Talk:Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

In Popular Culture?

How about an "in popular culture" section? X-men, etc. Theanthrope (talk) 20:28, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

No! See WP:TRIVIA.  Stepho  talk  01:01, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

We have a special place for that sort of information: Aircraft in fiction § Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. However, it doesn't currently list the X-men, and probably won't. BilCat (talk) 02:56, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

Red warning stripes

ref "unsourced OR" revert:

it's ok to change sourced information if it's obviously incorrect. In this case the source uses incorrect terminology. Actually red stripes alone are not even an adequate warning. They will be ignored if there are no red words with the stripes, probably "NO STEP" in this case or words explaining why the stripes are there. As an example this Hawkeye has 2 separate stripes with applicable words, one to warn of whirling propeller blades and one to warn of location of disintegrating starter turbine.

Note red danger stripes for propeller and starter

To illustrate the distinction between warning and prevention see this Crusader

F-8J Crusader on display at the Air Zoo

The red stripes only warn not to get sucked in. Prevention requires a wire mesh screen to be in place. Pieter1963 (talk) 00:41, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

Accounting for my edit on the Baltic Express

Five years ago, Ninjalectual (talk · contribs) tagged the second paragraph of the European flights section with {{clarify}}, apparently due to unsatisfactory phrasing and link rot. In repairing the dead link, I encountered information which prompted a rewrite of the second paragraph, and the inclusion of a map and a quite relevant image. The clarification prompted two new sections, one on the route and the geography of the Baltic sea, and the other on Soviet intercepts. It was also natural to either mention or include links to the Cold War relations of Sweden/USA/USSR, scrambling, the nature of intercepting foreign military aircraft and simulated shoot-downs, as well as adding a source (ref name=rbth2012) from the MiG-25 article, and also a new one I found (ref name=AGCViggen).

I included the map of the Baltic sea in order to illustrate the Baltic express route. However, it has some problems. It's a modern map, which means that it doesn't show the Soviet union. It doesn't show airspace borders. It doesn't highlight the key corridors (DDR/Malmö & Gotland/Öland). And it doesn't show the Baltic express route. Despite all this, I would argue that the map still provides clarifying information to the reader about the Baltic operations mentioned in this section. (Some more locations for a custom map: "Codan", Finow-Eberswalde, Stockholm (and possibly other capitals), Ä,R,N,V,P,H,T)

Lastly, I added a photo with dual significance to the final paragraph. Not only is the photographed event mentioned in the text, but the nested operational photo that's displayed at the event is reportedly the only time an SR-71 has been photographed during an intercept. (It's a commons file. And the original copyright for both appears to have belonged to the Swedish government. So the nesting shouldn't be a problem.) BucketOfSquirrels (talk) 18:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Interesting contribution – however, the picture in front on the Air Medal photo is clearly a painting. Might the photo be the one in the back? --Zac67 (talk) 19:07, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Thanks, I didn't catch that. Just assumed that one of the reinforcing fighters had taken a photo, and that they displayed it for the occasion. Yes, the intercept photo that the sources mention might be the one displayed on the screen in the back. The caption should be changed. BucketOfSquirrels (talk) 19:17, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Factual errors needing correction in future

1. The SR-71 was based off the YF-12 interceptor, not the A-12. The SR-71 has the same weapons bays and nose bay, while the A-12 has a large central bay. The YF-12 and SR-71 are so similar that a damaged SR-71 was repaired by cutting a YF-12 in half and joining them. This is not possible with the A-12.

2. The SR-71 was not retired for political reasons, it was retired after a CIA report found that it was causing extremely excessive attrition of ground crews, who were pulled from other squadrons in large numbers. The additional training was so excessive that enlisted personnel only had 18 months remaining on their contracts by the time training was complete, requiring several times the number of crews for a given amount of contracts. It also was an extreme burden to maintain, causing nearly all enlisted personnel to refuse to reenlist. The turbines also had a terrible TBO of only a few hundred hours.

