Talk:Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

In Popular Culture?

How about an "in popular culture" section? X-men, etc. Theanthrope (talk) 20:28, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

No! See WP:TRIVIA.  Stepho  talk  01:01, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

We have a special place for that sort of information: Aircraft in fiction § Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. However, it doesn't currently list the X-men, and probably won't. BilCat (talk) 02:56, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

Red warning stripes

ref "unsourced OR" revert:

it's ok to change sourced information if it's obviously incorrect. In this case the source uses incorrect terminology. Actually red stripes alone are not even an adequate warning. They will be ignored if there are no red words with the stripes, probably "NO STEP" in this case or words explaining why the stripes are there. As an example this Hawkeye has 2 separate stripes with applicable words, one to warn of whirling propeller blades and one to warn of location of disintegrating starter turbine.

Note red danger stripes for propeller and starter

To illustrate the distinction between warning and prevention see this Crusader

F-8J Crusader on display at the Air Zoo

The red stripes only warn not to get sucked in. Prevention requires a wire mesh screen to be in place. Pieter1963 (talk) 00:41, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

Accounting for my edit on the Baltic Express

Five years ago, Ninjalectual (talk · contribs) tagged the second paragraph of the European flights section with {{clarify}}, apparently due to unsatisfactory phrasing and link rot. In repairing the dead link, I encountered information which prompted a rewrite of the second paragraph, and the inclusion of a map and a quite relevant image. The clarification prompted two new sections, one on the route and the geography of the Baltic sea, and the other on Soviet intercepts. It was also natural to either mention or include links to the Cold War relations of Sweden/USA/USSR, scrambling, the nature of intercepting foreign military aircraft and simulated shoot-downs, as well as adding a source (ref name=rbth2012) from the MiG-25 article, and also a new one I found (ref name=AGCViggen).

I included the map of the Baltic sea in order to illustrate the Baltic express route. However, it has some problems. It's a modern map, which means that it doesn't show the Soviet union. It doesn't show airspace borders. It doesn't highlight the key corridors (DDR/Malmö & Gotland/Öland). And it doesn't show the Baltic express route. Despite all this, I would argue that the map still provides clarifying information to the reader about the Baltic operations mentioned in this section. (Some more locations for a custom map: "Codan", Finow-Eberswalde, Stockholm (and possibly other capitals), Ä,R,N,V,P,H,T)

Lastly, I added a photo with dual significance to the final paragraph. Not only is the photographed event mentioned in the text, but the nested operational photo that's displayed at the event is reportedly the only time an SR-71 has been photographed during an intercept. (It's a commons file. And the original copyright for both appears to have belonged to the Swedish government. So the nesting shouldn't be a problem.) BucketOfSquirrels (talk) 18:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Interesting contribution – however, the picture in front on the Air Medal photo is clearly a painting. Might the photo be the one in the back? --Zac67 (talk) 19:07, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Thanks, I didn't catch that. Just assumed that one of the reinforcing fighters had taken a photo, and that they displayed it for the occasion. Yes, the intercept photo that the sources mention might be the one displayed on the screen in the back. The caption should be changed. BucketOfSquirrels (talk) 19:17, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Factual errors needing correction in future

1. The SR-71 was based off the YF-12 interceptor, not the A-12. The SR-71 has the same weapons bays and nose bay, while the A-12 has a large central bay. The YF-12 and SR-71 are so similar that a damaged SR-71 was repaired by cutting a YF-12 in half and joining them. This is not possible with the A-12.

2. The SR-71 was not retired for political reasons, it was retired after a CIA report found that it was causing extremely excessive attrition of ground crews, who were pulled from other squadrons in large numbers. The additional training was so excessive that enlisted personnel only had 18 months remaining on their contracts by the time training was complete, requiring several times the number of crews for a given amount of contracts. It also was an extreme burden to maintain, causing nearly all enlisted personnel to refuse to reenlist. The turbines also had a terrible TBO of only a few hundred hours.

3. The engines reached maximum temperature at Mach 2.4, requiring gradual reduction of turbine rpms to maintain temperature as intake temperature increased above mach 2.4. The article says the overheating is caused by fuel flow, but it is not. The manual clearly shows maximum fuel flow available to Mach 3.2 as long as rpms are not exceeded. 2600:1008:B062:697C:E0:241C:CEE6:ED14 (talk) 02:16, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm interested in trying to correct anything (usually engine) if I am able. I'm stuck with para 3 though as I cannot find in the manual where it says max fuel is used up to M3.2. What page says this? Thanks. Pieter1963 (talk) 22:19, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Correction of Factual Error about Acquisition of Titanium

Arg. For the umpteenth time, I see a very misinformed quote about the rarity of titanium ORE as the reason Lockheed needed to get titanium METAL from the Soviet Union. OMG, people, what do you think is used as the white base for all of the paint on your house, after lead oxide was banned? Titanium Dioxide is super common, found everywhere, and is dirt cheap.

It was the labor and expense of reducing the titanium metal out of the oxide that made it so much less available in the U.S. This stuff require guvmint support and subsidies, and the Soviet Union was just willing to pump far more money into that support than the U.S. guvmint during the 1950s and 1960s. Titanium dioxide can't be reacted with carbon, unlike iron oxide ore, because that will just get you titanium carbide. Heck, just look up the Wikipedia entry for Titanium. It explains all that.

So, factually incorrect quote deleted. Real facts inserted, including a quote from somebody at Lockheed who worked on the project.

And, please, self-styled editors of Wikipedia, leave in the beginning comment about "a commonly repeated misconception", because I really do see that EVERYWHERE, and it drives me nuts every time I see it. Yea, I even saw it here on Wikipedia, that's how commonly repeated this misconception is. And that's why you need to leave that comment in.