145 kN) each
  
• Wheel track: 16 ft 8 in (5.08 m)

• Wheel base: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m)
  
• Aspect ratio: 1.7

so it is not way to much bigger then the f-15.

i was surprised when i saw pictures of pilots sitting in the cockpit and i thought the same but i had to believe that the bird is smaller then it appears to us.

go into a museum and check it for yourself.

 

here we go with a picture of a pilot that might convince you that the bird is not that big at all

 

 

[Yeniceri]

That was a suprise for me :)

[nesher]

...only about 32 meters long.

 

:D

 

 

Yeah, that pilot standing on the nose of the BB, convinced me too!!!

:smilewink:

[Vindicator]

Ya, that picture with the guy standing on it really shows that it is smaller than it seems sometimes.

[emenance]

I am extreamly interested in flying this plane!!! Thank you!!

[Deadman]

You need to remember the Habu is not a crank and bank type of aircraft it was mostly set on to Auto pilot fro a stable platform for it surveillance equipment if i remember correctly. So in reality not much real flying

[borchi_2b]

thats true,

and high super sonic lol

[borchi_2b]

hi folks,

 

i have a little request here for you guys.

i searched my budd of for pictures of the blackbird front and rear gear. only found 3-4 pics. thats not enough at all how you can imagine.

so maybe somebody has some good pics of the gear and can post it. it would help me alot, cause i am getting closer to finish the basic model and made a to do list now for me to stay on track

 

i guess i will make the gear in the following 14 days as far everything works out.

ohh by the way the gear is next to the new sr71 pilot one of the 2 last things that are to be done for the model.

 

the 3d cockpit will follow together with the damage model after i am done with the basic model.

 

ehh maybe i will need some people for the first testing after the animations of the basic model are done, so who wants a ride is welcome, i guess 5 -6 tester will be enough to get a solid backfeat

 

greetings borchi

[-akyla-]

deam, i have a photo of rear gear...

i'll try to find that:)

___________________

*EDIT*

deam, it was a pic with F-111..

__________________________

http://www.aa.washington.edu/courses/aa301/lecture%201/SR-71_C.JPG

http://www.jasik.com/SJ_sr71.jpg

[nesher]

there are the l. gears of a SR-71 model kit...

 

 

and some others from the real Bird...

 

front gear

 

 

rear gears

 

 

 

 

Hope they helped...:smilewink:

[Yeniceri]

nesher this is a helluva help :)

:thumbup:

[nesher]

You know Yeniceri, I try to do my best...:renske: