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Not mentioned in the story (or comments yet): You can see the SR-71 at the Smithsonian out by Dulles Airport, along with a shuttle and a huge array of other ha

Not mentioned in the story (or comments yet): You can see the SR-71 at the Smithsonian out by Dulles Airport, along with a shuttle and a huge array of other hardware. Very cool if you're into that sort of thing. http://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center/ http://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center/

canistr 13y ago
If you're ever in Seattle, you can also see one at the Museum of Flight. http://www.museumofflight.org/exhibits/blackbird http://www.museumofflight.org/exhibits/blackbird I also highly recommend people book a tour for the Boeing factory in Everett (about an hour just north of Seattle) where you can see 747s, 787s, 777s, etc. being manufactured in the world's largest building (by volume). http://www.boeing.com/boeing/commercial/tours/index.page http://www.boeing.com/boeing/commercial/tours/index.page
- jzwinck 13y ago
  Likewise the Airbus plant in Toulouse, France. You can see A380s being put together in one of the world's other largest buildings. The tour is usually in French but highly worthwhile even if you don't know the language.
- lotharbot 13y ago
  Pedantry: the aircraft at the Museum of Flight is actually an M-21 blackbird (with a D-21 drone attached), not an SR-71 blackbird. It's the only surviving M-21. There are about 20 SR-71s in museums (plus an SR-71 cockpit at the Museum of Flight, which you can sit in.) Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird#Accidents_and_aircraft_disposition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird#Accide... plus personal knowledge as a former Museum of Flight employee
tillinghast 13y ago
For those firmly lodged in the center of the US, there's an SR-71A on permanent display at the Strategic Air & Space Museum near Omaha, Nebraska: http://sasmuseum.com http://sasmuseum.com
peckrob 13y ago
There's also a Y-12 on display in front of the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. It's actually the one pictured in the story (second image down). Unfortunately, it's in kinda rough shape right now. It's been outside for years and the paint is starting to fade.
nmcveity 13y ago
There is an A-12 (trainer) at the California Science Center in LA. Apart from the shuttle I think it's the most interesting thing there... and it's outside next to the parking lot!
- dba7dba 13y ago
  Yes the A-12 at the California Science Center in LA is an amazing site. Seeing it up close (it's positioned lower so you can pretty much see at the level of the cockpit), I was really amazed. This existed in 1966??!!! For anyone who happens to come to the Coliseum in LA for USC football game, you should check it out.
showerst 13y ago
Udvar-Hazy really is amazing, the scale of the place is just mind blowing. At one point you can swing a left and see a jet, which looks decent sized but not particularly special compared to planes around it, until realize that it's a full sized 707 jetliner...
- bane 13y ago
  I brought my brother-in-law from Korea to there one time not long after it opened. After spending the requisite half-hour drooling all over the floor by the SR-71 we went into the space flight hanger. I pointed to the shuttle there and said "look at that! it's a space ship!" Another visitor looked over at me and said "no that's just a...." eyes widened in sudden awareness, "I guess...I guess it is a space ship!" My brother-in-law excitedly asked "this is a great model, where's the real thing?" "That's the real thing, you're 5 feet from an actual, real space ship." Mind blown, we next walked over to the actual Enola Gay...which sits not too far from an actual Concord. It's an absolutely mind-blowing awe inspiring place. edit BTW, the shuttle flew at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph) so fast you could see the sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. That's Mach 22.
  - pdonis 13y ago
    That's Mach 22 If the Shuttle were flying at sea level, yes. But of course it isn't. Mach number is meaningless in orbit. (During reentry, once the atmosphere is thick enough for Mach number to be meaningful, I believe the highest readings seen are Mach 25 to 26, since the speed of sound is lower at high altitude.)
erbo 13y ago
There's also an SR-71 on display in the foyer of the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS: http://www.cosmo.org http://www.cosmo.org The Cosmosphere is one of my favorite places. It has the largest collection of American space hardware outside of the Smithsonian in DC, and the largest collection of Russian space hardware outside of Russia. Definitely worth a visit.
mercurial 13y ago
I remember seeing one at the Paris flight show when I was a kid. It looked like nothing else. You'd think it was a fighter jet, except it's so massive and streamlined, it's more like a misplaced, oversized prop from a sci-fi flick. Absolutely amazing aircraft. Anybody has a list of other "odd" planes? I know about the giant Soviet plane, the Kalinin K-7 [1], though while being "special" it's not particularly elegant and never went beyond the prototype stage. 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinin_K-7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinin_K-7
- rangibaby 13y ago
  The "Capsian Sea Monster" certainly counts as odd: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan
  - mercurial 13y ago
    Definitely odd. Looks like Russian designers had a weakness for unwieldy, large "planes".
- aerocapture 13y ago
  One of the best collections of "odd" planes is the Research and Development gallery at the U.S. Air Force museum in Dayton, OH. Well worth the trip. http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/exhibits/r&d/ http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/exhibits/r&d/
- Theodores 13y ago
  Those machine gun turrets are quite unusual on the K7. It took a while for planes to become big tubes with wings on them, with the jet engines in pods. Economics is the thing, it is down to cost per mile, that is it for passengers and freight (fresh vegetables). The era of experimentation is over. Tilt-rotors, Spruce Gooses, Harrier Jump Jets, Concordes, twin-boom P38s - history.
chris_mahan 13y ago
There's one at the California Science Center (images: https://www.google.com/search?q=sr-71+california+science+center&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=sr-71+california+science+cen...) I've been there a couple of times. There's a path that snakes under, and the engines are about 12 feet above ground. There's a little higher path in the rear, where you can look more evenly, and you're about 8 feet behind. It's in very good shape and very impressive.

