SR71 Specifications
The SR71 has been heralded by many as one of the greatest airplanes of all time. It can survey, with various equipment, 100,000 sq miles in 1 hour. It can fly at speeds faster than a 30-06 bullet and has been known to fly to Mach 3.5 inadvertently. Its engines are so powerful that at full truly they cause a diamond shock wave 125 ft long.
This plane is also special because it was the worlds first stealth aircraft. With special radar absorbing paint and a vertical tail it has a very low signature. It also has a low profile from almost any view,increasing its stealth. This plane is also special because to design it Skunkworks had to rethink the manufacturing process entirely. It had to use the temperamental metal titanium which is strong but requires completely different tools than aluminum. The tires are filled with nitrogen to keep from exploding in flight.The pilots are so high up that they must where a space suit. The planes skin gets so hot that it actually extends 2 to 4 inches and the paint actually turns blue. The fuel tanks aren't even sealed until it reaches operational altitude.
SR-71A/B/C
| Construction: Titanium (Beta-120/Ti-13V-11Cr-3A1) Monococque with some super-high- temperature plastics. |
| Length: 107 feet, 5 inches |
| Wingspan: 55 feet, 7 inches |
| Wing Area: 1,795 square feet |
| Height: 16 feet, 6 inches |
| Landing Weight: 68,000 pounds |
| Maximum Gross Take-off Weight: 140,000 pounds |
| Maximum Speed: 3.2 Mach above 75,000 feet |
| Operational Ceiling: over 85,000 feet |
| Maximum Unrefueled Range: 3,200 nautical miles |
| Armament: None |
| Powerplant Data: 2 Pratt & Whitney J58 (JT11D-20A) High-bypass-turbojets with 34,000 pounds thrust |
| SR-71 production: |
| A...29 |
| B... 2 |
| C... 1 |
| Out of the total of 32 SR-71's built, 21 are still in existence. |
| Total SR-71's lost in accidents:12 |
| AF Serial Numbers assigned for the SR-71: 61-17950 through 61-1798 |
| Serial numbers 61-17982 through 61-17985 were not used |
| Program Info:(as of Jan 1990) |
| Total Flight Hours: 53,490 |
| Total Mach 3+ Time: 11,675 |
| Total Sorties: 17,300 |
| Total Operational Sorties: 3,551 |
| Total Operational Hours: 11,008 |
| Total Air Refeulings: 25,862 |
| Total Crew Members: 284 (includes NASA and USAF Crews checked out in AC) |
| Cumulative Hours by Crews: |
| 300 Hours.....163 |
| 600 Hours.......69 |
| 900 Hours.......18 |
| 1000 Hours.......8 |
| 1392.7 Hours.....1 |
YF-12A
| Construction: Titanium (Beta-120/Ti-13V-11Cr-3A1) monococque w/some super-high- temperature plastics. |
| Length: 101 feet, 8 inches |
| Wingspan: 55 feet, 7 inches |
| Wing Area: 1,795 square feet |
| Height: 18 feet, 6 inches |
| Landing Weight: 68,000 pounds |
| Maximum Gross Take-off Weight: 124,000 pounds |
| Maximum Speed: 3.2 Mach above 75,000 feet |
| Operational Ceiling: Classified, but probably over 80,000 feet |
| Maximum Unrefueled Range: Classified |
| Armament: 3 Hughes GAR-9/ AIM-47A air to air radar guided missiles (maximum speed 4 Mach) |
| Powerplant Data: 2 Pratt & Whitney J58 (JT11D-20A) High-bypass-ratio turbojets with 31,500 lbs of thrust each |
YF-12A production: 3 aircraft
Out of the 3 YF-12As built only one is in existence today.
Though the rear half of #934 was mated with the front
half of the SR static test model to build the SR-71C
trainer.
| Date | YF-12 Alt. | YF-12 Mach | Target Alt. | Results |
| Mar 1965 | 65,000 ft | 2.19 | 40,000 ft | Target destroyed |
| May 1965 | 64,800 ft | 2.18 | 20,000 ft | Missile Gyro failure |
| Sep 1965 | 75,200 ft | 3.22 | 20,000 ft. | Target destroyed |
| Mar 1966 | 74,000 ft | 3.16 | 1,700 ft | Target destroyed |
| Apr 1966 | 75,200 ft | 3.2 | 1,100 ft | Target destroyed |
| May 1966 | 76,000 ft | 3.2 | 20,000 ft | Target destroyed |
| Sep 1966 | 74,400 ft | 3.2 | 500 ft | Target destroyed |
A-12 Specifications
| Construction: Titanium (Beta-120/Ti-13V-11Cr-3A1) Monococque with some super-high-temperature plastics. |
| Length: 102 feet, 3 inches |
| Wingspan: 55 feet, 7 inches |
| Wing Area: 1,795 square feet |
| Height: 18 feet, 6 inches |
| Landing Weight: 52,000 pounds |
| Maximum Gross Take-off Weight: 117,000 pounds |
| Maximum Speed: 3.2 Mach above 75,000 feet |
| Operational Ceiling: above 80,000 feet |
| Maximum Unrefueled Range: Classified |
| Armament: none |
| Powerplant Data: 2 Pratt & Whitney J75 with 17,000 pounds thrust on first 5 aircraft during flight testing updated to: In production, 2 P & W J58 (JT11D-20A) high-bypass ratio turbojets with 20,500 pounds thrust (dry), with truly: 31,500 pounds thrust, some later engines generated 34,500 pounds thrust. |
| A-12 production: 15 aircraft; Only 9 A-12s are still in existence today. |
| Serial Numbers assigned to A-12 production was 60-6924 through 60-6939 |
M-21 Specifications
| Designed and built to carry the unmanned D-21 drone. |
| Construction: Titanium (Beta-120/Ti-13V-11Cr-3A1) Monococque with some super-high-temperature plastics. |
| Length: 102 feet, 3 inches |
| Wingspan: 55 feet, 7 inches |
| Wing Area: 1,795 square feet |
| Height: 18 feet, 6 inches |
| Landing Weight: 52,000 pounds |
| Maximum Gross Take-off Weight: 117,000 pounds |
| Maximum Speed: 3.2 Mach above 75,000 feet |
| Operational Ceiling: above 75,000 feet |
| Maximum Unrefueled Range: Classified |
| Armament: none |
| Powerplant Data: 2 P & W J58 (JT11D-20A) high-bypass ratio turbojets with 40,000 pounds thrust each |
| Crew: 2, Pilot and Drone Launch Control Officer |
| M-21 production: 2 aircraft; Only one is still in existence today. |
| Serial Numbers assigned to M-21 production was 60-6940 through 60-6941 |
D-21A/B
| Construction: Titanium (Beta-120/Ti-13V-11Cr-3A1) Monococque with some super-high- temperature plastics |
| Length: 42 feet, 10 inches |
| Wingspan: 19 feet, 1/4 inch |
| Wing Area: Unknown |
| Height: 7 feet, 1/4 inch |
| Empty Weight: Unknown |
| Maximum Gross Take-off Weight: 11,000 pounds |
| Maximum Speed: 3.35 Mach/ Maximum 3.25 at 80,000 to 95,000 feet |
| Operational Ceiling: 95,000 feet |
| Maximum Unrefueled Range: 3,000 nautical miles |
| Armament: None |
| Powerplant Data: Marquardt RJ43-MA-11 Ram jet with 1,500 pounds thrust |
D-21 production: 38 drones
D-21A: M-21 launched, 4 launches
D-21B: B-52H launched, 17 Launches, with 4 operational missions
