We beta testers just got the OK from Blackbird Simulations to post pics of their SR-71, and what a bird it is. Below it is shown at one of its bases, Mildenhall (EGUN), England. It flew many missions over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East departing from there in the 80s and 90s.

It flies differently from anything else I have ever flown in a simulator, including the Flight Sim Labs Concorde. Everything goes so fast at 80000' and Mach 3.3, it is unbelievable. I usually create a flight plan with waypoints every 500 nm, and takes just 10 minutes between them. California to New York in little more than an hour.

And it 's not just the speed. The plane was designed at the limits allowed by physics. Everything about it is about keeping temperature in check. At high speed, the air gets extremely compressed and heats up dramatically. The temperature of the hull was around 300 C at high speed. It is why it's painted black (to get rid of the heat faster). And its speed was not limited by engine power, but by the temperature at the front of the engine. You are constantly keeping an eye on the temperature gauges, angle of attack, center of gravity and a few other mission critical parameters.

And then there's the fuel, especially designed for that plane. It was leaking on the ground since the plane expanded at high temperatures. Not much, but enough that you needed a fuel with a low vapor pressure on the ground, to protect the ground crew. And the SR-71 needed a lot of it, about 40000 lbs per hour. So much that mid-air refueling was needed on virtually every mission, including ferry flights, that the plane flew. 

And yes, that's all modelled very faithfully, including failures. Yes, there is a tanker plane. And yes, it is incredibly hard to refuel in mid-air under realistic conditions. I can't do that, but luckily there are different levels of realism for mid-air refueling, including an easy one for goofs like me 🙂

Peter

One of the best aviation stories ever told 🙂   Wow, Have I been under a rock or did everyone know this was coming?  

Talk about unique birds! Thank you for sharing! 

 

 

 

14 minutes ago, psolk said:

One of the best aviation stories ever told 🙂   Wow, Have I been under a rock or did everyone know this was coming?  

Talk about unique birds! Thank you for sharing! 

Yep, that's a great video. I can't tell you more (yet), but Brian and in particular his co-pilot Walt play a special role in the Blackbird project.

😍

Here is todays version.  Looks like more fun.

dd

Edited November 29, 2025Nov 29 by Sky_Pilot071

18 hours ago, Sky_Pilot071 said:

Here is todays version.  Looks like more fun.

dd

With respect though, that's a fictional toy, with no basis in real science.

The SR71 was a mindboggling but real machine.  Anyone can set high 'power scalar' values in a CFG file to get ridiculously high speed.   Creating something that really existed, with a high degree of fidelity, is a different ball game.

That thing is the perfect aircraft for Avangel's channel though 😊

Edited November 30, 2025Nov 30 by JYW

Small update: Blackbird will release more information on the SR-71 and possible other projects on December 13 on their Twitch channel, www.twitch.tv/blackbirdsims

1 hour ago, qqwertz said:

Small update: Blackbird will release more information on the SR-71 and possible other projects on December 13 on their Twitch channel, www.twitch.tv/blackbirdsims

Great!  Thanks for the news.  I wondered what had happened to the Blackbird.  Hopefully we will get some news about the B737 on the 13th as well.

Exciting news: the NDA is lifted, I can talk more about this incredible model. It is going to be released very soon, just wait for the Twitch announcement above. 

Features will be amazing, I have never seen anything like it in flight simulation. I mentioned that the RL pilots Brian and Walt will play a special role. They will feature prominently during your flights, but I'll leave it to Blackbird to share more details.

 

However, fair warning: If you want to fly the SR-71 with full realism, you're going to be really really busy, all the way from California to Okinawa. After months of testing, I am flying with full realism now, except for the in-air refueling. That's just incredibly hard. I have learned that almost 100 prospective real SR-71 pilots were sorted out because they couldn't handle it satisfactorily. 

2 hours ago, qqwertz said:

However, fair warning: If you want to fly the SR-71 with full realism, you're going to be really really busy, all the way from California to Okinawa. After months of testing, I am flying with full realism now, except for the in-air refueling. That's just incredibly hard. I have learned that almost 100 prospective real SR-71 pilots were sorted out because they couldn't handle it satisfactorily. 

Yep...the problem with AR in the Blackbird was rooted in the fact that the SR was essentially taking gas while wallowing in slow flight, while the Q-model tanker that refueled them was red-lining it right at Mmo/Vmo.  I have a couple good friends that flew the KC-135Q out of Beale AFB back in the day...they had some interesting stories.

24 minutes ago, Bob Scott said:

I have a couple good friends that flew the KC-135Q out of Beale AFB back in the day...they had some interesting stories.

Bob.  I served as an Air Traffic Controller at Beale from 1983 to 1989.  If I saw 1 SR launch, I saw 1000.  I remember well the Call Signs of all the aircraft.  Aspen (SR) Pynon (U-2). Roper (T-38) but one memory eludes me and my 68 year old mind and memories of 35+ years ago and that is the static call sign of the Q-ship 135’s.  I have a desire and a need to remember as I am assisting with a software project and that call sign would be very useful to me.  Do you think you could ask one of your buddies for that Beale Tanker Call Sign?  I would be forever grateful if you could and would.  Respond here or DM me, your preference and thanks in advance,

-B

I think it was "Shell".  They used to be deployed to Kadena AB in Okinawa to support the SR back in the day, and I remember hearing them when we flew through there in the C-141.  Kadena was a regular stop for us west coast strat airlift guys.

But I'll ask.

1 minute ago, Bob Scott said:

I think it was "Shell".  But I'll ask.

No, definitely not shell, that I would have remembered LoL and btw as an outcome of this discussion I just learned of Brian Shul’s passing in May 2023.  May he RIP and may he always Fly with the Angels.

-B

My buddy says they used rotating call signs assigned by SAC, even for locals.

27 minutes ago, Bob Scott said:

My buddy says they used rotating call signs assigned by SAC, even for locals.

Thanks Bob.  While that may be true in general as Beale Tankers served all over the globe, my memories remain convinced that Beale Tankers used a static call sign, just as did Aspen, Pynon and Roper.  Thank your buddy for me and ask him to dig deep in his memory concerning round robin flights to and from Beale in support of the SR mission.  Appreciated!

-B

Edited December 4, 2025Dec 4 by btacon