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Photographs of "Blackbird"
A12...SR71/A...SR71/B...SR71/C...M-21
Aircraft that I have seen so far.
From what I can gather there were 50
"Blackbirds" produced. 20 aircraft were lost due to crashes
and 30 remain intact.
1. The first "Blackbird" an A/12.
#60-6930. Located at the Huntsville Space and Rocket Centre in
Alabama USA......
Website:
http://rocketcenter.com/
2. The second "Blackbird" an SR71/A. #61-7958.
This aircraft is located at the
Warner Robins Air Force Museum at Warner Robins near Macon
Georgia USA.....It includes in the display a D21B drone.
Website:
http://www.museumofaviation.org/
3. The third "Blackbird" SR71/A
#61-7968 was at
Richmond in Virginia USA.....
It was extremely hot and the grass around the aircraft was
very scorched.....
Website:
http://www.vam.smv.org/
4. The fourth "Blackbird" SR71/A
#61-7976 was at the Wright
Patterson Air Museum in Dayton Ohio USA.....
Website:
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/
5. The fifth "Blackbird" SR71/A
#61-7972 was at the strangest
named museum near Washington USA... it was at the
NASA Air and Space Museum The
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.....
Website:
http://airandspace.si.edu/udvarhazy/
6. The sixth "Blackbird" SR71/A
#61-7959 was at the Air Force
Museum at Eglin Florida USA.....This is the Air Force
Armament Museum there are many aircraft on display here....
This Blackbird has an extended tail section of approximately
8 feet/2.5 metres this was added to test some new radar
technology at the time.
Website:
http://www.afarmamentmuseum.com/
7. The seventh "Blackbird" an A12
#60-6938 was at the Battleship
USS Alabama Museum at a place called Mobile in Alabama
USA.....
Website:
http://www.ussalabama.com/
8. The eighth "Blackbird" an A/12
#60-6937 I saw
on my trip to the USA in April 2010 was at the Southern
Museum of Flight at Birmingham Alabama USA.....
Website:
http://www.southernmuseumofflight.org/
9. I went to the Imperial War Museum at
Duxford in England in June 2010, they
have the only "Blackbird" SR71/A #61-7962 outside the United States of
America at
the American air museum.
Website:
http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford
10. In August 2010 I
travelled to Palmdale in
California to visit the Blackbird Airpark where they have 2
"Blackbirds" on display.....
First one the A-12 #60-6924 This was the first Blackbird A12
to fly.....
11.Then the second the SR-71/A
#61-7973.....
Both together..
Website:
http://afftcmuseum.org/visit/blackbird-airpark/
12.In September 2010 I visited the USS Intrepid
Aircraft Carrier it is a Floating Museum and is
situated in New York. They have a "Blackbird" A12
#60-6925 on display on the flight deck....
Website:
http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/
13. On the 13th. of June 2012 I went
to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo museum at Kalamazoo Michigan where
they have the only "Blackbird" SR71/b trainer...#61-7956. The museum is
also famous for its "longest
indoor hand painted mural" in the world, this is recorded in
the Guinness Book of World Records......
Website:
http://www.airzoo.org/
14. On the 14th. of June 2012 I went to
the Wright Patterson Museum in Dayton Ohio, I had been to
this museum before and had seen 1 "Blackbird" (number 4 above)
they have 2 Blackbirds and one of them is located in a part
of the museum that is only accessible by bus.... on my last
visit there were no spaces left on the bus.... this time I
was there first thing and got my name down :D This one is a
"Blackbird" YF12A #60-6935 and was never used operationally, also in
the photograph is a D21B drone.....
Website:
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/
15. The next "Blackbird" is a SR71/A
#61-7961 on
display at the Kansas Cosmosphere at Hutchinson in Kansas,
it is very difficult to see the entire aircraft and the
photograph doesn't really do it any justice as it is mounted
as if it is in flight.......
Website:
http://www.cosmo.org/
16. This "Blackbird" SR71/A
#61-7964 is on display at
the SAC Museum near Ashland in Nebraska, again it is mounted
at an angle as if in flight but there is a lot more room
around the aircraft to see it all more clearly........
Website:
http://www.sasmuseum.com/
17. On the 16th of April 2013 while on holiday, I went to
the 8th. Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base at
Bossier City Louisiana USA... This is "Blackbird" SR71/A
#61-7976.
Website:
http://barksdaleglobalpowermuseum.com/
On the 22nd April 2013 I revisited the Air Force
Armaments Museum at Eglin in Florida and took some more
photographs of the
"Blackbird" SR71/A #61-7959
at number 6 above.....
