Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed Martin X-35B Joint Strike Fighter, with other modern jet aircraft

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed Martin X-35B Joint Strike Fighter, with other modern jet aircraft

Some cool precision turning and machining pictures:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed Martin X-35B Joint Strike Fighter, with other modern day jet aircraft

Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed Martin X-35B STOVL:

This aircraft is the initial X-35 ever constructed. It was initially the X-35A and was modified to include the lift-fan engine for testing of the STOVL concept. Among its numerous test records, this aircraft was the first in history to obtain a quick takeoff, level supersonic dash, and vertical landing in a single flight. It is also the very first aircraft to fly using a shaft-driven lift-fan propulsion program. The X-35B flight test system was a single of the shortest, most powerful in history, lasting from June 23, 2001 to August 6, 2001.

The lift-fan propulsion technique is now displayed next to the X-35B at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center close to Dulles Airport.

On July 7, 2006, the production model F-35 was officially named F-35 Lightning II by T. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff USAF.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Date:
2001

Dimensions:
Wing span: 10.05 m (33 ft in)
Length: 15.47 m (50 ft 9 in)
Height: around five m (15 ft in)
Weight: around 35,000 lb.

Materials:
Composite material aircraft skin, alternating steel and titanium spars. Single-engine, single-seat configuration consists of lift-fan and steering bars for vertical flight.

Physical Description:
Short takeoff/vertical landing variant to be utilised by U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marines and the United Kingdom, equipped with a shaft-driven lift fan propulsion system which enables the aircraft to take off from a quick runway or modest aircraft carrier and to land vertically.
Engine: Pratt &amp Whitney JSF 119-PW-611 turbofan deflects thrust downward for short takeoff/vertical landing capability. The Air Force and Navy versions use a thrust-vectoring exhaust nozzle. The Marine Corps and Royal Air Force/Navy version has a swivel-duct nozzle an engine-driven fan behind the cockpit and air-reaction manage valves in the wings to provide stability at low speeds.
Other key subcontractors are Rolls Royce and BAE.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Grumman A-6E Intruder:

The Navy’s expertise in the Korean War showed the need for a new extended-range strike aircraft with higher subsonic functionality at extremely low altitude–an aircraft that could penetrate enemy defenses and discover and destroy tiny targets in any climate. The Grumman A-6 Intruder was designed with these wants in mind. The Intruder very first flew in 1960 and was delivered to the Navy in 1963 and the Marine Corps in 1964.

The Navy accepted this airplane as an &quotA&quot model in 1968. It served under harsh combat situations in the skies more than Vietnam and is a veteran of the 1991 Desert Storm campaign, when it flew missions in the course of the initial 72 hours of the war. It has accumulated much more than 7,500 flying hours, more than 6,500 landings, 767 carrier landings, and 712 catapult launches.

Transferred from the United States Navy, Workplace of the Secretary

Date:
1960

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 16ft 2in. x 52ft 12in. x 54ft 9in., 26745.8lb. (4.928m x 16.154m x 16.688m, 12131.8kg)

Components:
Standard all-metal, graphite/epoxy wing (retrofit), aluminium handle surfaces, titanium high-strength fittings (wing-fold).

Physical Description:
Dual spot (side by side), twin-engine, all-weather attack aircraft several variants.

The Machine Keeps Turning

Image by Specialist Photography

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird port panorama (F-4 Corsair & P-40 Warhawk overhead)

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird port panorama (F-4 Corsair & P-40 Warhawk overhead)

Some cool plastic machining business images:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird port panorama (F-4 Corsair & P-40 Warhawk overhead)

Image by Chris Devers
See a lot more pictures of this, and the Wikipedia report.

Specifics, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Curtiss P-40E Warhawk (Kittyhawk IA):

Regardless of whether known as the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 proved to be a productive, versatile fighter during the initial half of Globe War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that Gen. Claire Chennault’s &quotFlying Tigers&quot flew in China against the Japanese remain among the most common airplanes of the war. P-40E pilot Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the very first American ace of Planet War II when he shot down six Japanese aircraft in the Philippines in mid-December 1941.

