From Archangel to Senior Crown: Design and Development of the Blackbird

"The Lockheed Blackbirds hold a unique place in the development of aeronautics. In their day, the A-12, YF-12, M-21, D-21, and SR-71 variants outperformed all other jet airplanes in terms of altitude and speed. Now retired, they remain the only production aircraft capable of sustained Mach 3 cruise and operational altitudes above 80,000 feet. This is the first book to address the technical aspects of these incredible aircraft. The author describes the design evolution of the Blackbird, from the Archangel to the Senior Crown (the Air Forceís SR-71.) He describes in detail the construction and materials challenges faced by Lockheed, as well as the Blackbirdís performance characteristics and capabilities. A NASA historian, the author describes NASAís role in using the aircraft as a flying laboratory to collect data on materials, structures, loads, heating, aerodynamics, and performance for high-speed aircraft. The reader will benefit from the bookís discussion of the technical and programmatic lessons learned.


Product Details

Series: Library of Flight
Paperback: 202 pages
Publisher: Amer Inst of Aeronautics & Astronautics (February 28, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1563479338
ISBN-13: 978-1563479335