Lockheed Blackbird Family
Not even the "trainer" A-12 (#60-6927) had a periscope from what I know... http://www.sr-71.org/photogallery/blackbird/06927/
Don't think any of the Blackbirds had periscopes... TEG
Don't think any of the Blackbirds had periscopes... TEG
[Airplanes are] near perfect, all they lack is the ability to forgive.
— Richard Collins
— Richard Collins
Salute!
Besides the bird cranium's links to the actual folks that flew the jets and designed them and maintained them, you can look at great stuff in the Dash-One.
http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/
I only know two guys that flew the jet, but didn't hear anything about a "periscope".
Gums sends ...
P.S. The RCS of the Blackbird was much lower than most folks realize. Another thing was the fact that a slowly rotating, long-range radar antenna would only see the thing maybe 5 or 6 miles apart between sweeps. So auto-correlation didn't work. A JAX radar operator had a war story when he picked up a Blackbird one night. Don't know why he was using "raw" radar display, but said the blips were at least 6 or 7 miles apart. Estimated groundspeed was about 2400 knots. Ohh baby, ohhh baby!
Besides the bird cranium's links to the actual folks that flew the jets and designed them and maintained them, you can look at great stuff in the Dash-One.
http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/
I only know two guys that flew the jet, but didn't hear anything about a "periscope".
Gums sends ...
P.S. The RCS of the Blackbird was much lower than most folks realize. Another thing was the fact that a slowly rotating, long-range radar antenna would only see the thing maybe 5 or 6 miles apart between sweeps. So auto-correlation didn't work. A JAX radar operator had a war story when he picked up a Blackbird one night. Don't know why he was using "raw" radar display, but said the blips were at least 6 or 7 miles apart. Estimated groundspeed was about 2400 knots. Ohh baby, ohhh baby!
Gums
Viper pilot '79
"God in your guts, good men at your back, wings that stay on - and Tally Ho!"
Viper pilot '79
"God in your guts, good men at your back, wings that stay on - and Tally Ho!"
Brother Gums to the rescue...
...after consulting the proper technical data... The SR-71 and YF-12s had "Rear View Periscopes" that gave some rearward visibility to the pilots in flight.
REF: http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/yf-12a-1/1/1-113.php
Thanks Gums, why didn't I think of that!?! TEG
...after consulting the proper technical data... The SR-71 and YF-12s had "Rear View Periscopes" that gave some rearward visibility to the pilots in flight.
REF: http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/yf-12a-1/1/1-113.php
Thanks Gums, why didn't I think of that!?! TEG
[Airplanes are] near perfect, all they lack is the ability to forgive.
— Richard Collins
— Richard Collins
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P.S. The RCS of the Blackbird was much lower than most folks realize.
I own a book, "Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach" by Dr. Daniel P. Raymer, which lists the A-12 as having an RCS of 0.014 square meters, which I find very impressive.
However, that makes me wonder if the USAF has some solid definition of what "low observable" means? Is there some given RCS requirement (i.e. no more than X square meters in such-and-such band radar)? Or is that classified?
Jesus is coming soon. Be prepared for Him.
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mustang65 wrote:It seems that the YF-12 was the only plane to have the rear facing periscopes but it would make more sense even on the Sr-71 for them to be facing forward instead.
The Blackbird had decent enough forward vision to fly by - the periscope was installed to permit the crew to check out some areas of the aircraft that were otherwise out of sight. From my memories of SR71- Myths and Legends, which I don't have to hand, I believe this was after an early loss or near loss due to some control surfaces being damaged and the crew being unaware of this fact.
Fitting periscopes to aircraft for this reason isn't uncommon and I believe the Victor, Vulcan and also the Valkyrie were similarly equipped.
The only proposals for aircraft to have forward facing periscopes that I recall were the Thunderwarrior and the British fast bomber proposal - the AVRO 730 in the 1950's - both for similar reasons - the intended cruise speed was too fast for any existing transparent material to survive in flight.
Ian
[quote="KryptidIs there some given RCS requirement (i.e. no more than X square meters in such-and-such band radar)? Or is that classified?[/quote]
Yes...and yes.
Yes...and yes.
Roscoe
F-16 Program Manager
USAF Test Pilot School 92A
"It's time to get medieval, I'm goin' in for guns" - Dos Gringos
F-16 Program Manager
USAF Test Pilot School 92A
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How long can the Blackbird fly at Mach 3.2? Also if they were to put a forward facing periscope today we have transparent material today that can withstand the heat. They probably had the material in the sixties as well too.
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mustang65 wrote:How long can the Blackbird fly at Mach 3.2? Also if they were to put a forward facing periscope today we have transparent material today that can withstand the heat. They probably had the material in the sixties as well too.
How long? As long as there's fuel and lubricants.
Forward facing periscope? What do you gain?
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