December 4, 2025Dec 4 He was at Beale in the last couple years of VietNam. My other buddy just answered--he was there at Beale the same time as you...he says "BONGO" was the callsign they used. Bob Scott | President and CEO, AVSIM Inc ATP Gulfstream II-III-IV-V Sys1 (MSFS20+24/XPlane12+11): AMD 9800X3D, water 2x240mm, MSI MPG X670E Carbon, 64GB GSkill 6000/30, nVidia RTX4090FE Alienware AW3821DW 38" 21:9 GSync, 2x4TB Crucial T705 PCIe5 + 2x2TB Samsung 990 SSD, EVGA 1000P2 PSU, 12.9" iPad Pro Thrustmaster TCA Boeing Yoke, TCA Airbus Sidestick, Twin TCA Airbus Throttle quads, PFC Cirrus Pedals, Coolermaster HAF932 case Sys2 (P3Dv5/v4): i9-13900KS, water 2x360mm, ASUS Z790 Hero, 32GB GSkill 7800MHz CAS36, ASUS RTX4090 Samsung 55" JS8500 4K TV@60Hz, 3x 2TB WD SN850X 1x 4TB Crucial P3 M.2 NVME SSD, EVGA 1600T2 PSU Fiber link to Yamaha RX-V467 Home Theater Receiver, Polk/Klipsch 6" bookshelf speakers, Polk 12" subwoofer, 12.9" iPad Pro PFC yoke/throttle quad/pedals with custom Hall sensor retrofit, Thermaltake View 71 case, Stream Deck XL button box Sys3 (DCS/P3Dv4/ATS/ETS): AMD 7800X3D, MSI MPG X870E Carbon, Noctua NH-D15S, 64GB GSkill 6000/30, EVGA RTX3090 Alienware AW3420DW 34" 21:9 GSync, Corsair HX1000i PSU, 4TB Crucial T705 PCIe5 + 2TB Samsung 970Evo Plus, TM TCA Officer Pack, Saitek combat pedals, TM Warthog, TM RS300 FF wheel/pedals, Coolermaster HAF XB case
December 4, 2025Dec 4 Thanks Bob. Still not striking a chord but as I said, the name eludes my tired old 68 year old brain. If your friend says BONGO, then BONGO it is. Please pass along my thanks and if they remember anything else please share. -B
December 12, 2025Dec 12 Author Just reminding everyone that on Saturday there will be an announcement regarding the SR-71. I will be significant, I expect 🙂
December 12, 2025Dec 12 2 hours ago, Boomer said: Interesting. Wasn't on my radar but will check it out. "Wasn't on my radar" - shouldn't have been - it had stealth features decades before the F117
December 12, 2025Dec 12 On 12/4/2025 at 9:23 AM, 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. I read once that when looking for aircrew for the Habu they weren't looking for hotshot pilots as much as people who were very good at monitoring and controlling systems. BTW, another thing to be aware of on long trips as per a quote: "You haven't been lost 'till you've been lost at Mach 3" 🙂
December 12, 2025Dec 12 On 12/4/2025 at 11:53 AM, Bob Scott said: 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. Sounds like earlier situations with B47s refuelling from KC97s.
December 12, 2025Dec 12 Author 5 hours ago, Malcolm Street said: I read once that when looking for aircrew for the Habu they weren't looking for hotshot pilots as much as people who were very good at monitoring and controlling systems. BTW, another thing to be aware of on long trips as per a quote: "You haven't been lost 'till you've been lost at Mach 3" 🙂 Sounds about right. I am constantly monitoring gauges on every flight that is only an hour long, i.e., "only" 2000 nm 🙂. On longer flights, you get a bit of a break, but you should check at least every 2-3 minutes or so. Those temperatures go up quickly, and above Mach 3.3 you're very close to the max temperature of inlet air that the engines can take (427 C). Any change in the outside air temperature can push you over the limits then. That quote is also fitting. I remember a story about an A-12 (the predecessor of the SR-71, quite similar) broke up in mid flight. The pilot (but not the co-pilot) survived and didn't know in which state he would land: Utah, New Mexico, or Colorado. Every second the SR-71 covers about 1 km.
December 13, 2025Dec 13 Author Product pages for the SR-71 and 1980s Beale AFB are live ("coming soon"): https://blackbirdsims.com/flight/PG.php?id=80 https://blackbirdsims.com/flight/PG.php?id=93 They also contain information that I only hinted at so far: the voices of Major Brian Shul and RSO Colonel Walter Watson, a famous real-world Habu team, are used for checklists, in-flight communication and so on. I would be surprised if that feature would not be shown during this afternoon's presentation.
December 13, 2025Dec 13 2 hours ago, qqwertz said: Product pages for the SR-71 and 1980s Beale AFB are live ("coming soon"): https://blackbirdsims.com/flight/PG.php?id=80 Although surely it must be fictional, I'm lookin' forward to the EVH paint scheme in screenshot #24! "That's what" - She
December 13, 2025Dec 13 On 11/29/2025 at 9:46 AM, 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! Don't feel bad - it was in development for Prepar3D at least as far back as early 2018!!! They don't hype it at all, and talk about it seldom. Glad to see it finally getting near(ish?) the finish line!
December 13, 2025Dec 13 On 11/29/2025 at 9:41 AM, qqwertz said: 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 fwiw, i don't see a picture in this post...?
December 13, 2025Dec 13 Author 1 minute ago, UrgentSiesta said: fwiw, i don't see a picture in this post...? I noticed that, too. Not sure what is going on, I believe it is related to Discord, where the images are stored.
December 13, 2025Dec 13 Author 4 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said: Don't feel bad - it was in development for Prepar3D at least as far back as early 2018!!! They don't hype it at all, and talk about it seldom. Glad to see it finally getting near(ish?) the finish line! Yep, I alpha-tested it in P3D around 2019-20, but MSFS changed everything. And I can honestly say that the MSFS version is a lot better and really unique. Dutch and Blackbird Simulations created a piece of art that is also a serious challenge for flight simmer if you use it with full realism. You stay on autopilot for most of the ride, but you never get bored because you're riding on the edge to a catastrophe 🙂
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