My, how the world has changed.
In the 70′s I was the science ops engineer for Landsat 4 and the first Thematic Mapper photos after launch were confiscated by one of the alphabet agencies because they showed aircraft on the Detroit airport runway. Much less sensitive than these, but the fear was that the resolution would be good enough to show details of “other” secret installations. That all became moot when the French launched their SPOT spacecraft with even better resolution than Landsat.
MattN
May 5, 2011 7:04 am
Look like a U2 to me….
Greg Goodknight
May 5, 2011 7:13 am
I guessed correctly, but then, I’m a local who sometimes flies over Beale AFB. Let me guess, no prize?
Civilian pilots can take FAA High Altitude Physiology Training at the Beale facility; a side benefit when I took the class was spending lunchtime watching a U2 practicing in the traffic pattern, a fascinating plane. The James “Top Gear” May U2 flight in that amazing BBC video was also from Beale.
JohnB
May 5, 2011 7:18 am
@Lonnie E. Schubert.
Sorry we borrowed it for a while. Google Earth “Brisbane Airport” and take the view back to 4/16/2007. Look at the south end of the runway.
Ha! I recognized it right away. It’s Beale AFB. When Google Earth was freshly launched, I lived in Sutter County and came across that plane right away, purely inadvertently.
Lonnie E. Schubertl
May 5, 2011 7:42 am
Mike (noastronomer)
Are you sure? Can you share a reference?
Thx
Paul Hull
May 5, 2011 7:47 am
The SR-71 on static display is nice as well. Thanks, Anthony.
Greg Goodknight
May 5, 2011 7:49 am
‘Amino’ writes “…it seems so odd that U-2′s are still being used when satellite can do the job?”
It takes awhile to move a satellite into an orbit that will cover a particular area, and then it will only be over the target for a small fraction of the day.
Justthinkin
May 5, 2011 7:51 am
U-2 taking off. The F-104? Beautiful aircraft.But it was(is) called the widow maker for a reason. 900 kts at 20′ off the deck. You are dead before your brain can register it.And many a Luftwaffe pilot died in Canadian 104’s due to the fact,in the German version,you ejected out the bottom,so they would flip the bird onto her back to get out.Unfortunately,they punched out straight into the ground.
DJ
May 5, 2011 7:59 am
..May have mentioned this before…
I was a little kid, and it was around ’58 or ’59 and I was in our backyard, about 3/4 of a mile from the Lockheed airport, where my mother worked as a technical librarian.
Heard this rumbling that became louder, and louder, and when I looked in the direction it was coming from, the airport, I saw this black thing that looked like a rocket, but with funny long and skinny wings, heading straight up. Not quickly at all, but slow and steady, and making a lot of noise in the process.
It slowly disappeared into the sky, and I never saw one again.
When mom got home I asked her what it was, and all she said was “I don’t know”, with a faint hint of a smile. It wasn’t until years later I realized it was a U-2.
DesertYote
May 5, 2011 8:01 am
Long live Kelly Johnson!
Jeff Carlson
May 5, 2011 8:04 am
we still fly U-2’s … interesting …
Jim Masterson
May 5, 2011 8:06 am
NASA/Ames flew a U-2 (or U-2 derivative) during the mid-1970’s while I was stationed at Moffett Field. I remember listening to a U-2 clearance: “ATC clears you to at or above fight level six-zero-zero three miles south of the Oakland VORTAC.” Flight level 600 is the upper limit of the US jet route system (about 60,000 feet). The Oakland VORTAC is located at the Oakland airport. NASA/Ames, also located at Moffett Field, is about five miles south of Oakland. When they take off from Moffett (heading north), the U-2s point their nose straight up and climb like a rocket.
Jim
DesertYote
May 5, 2011 8:12 am
I had the pleasure of witnessing a high speed “low” altitude (relatively speaking!) fly over of an SR71. The next day I got to touch it! At the age of 21 the thrill was almost like touching a … never mind. Okay, so I’m a geek. I also have gotten to see a few U2’s up an personal! BTW that fly over was so absolutely incredible. If my CO hadn’t told us what to look for, we would probably not have understood what we were witnessing.
jorgekafkazar
May 5, 2011 8:15 am
Too easy.
jack morrow
May 5, 2011 8:22 am
Dick of Utah
I meant that there are none flying and I miss them and I bet so does our intelligence service folks. I was flying East at 41,000 feet one night and something at an altitude much higher than that, with a blinking strobe light , flew over me from North to South. I suspected a sr because of it’s speed.
David
May 5, 2011 8:29 am
I guessed it right but couldn’t work out why there were 2 of them, not the kind of plane that flies around in pairs. The shadow and plane look alike.
David Chappell
May 5, 2011 8:39 am
@ur momisugly Hector Pascal
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is not based at Duxford but RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
Way back when I had the chance of sitting in a U2 at Akrotiri in Cyprus. Fascinating (and noisy) aeroplane and the odd thing that stays in my mind was that the go faster levers had micrometer adjustment so critical was the power setting at height. Curiously, the USAF detachment commander was Col Gary Powers – but not that one…
“All of the camouflage paint and stealth technology in the world will not hide the shadow of a low-altitude aircraft flying on a bright and sunny day.”
true. however, but down in the weeds you don’t need stealth. you might be detectable, but keep that burner lit and you’re un interceptable.
jack morrow says:
“Too bad there are not photos of the sr71 that have been decommissioned.”