3. The engines reached maximum temperature at Mach 2.4, requiring gradual reduction of turbine rpms to maintain temperature as intake temperature increased above mach 2.4. The article says the overheating is caused by fuel flow, but it is not. The manual clearly shows maximum fuel flow available to Mach 3.2 as long as rpms are not exceeded. 2600:1008:B062:697C:E0:241C:CEE6:ED14 (talk) 02:16, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm interested in trying to correct anything (usually engine) if I am able. I'm stuck with para 3 though as I cannot find in the manual where it says max fuel is used up to M3.2. What page says this? Thanks. Pieter1963 (talk) 22:19, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Correction of Factual Error about Acquisition of Titanium

Arg. For the umpteenth time, I see a very misinformed quote about the rarity of titanium ORE as the reason Lockheed needed to get titanium METAL from the Soviet Union. OMG, people, what do you think is used as the white base for all of the paint on your house, after lead oxide was banned? Titanium Dioxide is super common, found everywhere, and is dirt cheap to produce. 95% of all titanium is found naturally as titanium dioxide. Rutile, mentioned in the now deleted quote, is just one of many, many minerals that contain commercial quantities of titanium dioxide.

It was the labor and expense of reducing the titanium metal out of the oxide that made it so much less available in the U.S. This stuff required guvmint support and subsidies, and the Soviet Union was just willing to pump far more money into that support than the U.S. guvmint during the 1950s and 1960s. Titanium dioxide can't be reacted with carbon, unlike iron oxide ore, because that will just get you titanium carbide. Heck, look up the Wikipedia entry for Titanium. It explains all that.

So, factually incorrect quote deleted. Real facts inserted, including a quote from somebody at Lockheed who worked on the project.

And, please, self-styled editors of Wikipedia, leave in the beginning comment about "a commonly repeated misconception", because I really do see that EVERYWHERE, and it drives me nuts every time I see it. Yea, I even saw it here on Wikipedia, that's how commonly repeated this misconception is. And that's why I made the correction, and why you need to leave that comment in. DarthRad (talk) 10:18, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Yes, titanium oxide is common and therefore titanium atoms are common. However, when we say titanium we mean the extracted titanium in reasonably pure metallic form, not titanium atoms in some chemical compound form. We make the same grammatical distinction with many other oxides. The reasonably pure metallic form is what all the so-called erroneous references mean. However, if you want to make it clear, we can restore the original text but replace the single word "titanium" with the phrase "metallic titanium", "titanium in metallic form" or similar. Some of your info about the USSR being the major refiner is useful but much of it belongs in the titanium article, not here. As per WP:BRD, I am going to revert your change. At the end of the discussion we will make the article agree with the result of the discussion.  Stepho  talk  11:00, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Did you even bother to READ my correction? Did you bother to compare my correction with the original version?

The original version I deleted SPECIFICALLY included a quote that stated a lack of rutile ore as the reason for Lockheed to go to the Soviet Union.

Lockheed NEVER NEEDED RUTILE. It needed titanium METAL. I included a factual quote from somebody that actually WORKED AT LOCKHEED. With the reference. The other quote is from somebody who wasn't involved with the production of the SR-71, just talking out of the end of his butthole.

And the reason for the shortage of titanium metal was that it was just very expensive to produce from the very commonly available titanium dioxide.

So, the old version that you INSIST (like so many absurd and infuriating self-styled editors of wikipedia) on reverting to is just totally, 100% FALSE.

What, do you like to fuck up other people's research and time spent to correct a factual error on Wikipedia just to satisfy your own ego?

I am reverting YOU. You have NO idea what you are doing. You are just committing VANDALISM

DarthRad (talk) 11:10, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Or we could have a civilised discussion instead of assuming everyone else is a self-styled, egotistical idiot. Also read WP:BRD, which says that we restore the original version (even if it has some wrong points), have a discussion and then change the article according to the discussion. Note that I have not rejected your points outright, I am saying that it needs more work. Happy to discuss this.  Stepho  talk  11:21, 17 November 2024 (UTC)