Science Forums 2

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by jab2

Do you have any book recommendations on the SR71? I have two of the earlier works (can't remember names now) but that was written before the planes were withdrawn from service and classified data was released. Amazon about 4 months ago recommended a book written by a former pilot to me, but I'm more interested in the systems than flying experiences over Russian.

I’ve never read anything longer than an article on the SR-71, often in a story about the U-2, Lockheed’s Skunk Works and Kelly Johnson, or a couple of chapters in a book about the history of Lockheed, all work more focused on the human history around these aircraft than their engineering.

Unfortunately, I think, despite being subject to state secrecy, the engineering of the SR-71’s Blackbird family of airplanes is likely to remain and even become more mysterious. Its actual manufacturing tools were intentionally destroyed in the late 1960s, and few people with knowledge of its design and building remain alive. With increasingly thorough and side-looking capable satellite reconnaissance, and a lack of military parity between the US and the former USSR, need for Mach 3+ reconnaissance planes, high-speed interceptors, super-fast transports, suborbital transports, etc, is at or near an all-time low. It’s fortunate, I think, that enough interest in scramjets remains to support even the current scaled-back X-43 program, and surprising, given diminishing interest in reusable launch vehicles, which it the main role an eventual X-43 program aircraft is envisioned to fill.

It’s rather a rough, or at lease an unglamorous time to be an aerospace engineer, I think.

I wonder, what sort of strategic direction might improve things?