XH558 - was Re: using new technology etc

[Guy Sotomayor]

> On Jun 18, 2015, at 9:18 AM, Peter Cetinski <pete at pski.net> wrote:
> 
>>> 
>> My son is stationed at Beale AFB (where the SR-71s were originally based) and 7963 is on static display there.  I've been up to it (you can actually *touch* it!)  They are wicked cool looking and *big*.   They also have a static display of the drone which could be launched from the back of an SR-71.  After some initial testing (can't remember if they lost an aircraft in the process), they decided it wasn't a particularly good idea.  The clearance between the drone and the vertical stabilizers/rudders is not large.
>> 
>> TTFN - Guy
> 
> 
> I worked on the cameras on the SR-71 at Beale in the late 1980s.  Still gives me goosebumps thinking about it.  The drone was the D-21 which flew on the back of the M-21 (which was modified A-12 (which itself was the SR-71s predecessor)).  You can see a video of that fateful test here.
> 
> https://youtu.be/GMyC2urCl_4

Thanks.  I hadn't seen that film before.

I'm sort of sad about the SR-71.  Our house is on a hill that can (almost) overlook Beale.  It would have been *amazing* to have seen/heard SR-71s taking off.

BTW, we see U-2s occasionally from our house.

TTFN - Guy