Strategic Air Command GroupBulid

DesertRat, sure I can't come up with a good one.

Heres my first try at seat belt straps,

Number Six

Lockheed Blackbirds, A-12, YF-12A and SR-71

The A-12 has been retired since 1968 and the SR-71 since 1990, 1997 or 1999 depending on which of the three "last flights" you want to count.  Several books have been written since the retirement and declassification of much of the Senior Crown program and these books have shed much light on the secret life of the Blackbirds.

The SR-71 was designed to fly at a max altitude of approximately 85,000 feet with a cruising speed of about Mach 3.2 while it's older sister, the slightly smaller and lighter A-12 could beat these limits a little bit.  While it is physically possible for the SR-71 go Mach 3.5 for a few minutes, sustained speed at that rate would have required several expensive modifications.  A "zoom climb" to 95,000 feet was possible, but could not be maintained for more than a few seconds.  The jet had an absolute speed limit of 420 KEAS, knots equivalent airspeed due to inlet duct pressures and temperatures as well as inlet capture area and engine compressor inlet temperature.

Mach 3 flight in a Blackbird was accomplished by 389 people, 284 crewmembers and 105 VIP "passengers" in one of the trainers.  The USAF had 93 pilots and 89 RSOs qualified to fly the SR-71.  163 had over 300 hours flight time, 69 had over 600 hours, 18 had over 900 hours and only 8 made it over 1,000.  RSO Lt Col Joseph "JT" Vida was high time crewmember with 1,492 hours while high time pilot was Major Bredette "BC" Thomas with 1,217 hours.  JT was the RSO for the Los Angeles to Washington record run in early 1990 when 17972 was delivered to the Smithsonian Musuem at Dulles IAP.  1 hour, 7 minutes and 54 seconds averaging 2,144 mph.  That is approximately 1 mile every 2 seconds.

SR-71s flew 53,490 total hours on 17,300 missions.  3,551 operational missions were over such areas as North VietNam, North Korea, the Middle East, Libya, Iran, Nicaragua, Cuba, South Africa and the Faulkland Islands.  While SR-71s were fired upon numerous times by AAA and Surface to Air Missiles, NONE were ever shot down.  Demonstrating what no other airplane before or since can accomplish, Blackbirds spent 11,675 hours above Mach 3.

 On December 20, 1989, an SR-71A made a near sonic pass down the runway at Burbank Airport, home of the Skunkworks, to honor all those who worked in designing and producing the fastest air-breathing aircraft in the world.  Kelly Johnson, long retired and gravely ill was there to watch.  He would pass away almost exactly a year later on December 21, 1990, forever a legend like the aircraft that he created.

Darwin, O.F. 

There are a dozen or more good books on the SR-71 with some better than others of course.  Anything by Paul Crickmore is great, with many photos.  He was not a crewmember, but has a lot of insider information.  Major Brian Shul was a pilot and wrote "Sled Driver" and "The Untouchables".  Both are very interesting reading, but short on pictures for modelers.  James Goodall was a crewchief on SR-71s and has written at least two books.  One called "SR-71 Blackbird" published by Squadron Signal and an even better one co-authored with Jay Miller called "Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird Family" by Aerofax publishing.  It goes into great detail about all three major variants of the Blackbird as well as the D-21 drone program.  Tony Landis (official Lockheed photographer) and Dennis Jenkins co-authored volume 10 of the Warbird Tech series called Lockheed Blackbirds.  I would rate these last two as the best for a modeler with many pictures and accurate text data, with a few exceptions.  The last was updated in 2004, so it has the latest information on airframe disposition and the shutdown of the program.

Darwin, O.F.

DesertRat wrote:

Hiya Yardbird!     But i take it that ironball black has a very different texture than the army issued CARC?    I now take it that there is pretty much no luster if the paint is brand new? And also how often are they due for recoating? Somehow i suspect that the maintenance schedule and painting intervals for both the U-2 and SR-71 might be similar.

I have no idea what Army CARC is, so I cannot answer that question.  The ironball was a very flat black that appeared slightly different under different lighting conditions and after differing amonts of wear and time.  Early in the Senior Crown program, ie 1960s and 1970s, when lots of money was available in the budget, painting was done on a fairly regular basis during major maintenance, usually at Palmdale.  Later in the program, when money was a lot tighter, the painting was done much less often. 

Airframes number 17950, 951, 952, 953, 954 and 955 were test and evaluation birds that stayed with Lockheed or USAF at Palmdale and Edwards.  They never flew operational missions, so they lived a kinder, gentler life style than their bretheran that flew operational missions in South East Asia or Europe.  This was also a factor in their appearance.

The U-2, being a subsonic aircraft, was not subject to the extreme heating and stresses that the SR-71 endured on every flight.  This also made a difference in how the paint aged.