Curtiss-Wright constructed this airplane as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk I in 1941. It served until 1946 in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. U.S. Air Force personnel at Andrews Air Force Base restored it in 1975 to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.

Donated by the Exchange Club in Memory of Kellis Forbes.

Manufacturer:
Curtiss Aircraft Business

Date:
1939

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 330 x 970cm, 2686kg, 1140cm (10ft 9 15/16in. x 31ft 9 7/8in., 5921.6lb., 37ft 4 13/16in.)

Components:
All-metal, semi-monocoque

Physical Description:
Single engine, single seat, fighter aircraft.

• • • • •

See far more images of this, and the Wikipedia post.

Specifics, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in much more hostile airspace or with such total impunity than the SR-71, the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s efficiency and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technologies developments in the course of the Cold War.

This Blackbird accrued about two,800 hours of flight time throughout 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its final flight, March six, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, four minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging three,418 kilometers (two,124 miles) per hour. At the flight’s conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane more than to the Smithsonian.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

Designer:
Clarence L. &quotKelly&quot Johnson

Date:
1964

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (5.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (5.638m x 32.741m x 16.942m)

Materials:
Titanium

Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft airframe constructed largley of titanium and its alloys vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-type material) to lessen radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines function large inlet shock cones.

• • • • •

See more photographs of this, and the Wikipedia report.

Particulars, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Vought F4U-1D Corsair:

By V-J Day, September two, 1945, Corsair pilots had amassed an 11:1 kill ratio against enemy aircraft. The aircraft’s distinctive inverted gull-wing design and style allowed ground clearance for the huge, 3-bladed Hamilton Regular Hydromatic propeller, which spanned much more than 4 meters (13 feet). The Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radial engine and Hydromatic propeller was the biggest and a single of the most strong engine-propeller combinations ever flown on a fighter aircraft.

Charles Lindbergh flew bombing missions in a Corsair with Marine Air Group 31 against Japanese strongholds in the Pacific in 1944. This airplane is painted in the colors and markings of the Corsair Sun Setter, a Marine close-help fighter assigned to the USS Essex in July 1944.

Transferred from the United States Navy.

Manufacturer:
Vought Aircraft Firm

Date:
1940

Nation of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 460 x 1020cm, 4037kg, 1250cm (15ft 1 1/8in. x 33ft 5 9/16in., 8900lb., 41ft 1/8in.)

Components:
All metal with fabric-covered wings behind the main spar.

Physical Description:
R-2800 radial air-cooled engine with 1,850 horsepower, turned a three-blade Hamilton Normal Hydromatic propeller with solid aluminum blades spanning 13 feet 1 inch wing bent gull-shaped on both sides of the fuselage.

