All this talk about rockets and shuttles....

[Guest Motormouse]

Made me go and retrieve this from my 'saved it for later' cd.Still got a long way to go before its useable, but,'do you know what it is yet' ??:-wavePete

[Guest Staggerwing]

Hmmmm, looks like an Sr-71 to me :-)http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3ddede564aeb6b2a.jpg

[Guest twsimfan]

Pete,I have sat in one just like that at the Seattle Air & Space Museum on Boeing Field.

[Christopher Low 5,324]

That's the first time that I have noticed the triple tyres on the main undercarriage of an SR71.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Steve Hess 1]

That's an A12, not an SR71. It was designed as an interceptor but took to long to get of the ground. It made a great spy plane as the SR71. Remember Kelly Johnson built these planes with slide-rules, not supercomputers.

[Guest Staggerwing]

You are correct Steve, good spotting :-)The side fins (chines?) on the fuselage not extending to the nose gives it away..(a few other differences as well) this is a YF-12A fore runner of the SR-71 and a really rare bird with only 3 built and this is the only one left as the first was converted to a SR-71... the third one crashed, and this..the second built, is still in original form.As far as id mixing goes... I think Lydon Johnson did the biggest swap as when they were released to the public they were designated as "RS"-71s and the President announced to the world that they were "SR"-71s and they just changed the plans to read SR after that :-)Here's a few more shots I took if anyone cares to see them..http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3de23ab80d972c53.jpghttp://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3de23ac60db80ba3.jpghttp://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3de23ad00dcc67af.jpg

[Steve Hess 1]

Is that part of a D-21 drone in the lower left of the last picture? If so do you have any pictures of that too.

[Guest Rich Wren]

That is indeed a D12. I have a picture of it but I need to scan it and pass it through photoshop before it would be useful. I'm afraid my compact camera's flash wasn't up to the job of photographing hangared aircraft :-(.If you ever get the chance to go, these photos were taken at the USAF museum in Dayton, Ohio. This particular hangar is actually the X-plane hangar which along with the Presidential hangar is actually on the adjoining air base. I spent 18 months working in Kentucky and visited the place four times in total...

[Steve Hess 1]

I've been there many times, but not for a few years. I would like to return this July for the airshow, it should be pretty good being the 100th aniversary of the Wright brothers first flight.

[Steve Hess 1]

Here are just two of the many a took at Oshkosh one year. I got to see her fly, what a treat!

[Dondo 0]

Not that it looks like you need it, but I have access to a complete SR-71 panel with all of the gauges still intact. We have a Blackbird here at the Kansas Cosmosphere. They pulled the cockpit out and have it on display. I'm sure, that with some convincing, I could get some pilot-eye-view shots of the panel. Let me know if you want me to try.That looks like the pit I have for the SR-71 in FS2k2? Is it? Looks pretty good. I tried using the same bmp for a SR-71 in X-Plane.Pieter