SR71 sled geeks your trousers may move on their own

[slowSSer]

you kids can still eat http://mirror.xwl.me/Sled%20Driver.pdf and if they take it down...send me a PM

much, much thanks for this! PDF saved!

[earlfoss]

Thanks for the link to Sled Driver. I read it yesterday and enjoyed every word.

[MarkC]

Thanks Mike. A good read.

-Mark

[G-reg]

Apologies if it was said in the thread elsewhere, I didn't see it. But the Bicycle Shop Bro's first flight was Dec 17th 1903, the first SR71 flight was Dec 22nd 1964. Even ignoring the years of A12 development, we are currently further from Habu's first flight than it was from the Wright Brothers first flight.

[Mr B]

Picture-Perfect SR-71

A Blackbird pilot and photographer describes the day he took his favorite picture.

By Brian Shul
airspacemag.com
November 20, 2014

From 1983 to 1989, I got to fly the world’s most extraordinary airplane. At about the same time, I started taking every picture of it I could. Photographing the SR-71 was a passion for me. Whatever photographic experience or knowledge I lacked at that stage of my photographic career was more than made up for with my enthusiasm for the airplane.

I am often asked which of my photographs of the SR-71 is my favorite. It is an easy question to answer. To me, one photo captured the essence of all that was mysterious and powerful about the Blackbird, affectionately known as the “Sled.”

While hitching a ride on a KC-135 tanker aircraft one day in 1985, I was able to capture a shot of the SR-71 just prior to its refueling. Emerging from a squall line over the North Sea, the Sled dripped wet with leaking fuel and rain as it moved cautiously up to the pre-contact position. Using slow Kodachrome slide film at the time, I didn’t have enough good light to capture the image in focus, as we bounced around in the turbulent skies on the edge of that storm. We moved in and out of wispy clouds, and I was frustrated because I could see a magnificent picture happening before me, with insufficient light to do it justice.

Like a wish granted, the filtered rays of a partially hidden sun momentarily illuminated the Sled’s wet metal and produced a satin-finished hue to the plane that I had never witnessed before, nor ever would again. The dancing light lasted but moments, and I was able to take 3 shots, cranking my Nikon F3 as fast as possible, desperately trying to focus precisely.

I spent nearly 8 hours on the tanker on my day off and, because of the weather, was able to take only 3 pictures. I was disappointed to say the least—until I viewed my few images on a light table weeks later, and saw one, focused shot, that captured the plane from tip to tail, wrapped in a surreal sky of swirling weather and stormy hues. It was truly one of those magical moments that photographers live for. Over the years, my camera skills and equipment improved, but I never captured another shot of the SR-71 more seductive to my eye, and that’s why it became the cover shot for the book Sled Driver, one of the most popular books on Amazon.com in the category of Air Sports and Recreation.

Many years after the shot was taken, many people in the digital era of photography were fairly certain that the picture was enhanced in Photoshop or with some digital software to give it that ethereal quality. I have always enjoyed telling them that in 1985 we didn’t have such things, and it was a simple original Kodachrome slide, unretouched in any way. People have asked why I didn’t do a vertical composition. They have never stretched out on a boom operator’s pad, leaned over to frame the shot and tried to focus manually while bouncing around in turbulent weather. I could barely frame the picture horizontally well enough to focus properly. A lucky shot? You bet. A good example of “f8 and be there.” With the multiplication of viewers made possible by the Internet, the picture has now become iconic. I have always felt very privileged to have had the opportunity to capture this image, of this jet, in this way.

It was the first time I had ever tried to photograph the SR-71 in flight.

[Gregory Townsend]

Cool stuff,
I was fortunate enough to see the one stationed at RAF Mildenhall England take off & land quite a few times in the mid 70s. They also had a U2 and there would always be a crowd of plane spotters just beyond the fence. Don't think that would happen today.

About five years ago I was surprised to see the same one on display nearby at Duxworth Air Museum.

The American Air Museum | Imperial War Museums

[Mr B]

The story of the A-12 Oxcart

[Dave Thompson]

The story of the A-12 Oxcart

If you follow some of the links in that story, you'll be taken to other sites (with even more links in each) with more stories about the A-12/SR.-71/B-70, their pilots and their exploits including a first-person account of surviving a high altitude supersonic disintegration of an SR-71 and outrunning an anti-aircraft missile over Lybia. Some really good stuff!

[Mr B]

Previously-Classified photographs of SR-71 Production

[EricKeller]

think that door would latch after they were done?

[slowSSer]

favor to ask- for those of you who DL'ed the pdf, could someone send me a copy? i lost it when i got canned from my last job.

[defspace]

Try this: Sled Driver PDF : SR71

*I didn't try it.


You knew it was coming - did you get canned for reading Sled Driver on the job?

[slowSSer]

Try this: Sled Driver PDF : SR71

*I didn't try it.


You knew it was coming - did you get canned for reading Sled Driver on the job?

no i did not! the laptop was used frequently at home for other projects off the job. there was just a major slowdown in work.

/thanks for the link by the way...will check when at home- work computers at the new job are touchy about the above site apparently.

[slowSSer]

more SR71 geekery:

The thrill of flying the SR-71 Blackbird

[slowSSer]

Try this: Sled Driver PDF : SR71

*I didn't try it.


You knew it was coming - did you get canned for reading Sled Driver on the job?

update: link works for now. it's only an 8mb document, so it should be e-mail-able in the future if anyone should need it.

[BShow]

I have a copy saved as well if somebody needs it.

[Mr B]

I might have visited USS Intrepid with my old sea-dog of a Father today.
I wandered around later photographing all the other aircraft as if they were important, but it was really all about the Blackbird.
It's Fleet Week. Get your ass down there...

[Mr B]

ps
I know the A-12 above had a different nickname, but to a kid that grew up watching D.A.R.Y.L. any plane that looks like this is a Blackbird!
The folks that run the Intrepid think the same way.

[lukasz]

I'm pretty sure you used to be able to walk up a ladder to see into the cockpit there in the 90s. And I'm like 90% sure there was a little hole to drop coins into like some sort of giant tip jar. Need to look through family photos to confirm.

[bigbill]

I got to live out many an aviation geeks fantasy as the Officer of the Deck on a US carrier during OIF and OEF. During OEF, we were tooling around in the north end of the Indian Ocean between airstrikes when we were contacted by a group of B-52's heading back to Diego Garcia after bombing the Taliban in Afghanistan. They wanted to descend to 1500 feet and fly by. I contacted the Commanding Officer and he gave permission for the flyby. I told the flight deck people what was going on and our media guys headed out to vulture's row to take pictures. I can't begin to describe the noise other than to say it would make you nauseous. It was deafening inside the insulated bridge of the carrier. It was impressive but the Captain said we'd never ever do that again.