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Guest Darren Howie

Alphasim Sr71 opinions

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Guest Darren Howie

Hi GuysJust wondering what people think of the Alphasim SR71.Looks like a great model but what are the flight dynamics like etc.ThanksDarren

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Hi Darren,Looking forward to seeing it.I had the pleasure together with three Friends to be invited to R.A.F. Mildenhall while the 'HABU's' (High Altitude Ballistic Unit's) were based there.Lieutenant Commander Blair Bozek of the USAF was our host whom we met as he, like us had an interest in motorcycles, Blair owned a Ducati.Blair and his pilot 'Dan House' flew missions out of Mildenhall and while we there we was treated to a 'VIP' briefing and slide show with some great pictures taken by the crews. We had a few beers with them at the HQ and then were taken by staff car to the ramp where 'blairs' aircraft was having the engines run-up on the ramp. On the way we passed through three checkpoints with armed guards. The last point faced us with a soldier that wouldn't let us through. He was holding an M16 gun and was quite prepared to use it if needed! Blair had to threaten to put the soldier on a charge before he reluctantly agreed to allow us through.He explained the aircrafts flight geometry and also the ignition that was done with no electrical intervention. It's done by mixing two fuels together known as 'JP-7'.The aircraft looked so intriguing and like nothing I had eve seen before.He told us of the intense heat during missions at 85,0000ft 20,000ft higher than Concorde! and the gloved and mitten clad hand he held against the back seat side window and being able to feel the heat! caused by the friction at those speeds that the Blackbird was capable of.When asked 'what was the top speed' his reply was, I am advised to tell you that we travel in excess of mach 3! "If I told you the true speed I would have to kill you".The day ended when we were taken back to there HQ for more drinks before leaving to travel home.There was a couple of dutch F-16 pilots there when we got back and the SR-71 crews were joking with the Dutch pilots and reference to their preparations for a mission saying that it wasn't just a 'Kick-the-Tyres-and-jump-aboard' flight. each flight was a nine hour+ mission.Footnote, and a true story is the tale of when the Blackbird was first named it should have been called the 'RS-71' (Reconnaissance Satellite) but, Ronnie Reagen's grammar wasn't always perfect and mistakenly he named it SR-71 by mistake!!As he had made the 'Boo-boo' the generals had to go along with it to save him losing face, hehe.A great plane, shame they didn't keep hold of it but, thats a perfect world isn't it?Dave.ASUS KT333 M/Board, Radeon9800Pro128mb, 1024DDR, ATI xp2400+CPU, 80 gb HDD


Dave Taylor gb.png

 

 

 

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