Hasegawa 1/72 Grumman F-11F-1 Tiger, extended nose, Blue Angel #1

Image by wbaiv
Blue Angels Tigers have been the longest serving Tigers. Its a pretty tiny airplane but technologies was moving so speedily that supersonic in level flight, four X 20mm cannon, and in-flight refueling capability weren’t enough to make a Visual Flight Guidelines (VFR – ie not evening/all weather, no radar in the nose…) fighter extremely interesting to the Navy. For a complete redesign that was initially pitched as a derivative of the F9F Cougar/Panther, the TIger is a fairly neat piece of function.
But with Vought’s F8U-1 Crusader and McDonnell F3H-1 Demon carrying some radar and promising much more, along with much more internal volume for fuel, the Tiger was good, but not very great sufficient.
The massive fin and rudder had been direct final results of the F-100C crash that killed test pilot George Welch- North American doubled the size of the F-100D’s fin and rudder. Grumman revised their prototype really swiftly when word got back from Edwards AFB, where both the F9F-11 and F-one hundred had been getting tested. Soon the F9F-11 was the F-11F-1 and a really modern-sized fin and rudder graced every Tiger that flew. The Tiger was also region ruled from the onset – taking a lesson from the tough luck of the Lockheed YP-90 and Convair YF-102, which looked great but could not get past the drag boost of the &quotsound barrier&quot.
It all seems so incredible, Vought, Lockheed, Grumman, North American, McDonnell, Convair, not to overlook Douglas, Republic, (and dark-horses Northrup, Boeing and Martin) all creating single-seat jet fighters in the USA, although AVRO Canada was conceiving the CF-105 to follow the CF-100s. AVRO, de Havilland, Bristol, Hawker, Supermarine (and other individuals?) have been designing single-seat fighters in the UK NORD and Dassault were lighting up French skies, and Bill Lear Jr was leading the design and style of an indigenous *Swiss* single seat jet. MiG, Yak, Sukoi and Tupolev had been all at it in the Soviet Union also.
Jet engine power and economy were nothing like today- they were heavy, weak, and blew fuel out the tail-pipe as if it expense

An Odd Sense of Tidiness?

Image by Alan Stanton
Beer can on the railings of Chestnuts Park. 30 January 2013.

Our buddy Lix Ixer and I have attempted to envision what may well be in people’s minds when they litter. Especially when an individual seems to take slightly more care than just dropping or tossing away a drink can.

On Harringay Online internet site Liz recommended a list of nine &quottypes&quot of litterers. Study the full version here. The drink-can spiker may belong to Liz’s very first variety.

Liz Ixer’s List of &quottypes&quot of litterers.

1 &quotThere is often an odd sense of ‘tidiness’ about some litterers: these are the ones who meticulously pop their cans and paper down the backs of utility cabinets, balance them on walls or tuck them down the side of planters. A small bit of them knows what they are performing is wrong and they hope by getting ‘tidy’, they offend less (perhaps there is a distant memory of a mum or dad telling them to put it in the bin).&quot

two &quotFervent believers in the Haringey litter gods who should be propitiated with frequent offerings&quot.
3 &quotThose for whom littering is a civil liberties situation. You don’t have the right to inform them what to do with their lives, which includes what they do with their litter.&quot
four &quotSweet old ladies who cautiously sweep their front step and garden every single morning and then open the front gate and whoosh it all into the street. &quot
5 &quotThe group who believe they are keeping men and women in employment by spreading the litter far and wide.&quot
six &quotThe bone idle litterer . . . who can see a litter bin within a stride but can not be arsed to go 1 step out of their way to deposit their waste.&quot
7 &quotCar diners . . . who park up, acquire a fast meals delicacy from the several fine establishments in the area, return to their automobile, fill up on grease and carbs then pile the packaging into the gutter prior to driving off.&quot
eight &quotThe litter deniers …. have two excuses for themselves: ‘my one particular bottle/can/wrapper will not hurt as there is a bag awaiting collection anyway’ or ‘I would use a bin but they are as well manky/complete/hard to use’,&quot
9 &quotThe inebriated. After six lagers for £5, I doubt you could see the bin, let alone navigate your way to it.&quot

The aim is that by by understanding people’s behaviour it may possibly be changed. &quotWe require&quot, says Liz Ixer, &quotto be far more inventive and inventive in how we get people to be far more accountable.&quot

Liz mentions past public education campaigns. Also some current initiatives. Examples incorporate: a lot more incentives for people to recycle decreasing the use of plastic bags higher engagement with little quick meals outlets to assist clean up and with businesses to decrease packaging.

___________________________________

§ Read Liz Ixer’s comprehensive comment on Harringay On the internet web site..
§ This approach to behaviour alter has parallels with concepts in the book: Nudge: Enhancing Choices about Wellness, Wealth and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (2008).
§ Nudge employing a image of a housefly. Explained in a video of Richard Thaler.
§ Video of Cass Sunstein explaining Nudge at the WGBH Cambridge Forum.
§ Aerial view of exactly where I took this photo.
§ Pictures by Liz Ixer on Flickr.
§ By an Edinburgh cash machine – an impulse to tidiness?