If you want to depict your model as one that has recently come out of deep phase maintenance with a new coat of paint, then basic flat black overall would be accurate.  For jets that have not been through this process for awhile, you could add a drop or two of white to the black and paint some panels with that.

The nose cones separated just ahead of the front canopy and were interchangeable to meet different mission requirements.  You frequently see photos of SR-71s with the nose cone a different sheen than the rest of the plane.  The 3 different nose cones had the SLR, Side Looking Radar or the OBC, Optical Bar Camera or just ballast for test flights. 

Darwin, O.F.

Hiya Yardbird!

   Actually, i've never heard that either were painted a dark blue, so no confusion there. Being that the only airframes i had my hands on were rotary wing, i woulda thought that some things would be different. Makes sense on the sheen on the sheetmetal. But i take it that ironball black has a very different texture than the army issued CARC?

   I'm basically basing all of my observations on pictures i had seen and with seeing them in person (but never any closer than 50 meters away because of security). I now take it that there is pretty much no luster if the paint is brand new? And also how often are they due for recoating? Somehow i suspect that the maintenance schedule and painting intervals for both the U-2 and SR-71 might be similar.

   Pardon the 20 questions. It might shape up to be an easy build, but i wanna make sure i get it right. Thanks!

DesertRat wrote:

Can't seem to load any pictures here at my work computer. So i'll have to take a look at it tonight. But since we are kinda hovering around the subject, with the U-2, SR-71, F-117 (or any military AC that is painted black it seems) it looks like there is no gloss or luster on the paint at all. It looks like with all those airframes, it looks very much as if they were powdercoated or something. And of course any pictures i bring up online kinda show more of the same. Was this a SAC or blackops thing?    I've read on other threads concerning future or some kinda glosscoat, and i wanted to try it. But i'm wondering if that would be inaccurate for my first project here. Any thoughts? Thanks

I have never had any direct dealings with the F-117, so I cannot comment on it.  The SR-71 and the U-2 were both painted with what is called "ironball black".  It is VERY flat black, (NOT dark blue as some claim), and contains microscopic iron particles.  This does a little bit toward absorbing and dispersing radar energy so as to help with stealthiness.  This black paint had a tendency to change luster with age so some of the planes that have not had a recent total repaint, do have different panels with different "sheen" to them. 

The A-12, first of the Blackbird family, was operated by the CIA and could be described as a "blackops" machine.  The SR-71 was operated by the USAF ala Strategic Air Command and while pretty much classified, it would not really be accurate to call it blackops.  The aircraft and program were know to the general public, but specific details remained secret.

Darwin, O.F.

R-CMan73, E-3 looking good

First things I've started painting are the pilots, cockpit.  I got some paint for it at the hobby shot, but didn't want to spend 29.99 on the Testors Blackbird at this time.  That'll have to wait. 

Here are some progress pix of the E-3

The Radome

The engines

The trucks

The underside of the wing

The upperside

The tail

And the office

Can't seem to load any pictures here at my work computer. So i'll have to take a look at it tonight. But since we are kinda hovering around the subject, with the U-2, SR-71, F-117 (or any military AC that is painted black it seems) it looks like there is no gloss or luster on the paint at all. It looks like with all those airframes, it looks very much as if they were powdercoated or something. And of course any pictures i bring up online kinda show more of the same. Was this a SAC or blackops thing?

   I've read on other threads concerning future or some kinda glosscoat, and i wanted to try it. But i'm wondering if that would be inaccurate for my first project here. Any thoughts? Thanks

FeldMarSchall Model wrote:

Heres two pictures of my second Blackbird,

Nice work on the Blackbird.  I was married to that thing for 12 years, so it has a very special place in my heart.  I spent 7 years out of that 12 TDY, mostly to Kadena, supporting it.

Darwin, O.F.

FeldMarSchall Model wrote:

Cdclukey, Don't know what I was thinking.  RB-57s were in SAC, my mistake.

No sweat, Herr FeldMarschall, you're a modeler, not SAC's authorized biographer. :-)

DesertRat, it is.

Heres two pictures of my second Blackbird,

It looks better than my first blackbird, it was the B model.  And I painted it in gloss black lol.  That along with an F-117, those two were my first aircraft.  After putting together a Me-109, and seeing how good that turned out.  I know my B-47, and SR-71 will turn out good.  

Nice choice! I kinda see a skunkworks theme starting to brew here!

Oh, and i'm sure you must be absolutely mortified that you "have to" go buy another kit!

Sweet!!!!! My first GB! So when do i get my official decoder ring?

Actually FWIW, i should clarify that i'm waiting to start my U-2R. Just awaiting the needed tools, ya know?

DesertRat, You can still post your U-2R even if its closer to being finished.

