"Brian, The Life of" (familycar)
11/21/2017 at 19:18 • Filed to: Blackbird, Speedcheck
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"Brian, The Life of" (familycar)
11/21/2017 at 19:18 • Filed to: Blackbird, Speedcheck | 18
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Someone posted this to a Facebook group I belong to for folks who grew up in the Antelope Valley during the Cold War decades. The shot was probably taken in the early-mid ‘80s near Lockheed’s Skunk Works facility. Back then we’d see them at least weekly.
boredalways
> Brian, The Life of
11/21/2017 at 19:20 |
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*sploosh*
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Brian, The Life of
> boredalways
11/21/2017 at 19:21 |
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IKR?
Chariotoflove
> Brian, The Life of
11/21/2017 at 19:21 |
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Wow.
Ash78, voting early and often
> Brian, The Life of
11/21/2017 at 19:22 |
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I’m gonna be That Guy and say it’s probably shopped. The plane was already in service for 20 years (ie, not a test flight) and they wouldn’t risk the asset with such low altitude maneuvers. Doesn’t appear to be landing. Maybe taking off, gear up a little early?
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Brian, The Life of
> Ash78, voting early and often
11/21/2017 at 19:29 |
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After Lockheed stopped build L-1011s in the ‘70s, they converted the enormous hanger/facility off Sierra Highway to the Skunkworks maintenance operations. U2s and SR-71s were very, very common sights for us. I’d place good money on the photo being real since I saw many similar sights. This was probably captured by some kid with a pocket instamatic, haha.
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Ash78, voting early and often
> Brian, The Life of
11/21/2017 at 19:37 |
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My dad was in SoCal aviation circles in the early 70s and saw some crazy stuff, for sure. I was just questioning this particular photo, given the risk and how few of these were built. I love a good Skunkworks story. Even if it sounds too crazy to be true, it’s probably true.
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Brian, The Life of
> Ash78, voting early and often
11/21/2017 at 19:41 |
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My mom worked for North American/Rockwell for years. Started on the XB-70 program, had me and took some time off, then worked on the B-1 program until it wrapped up and went on to the Space Shuttle project without leaving her office at Plant 42.
shop-teacher
> Brian, The Life of
11/21/2017 at 20:07 |
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Daaaaaaang!!!!
Urambo Tauro
> Brian, The Life of
11/21/2017 at 20:21 |
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SPEEDCHECK
wafflesnfalafel
> Brian, The Life of
11/21/2017 at 20:28 |
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ground hugging radar, (awesome pic)
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Brian, The Life of
> Urambo Tauro
11/21/2017 at 21:08 |
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Don’t start that again!
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Ash78, voting early and often
> Brian, The Life of
11/21/2017 at 21:23 |
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wow....that is awesome. Three of my favorite aircraft of all time, easily.
Shame about the XB-70 going obsolete so quickly, though (and, well, the test flights didn’t all go smoothly)
ateamfan42
> Brian, The Life of
11/22/2017 at 09:48 |
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I’ve been fascinated with the Blackbird since I was a little kid. I’m saddened I never got the opportunity to see one fly while they were still in service.
One my “someday” goals is to make trips to visit every surviving A-12, YF-12, M21, and SR-71.
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Brian, The Life of
> Ash78, voting early and often
11/22/2017 at 12:36 |
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The crash was technically a photoshoot but, yeah. The other incidents are more reflective of how flight testing was back before comprehensive computer modelling, etc. There was still a lot of “take it it and see what happens” in 1965.