.ten a gallon, which it most likely did. But they went faster the propeller engines. Compare the subterfuge and trickery all of these airframe firms of the 1950s were applying to the jet fighters of right now – tail surfaces are are nonetheless sharply swept, but wings got a lot straighter, since yet another ton or two of thrust is easier to make than a thin, tapering, swept structure that is stiff enough to do the job and cheap adequate to construct.
But the F11F or MiG-19, F-one hundred, F-8 Crusader, even the F-4 Phantom look like they’re going twice the speed of an F/A-18 or even the supercruise-capable F-22. (Supersonic without having afterburner).

IMG_6562

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay”, with Lockheed P-38J-ten-LO Lightning

A few nice machined elements companies images I located:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay”, with Lockheed P-38J-ten-LO Lightning

Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed P-38J-10-LO Lightning :

In the P-38 Lockheed engineer Clarence &quotKelly&quot Johnson and his team of designers created one particular of the most effective twin-engine fighters ever flown by any nation. From 1942 to 1945, U. S. Army Air Forces pilots flew P-38s more than Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific, and from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Lightning pilots in the Pacific theater downed more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Allied warplane.

Maj. Richard I. Bong, America’s major fighter ace, flew this P-38J-ten-LO on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field, Ohio, to evaluate an experimental method of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller manage levers. Nevertheless, his proper engine exploded in flight prior to he could conduct the experiment.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Firm

Date:
1943

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 390 x 1170cm, 6345kg, 1580cm (12ft 9 9/16in. x 38ft four five/8in., 13988.2lb., 51ft ten 1/16in.)

Materials:
All-metal

Physical Description:
Twin-tail boom and twin-engine fighter tricycle landing gear.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress &quotEnola Gay&quot:

Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Though made to fight in the European theater, the B-29 located its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a assortment of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.

On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon employed in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. 3 days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Wonderful Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on each missions.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.

Date:
1945

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
General: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 five/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)

Supplies:
Polished overall aluminum finish

Physical Description:
Four-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and high-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish general, standard late-Planet War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial number on vertical fin 509th Composite Group markings painted in black &quotEnola Gay&quot in black, block letters on reduced left nose.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: View of south hangar, such as B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay”, a glimpse of the Air France Concorde, and several others

Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress &quotEnola Gay&quot:

Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the very first bomber to residence its crew in pressurized compartments. Despite the fact that made to fight in the European theater, the B-29 located its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a selection of aerial weapons: standard bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.

On August 6, 1945, this Martin-constructed B-29-45-MO dropped the initial atomic weapon utilized in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. 3 days later, Bockscar (on show at the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance climate reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Fantastic Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on each missions.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.

Date:
1945

Nation of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft six five/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)

Materials:
Polished all round aluminum finish

Physical Description:
4-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and higher-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish all round, common late-Planet War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial quantity on vertical fin 509th Composite Group markings painted in black &quotEnola Gay&quot in black, block letters on decrease left nose.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Hawker Hurricane Mk. IIC, with Northrop P-61C Black Widow, B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay”, and SR-71 Blackbird in the background

Image by Chris Devers
See far more pictures of this, and the Wikipedia article.

Specifics, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy | Hawker Hurricane Mk. IIC:

Hawker Chief Designer Sydney Camm’s Hurricane ranks with the most critical aircraft styles in military aviation history. Designed in the late 1930s, when monoplanes have been deemed unstable and too radical to be effective, the Hurricane was the initial British monoplane fighter and the first British fighter to exceed 483 kilometers (300 miles) per hour in level flight. Hurricane pilots fought the Luftwaffe and helped win the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940.

This Mark IIC was constructed at the Langley factory, close to what is now Heathrow Airport, early in 1944. It served as a coaching aircraft in the course of the Planet War II in the Royal Air Force’s 41 OTU.