Website:
http://www.afarmamentmuseum.com/
18. This "Blackbird" SR71/A #61-7979 is located at
Lackland Air Force Base at San Antonio Texas USA.... I had
to photograph the aircraft from some distance away as there
was no admittance to the base for security reasons when I
arrived....
Website:
https://www.myairmanmuseum.org/current.php
19. In May 2014 on holiday in the USA I saw this
"Blackbird" A12 Trainer #60-6927 called "Titanium Goose". It
was the only one built. It is located at the California
Science Centre in Los Angeles. You can see that only the
nose area was painted to stop the pilot from being dazzled
by the sun.
Website:
https://www.californiasciencecenter.org/MainPage.php
20. This "Blackbird" SR71/A #61-9795 is at the March
Field Air Museum, Riverside California. The cockpit was open
and they had a gantry beside the aircraft so you could look
inside. May 2014.
Website :
http://www.marchfield.org/
21. This "Blackbird" A12 #06933 stands outside the San
Diego Air and Space Museum at Balboa Park San Diego,
California. It is accompanied by a Sea Dart XF2Y-1 on
pylons.
Website :
http://www.sandiegoairandspace.org/
22. This "Blackbird" SR71/A #61-7951 is at the Pima Air
and Space Museum at Tucson Arizona, when I visited in May
2014 the temperature was in the 90's F. Thank goodness for
air conditioning.
Website :
http://www.pimaair.org/
23. This "Blackbird" SR71/A #61-7960 is at the Castle Air
and Space Museum, at Atwater California. This aircraft flew
the most operational missions than any other Blackbird and
was the first one to fly over Vietnam.
Website:
http://www.castleairmuseum.org/lockheedsr71
24. On the 5th. June 2015 I was
on holiday in the USA... I had to book this tour months in
advance to visit the Edwards Air Force Base.....
This "Blackbird" SR71/A #61-7955 is at the Edwards Air
Force Base Flight Test Centre Museum...... Unfortunately
they do not allow any cameras to be taken onto the base
beyond their gates as it is an operational base where they
test current operational aircraft......
The museum website is at
http://afftcmuseum.org/exhibits/edwardsafb_exhibits/
Photographs of this aircraft can also be seen at.
http://www.habu.org/sr-71/17955.html
**** SEE BELOW AT #28 ****
25. This "Blackbird" SR-71A #17971 - Is on
display at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville,
Oregon, USA. Also in the picture you can see a GTD21B drone
to the left of the Blackbird.
The Evergreen Aviation Museum is also the home
of Howard Hughes "Spruce Goose" the largest wooden aircraft
ever built....
Website.....
http://evergreenmuseum.org/
26. This "Blackbird" is M-21 #06940 - On
display at the Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington, USA.
It is the only remaining M-21. Only 2 were built and the
other one was destroyed in an accident while testing the
launching of the drones that they carried.....
Museum of Flight Website
http://www.museumofflight.org/
27. On the 25th of June 2016 I visited the
Hill Aerospace Museum at Ogden in Utah USA. They have the
only SR71/C ever built #61-7981 nicknamed "The Bastard" it
was built from the rear end of YF-12A #60-6934 and an
engineering mock up of an SR/71A front end used for testing.
Hill Aerospace Museum Website:
www.aerospaceutah.org
****
On the 27th of June 2016 I was privileged to get to see and
photograph 2 Blackbirds at Edwards AFB Museum. One I had
seen before but was unable to take any photographs of at #24
above "Blackbird" SR71/A #61-7955 is at the Edwards Air
Force Base Flight Test Centre Museum.
28. I also got to see the 28th Blackbird
SR-71A #61-7980 (NASA 844) is on display inside the main
gate at NASA Dryden Flight Research Centre at Edwards AFB,
CA.
This area is not part of the tour at Edwards AFB. But I was
given a tour by "Jack" who very kindly invited me onto the
base to take these photographs.... Thank you very much Jack.
Blackbird Airpark Website :
http://afftcmuseum.org/visit/blackbird-airpark/
29. I was very fortunate on
the 13th. September 2018 to be able to go to Beale AFB in
California... A friend of mine called Bill who served in the
US Military was able to gain admittance to the base, we went
on the base and I took some photographs of the 29th
Blackbird SR-71A #61-7963..... Thank you very much Bill.
Beale AFB Website
https://www.beale.af.mil/
Footnote:
There is now 1 remaining Blackbird that I will be unable to
see due to its location.....
1. A-12 #06931 - On display at the CIA Headquarters
Langley Virginia. Not open to the public.
Maybe in the future there will be a tour available when I may
get to see the last remaining "Blackbird" aircraft and I will be able to
get to photograph it.
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