Cdclukey, Don't know what I was thinking.  RB-57s were in SAC, my mistake.

Wirraway,  You can do a RB-57.  And did you say somthing about B-58?  --> 

Yardbird78, Great job on this mini aircraft bio's.

Hiya FeldMarSchall!

Brand new here, and i gotta U-2R  on the bench to build. Just waitin on my airbrush. Can i get in on the group build here? Or am i too late?

Number Five

Northrop XB/YB-35 and YB/YRB-49.  I just finished re-reading the book, "The Flying Wings of Jack Northrop", by Garry Pape and John Campbell.  The introduction to the B-35 on page 46 starts out, "The B-35 seemed to be Jack Northrop's dream of a flying wing come true.  It was designed to meet the need for an intercontinental bomber capable of hitting German targets from the US."

  The Convair B-36 and the Northrop B-35 were both designed to meet this requirement and as such, whichever one was put into production would become part of the US strategic bomber program.  The B-35 was powered by 4 of the P&W R-4360 engines driving two, four bladed contra-rotating propellers on each engine.  These proved very troublesome due to excessive vibration and gearbox problems.  They were replaced by a single four bladed prop on each engine.  This reduced some of the problems, but caused others including drastically reduced aircraft performance.

  The jet engine was fast replacing the piston engine, propeller driven aircraft and so the Northrop engineers modified several YB-35s for jet propulsion and this became the B-49.  They originally used 4 Allison J-35-A-15 jets in each wing.  The last version was the YRB-49 which was powered by two Allison J-35-A-19 engines in each wing and one more in a pod under each wing.  The jet powered wing flew at a maximum of 493 mph vs 391mph for the recip and cruise speed was 419 vs 240 mph.  The biggest problem was that range dropped from 7100 miles to just 3100.  The maximum bomb load dropped from 52,000 pounds to just 32,000.

The Flying Wing was a great airplane that was aerodynamically many years ahead of it's time and comtemporaries, but the instability inherent to the design could not be conquered until the advent of modern day computer controlled flight. 

Darwin, O.F.

Even if the FeldMarSchall was guilty of a typo and meant the B-57, there's this. According to this Global security page...

http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/systems/rb-57.htm

...SAC took delivery of RB-57s in 1956.

It seems reasonable that since the B-57 was adopted as a replacement for a tactical bomber (the B-26) it was used in a tactical role by tactical commands, but SAC took care of strategic recon, so a recon version would be up for grabs. TAC also used it for tactical recon.

Did you mean B-57 ?  I only picked it because it was the easiest, a fairly basic model those old Revell kits.  I was a bit spolied for choice with a B-36, B-58 and a B-52 in the stash, but I'm looking forward to starting the Peacemaker, now I know how much weight to put in to keep the nose wheel on the deck. 

Paul.

Number Four 

The two Boeing XB-47 Stratojet prototypes were produced at Boeing's Seattle, Washington, plant.  Production was then started at Boeing's Wichita, Kansas plant and supplemented by production by Douglas at their Tulsa, Oklahoma, plant and Lockheed-Martin plant at Marietta, Georgia plant.  Total production was 2,049 airframes.

XB-47-BO         2      Boeing-Seattle

B-47A-BW       10      Boeing-Wichita

B-47B-BW       399     Boeing-Wichita

B-47E-BW         931     Boeing-Wichita

B-47E-DT        274     Douglas-Tulsa

B-47E-LM        386     Lockheed-Martin

RB-47H-BW       32     Boeing-Wichita

RB-47K-BW       15      Boeing-Wichita

The vast majority of these machines were assigned to the 40 bomb and reconnaissance wings of SAC.

Darwin, O.F.

Number Three.

The Grumman SA-16 or HU-16 Albatross came in both A and B models.  The main external difference was a 200 inch longer wing on the B model.  There was a 70 inch plug just outboard of the engines and a 30 inch plug just inboard of the tips. This made a distinctive "kink" in the trailing edge of the wing at the inboard extension. It was originally designed and built as an amphibian that could operate off of water or land.  Quite a few of them were modified to "Tri-phibian" status with addition of a keel skid and castoring skids on the tips floats that allowed the plane to operate off of ice or snow.

SAC operated several SA-16s at northern tier bases in the mid to late 1950s, particularly in Newfoundland, Canada, for resupply, communications, rescue and base hacks.  Actually the most important use was when a few Generals wanted to use them for transportation to a remote Canadian lake to go fishing.

They had Insignia Red high visibility markings on the tail, outer wing panels and tip floats with the SAC band & insignia on the aft fuselage.

Darwin, O.F.

Here's a wideshot of the Coldwar hanger at the USAF Museum in Dayton Ohio, I couldn't get them all in.  I'll have to try again next time.

And another view looking more right,