Donated by the Royal Air Force Museum

Manufacturer:
Hawker Aircraft Ltd.

Date:
1944

Nation of Origin:
United Kingdom

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 12.2 m (40 ft)
Length: 9.eight m (32 ft 3 in)
Height: 4 m (13 ft)
Weight, empty: 2,624 kg (five,785 lb)
Weight, gross: three,951 kg (eight,710 lb)
Prime speed:538 km/h (334 mph)
Engine:Rolls-Royce Merlin XX, liquid-cooled in-line V, 1,300 hp
Armament:4 20 mm Hispano cannons
Ordnance:two 250-lb or two 500-lb bombs or eight three-in rockets

Materials:
Fuselage: Steel tube with aircraft spruce forms and fabric, aluminum cowling
Wings: Stressed Skin Aluminum
Horizontal Stablizer: Anxiety Skin aluminum
Rudder: fabric covered aluminum
Control Surfaces: fabric covered aluminum

Physical Description:
Hawker Hurricane Mk. IIC single seat, low wing monoplane ground attack fighter enclosed cockpit steel tube fuselage with aircraft spruce forms and fabric, aluminum cowling, stressed skin aluminum wings and horizontal stablizer, fabric covered aluminum rudder and manage surfaces grey green camoflage best surface paint scheme with dove grey underside red and blue national roundel on upper wing surface and red, white, and blue roundel reduce wing surface red, white, blue, and yellow roundel fuselage sides red, white and blue tail flash Rolls-Royce Merlin XX, liquid cooled V-12, 1,280 horsepower engine Armament, 4: 20mm Hispano cannons.

• • • • •

See a lot more photographs of this, and the Wikipedia report.

Information, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy | Northrop P-61C Black Widow:

The P-61 Black Widow was the very first U.S. aircraft designed to find and destroy enemy aircraft at evening and in undesirable weather, a feat made feasible by the use of on-board radar. The prototype first flew in 1942. P-61 combat operations began just after D-Day, June six, 1944, when Black Widows flew deep into German airspace, bombing and strafing trains and road targeted traffic. Operations in the Pacific started at about the identical time. By the end of Globe War II, Black Widows had seen combat in each theater and had destroyed 127 enemy aircraft and 18 German V-1 buzz bombs.

The Museum’s Black Widow, a P-61C-1-NO, was delivered to the Army Air Forces in July 1945. It participated in cold-climate tests, high-altitude drop tests, and in the National Thunderstorm Project, for which the prime turret was removed to make room for thunderstorm monitoring equipment.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Northrop Aircraft Inc.

Date:
1943

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 450 x 1500cm, 10637kg, 2000cm (14ft 9 3/16in. x 49ft 2 9/16in., 23450.3lb., 65ft 7 three/8in.)

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress &quotEnola Gay&quot:

Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the first bomber to home its crew in pressurized compartments. Although developed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a selection of aerial weapons: traditional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.

On August 6, 1945, this Martin-constructed B-29-45-MO dropped the initial atomic weapon utilised in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance climate reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Great Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on each missions.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.

Date:
1945

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
General: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 5/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)

Components:
Polished general aluminum finish

Physical Description:
4-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and high-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish all round, common late-Globe War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial number on vertical fin 509th Composite Group markings painted in black &quotEnola Gay&quot in black, block letters on lower left nose.

• • • • •

See more pictures of this, and the Wikipedia post.

Specifics, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in a lot more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71, the world’s quickest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technologies developments throughout the Cold War.

This Blackbird accrued about two,800 hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its final flight, March six, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging three,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight’s conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane more than to the Smithsonian.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

Designer:
Clarence L. &quotKelly&quot Johnson

Date:
1964

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
General: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (5.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft five 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (five.638m x 32.741m x 16.942m)

Supplies:
Titanium

Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft airframe constructed largley of titanium and its alloys vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-sort material) to lessen radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines feature large inlet shock cones.