There are lots of pics of that airplane.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&pq=sr+71+blackbird&xhr=t&q=sr+71+blackbird+titanium+fuel+tank&cp=34&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&wrapid=tljp1304602905125036&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1054&bih=428
You can see the real thing up close in a few air museums and take your own pictures. I saw the one at Pima A.M. near Tucson. I bought a tee shirt with a picture of the SR-71 BB on it.
My, how the world has changed.
In the 70′s I was the science ops engineer for Landsat 4 and the first Thematic Mapper photos after launch were confiscated by one of the alphabet agencies because they showed aircraft on the Detroit airport runway. Much less sensitive than these, but the fear was that the resolution would be good enough to show details of “other” secret installations. That all became moot when the French launched their SPOT spacecraft with even better resolution than Landsat.
Look like a U2 to me….
I guessed correctly, but then, I’m a local who sometimes flies over Beale AFB. Let me guess, no prize?
Civilian pilots can take FAA High Altitude Physiology Training at the Beale facility; a side benefit when I took the class was spending lunchtime watching a U2 practicing in the traffic pattern, a fascinating plane. The James “Top Gear” May U2 flight in that amazing BBC video was also from Beale.
@Lonnie E. Schubert.
Sorry we borrowed it for a while. Google Earth “Brisbane Airport” and take the view back to 4/16/2007. Look at the south end of the runway.
If you want to see a BIG plane try:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Brook+Bank+Wooburn&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rlz=1R1GGGL_en___GB351&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
@John Silver, did you forget the F-104? I think that it was also a Lockheed Skunk Works bird.
Google Earth : 38.226681° -112.299044°
No shadow… apparently a missile on a test range going somewhere. And with no chase planes.
Is it a B-36?
It’s the alien craft from Roswell, taking off from Area 51.
Ha! I recognized it right away. It’s Beale AFB. When Google Earth was freshly launched, I lived in Sutter County and came across that plane right away, purely inadvertently.
Mike (noastronomer)
Are you sure? Can you share a reference?
Thx
The SR-71 on static display is nice as well. Thanks, Anthony.
‘Amino’ writes “…it seems so odd that U-2′s are still being used when satellite can do the job?”
It takes awhile to move a satellite into an orbit that will cover a particular area, and then it will only be over the target for a small fraction of the day.
U-2 taking off. The F-104? Beautiful aircraft.But it was(is) called the widow maker for a reason. 900 kts at 20′ off the deck. You are dead before your brain can register it.And many a Luftwaffe pilot died in Canadian 104’s due to the fact,in the German version,you ejected out the bottom,so they would flip the bird onto her back to get out.Unfortunately,they punched out straight into the ground.
..May have mentioned this before…
I was a little kid, and it was around ’58 or ’59 and I was in our backyard, about 3/4 of a mile from the Lockheed airport, where my mother worked as a technical librarian.
Heard this rumbling that became louder, and louder, and when I looked in the direction it was coming from, the airport, I saw this black thing that looked like a rocket, but with funny long and skinny wings, heading straight up. Not quickly at all, but slow and steady, and making a lot of noise in the process.
It slowly disappeared into the sky, and I never saw one again.
When mom got home I asked her what it was, and all she said was “I don’t know”, with a faint hint of a smile. It wasn’t until years later I realized it was a U-2.
Long live Kelly Johnson!
we still fly U-2’s … interesting …
NASA/Ames flew a U-2 (or U-2 derivative) during the mid-1970’s while I was stationed at Moffett Field. I remember listening to a U-2 clearance: “ATC clears you to at or above fight level six-zero-zero three miles south of the Oakland VORTAC.” Flight level 600 is the upper limit of the US jet route system (about 60,000 feet). The Oakland VORTAC is located at the Oakland airport. NASA/Ames, also located at Moffett Field, is about five miles south of Oakland. When they take off from Moffett (heading north), the U-2s point their nose straight up and climb like a rocket.
Jim
I had the pleasure of witnessing a high speed “low” altitude (relatively speaking!) fly over of an SR71. The next day I got to touch it! At the age of 21 the thrill was almost like touching a … never mind. Okay, so I’m a geek. I also have gotten to see a few U2’s up an personal! BTW that fly over was so absolutely incredible. If my CO hadn’t told us what to look for, we would probably not have understood what we were witnessing.
Too easy.
Dick of Utah
I meant that there are none flying and I miss them and I bet so does our intelligence service folks. I was flying East at 41,000 feet one night and something at an altitude much higher than that, with a blinking strobe light , flew over me from North to South. I suspected a sr because of it’s speed.
I guessed it right but couldn’t work out why there were 2 of them, not the kind of plane that flies around in pairs. The shadow and plane look alike.
@ur momisugly Hector Pascal
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is not based at Duxford but RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
Way back when I had the chance of sitting in a U2 at Akrotiri in Cyprus. Fascinating (and noisy) aeroplane and the odd thing that stays in my mind was that the go faster levers had micrometer adjustment so critical was the power setting at height. Curiously, the USAF detachment commander was Col Gary Powers – but not that one…
“All of the camouflage paint and stealth technology in the world will not hide the shadow of a low-altitude aircraft flying on a bright and sunny day.”
true. however, but down in the weeds you don’t need stealth. you might be detectable, but keep that burner lit and you’re un interceptable.