canistr 13y ago

If you're ever in Seattle, you can also see one at the Museum of Flight. http://www.museumofflight.org/exhibits/blackbird http://www.museumofflight.org/exhibits/blackbird I also highly recommend people book a tour for the Boeing factory in Everett (about an hour just north of Seattle) where you can see 747s, 787s, 777s, etc. being manufactured in the world's largest building (by volume). http://www.boeing.com/boeing/commercial/tours/index.page http://www.boeing.com/boeing/commercial/tours/index.page

jzwinck 13y ago
Likewise the Airbus plant in Toulouse, France. You can see A380s being put together in one of the world's other largest buildings. The tour is usually in French but highly worthwhile even if you don't know the language.
lotharbot 13y ago
Pedantry: the aircraft at the Museum of Flight is actually an M-21 blackbird (with a D-21 drone attached), not an SR-71 blackbird. It's the only surviving M-21. There are about 20 SR-71s in museums (plus an SR-71 cockpit at the Museum of Flight, which you can sit in.) Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird#Accidents_and_aircraft_disposition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird#Accide... plus personal knowledge as a former Museum of Flight employee

tillinghast 13y ago

For those firmly lodged in the center of the US, there's an SR-71A on permanent display at the Strategic Air & Space Museum near Omaha, Nebraska: http://sasmuseum.com http://sasmuseum.com

peckrob 13y ago

There's also a Y-12 on display in front of the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. It's actually the one pictured in the story (second image down). Unfortunately, it's in kinda rough shape right now. It's been outside for years and the paint is starting to fade.

nmcveity 13y ago

There is an A-12 (trainer) at the California Science Center in LA. Apart from the shuttle I think it's the most interesting thing there... and it's outside next to the parking lot!

dba7dba 13y ago
Yes the A-12 at the California Science Center in LA is an amazing site. Seeing it up close (it's positioned lower so you can pretty much see at the level of the cockpit), I was really amazed. This existed in 1966??!!! For anyone who happens to come to the Coliseum in LA for USC football game, you should check it out.

showerst 13y ago

Udvar-Hazy really is amazing, the scale of the place is just mind blowing. At one point you can swing a left and see a jet, which looks decent sized but not particularly special compared to planes around it, until realize that it's a full sized 707 jetliner...

bane 13y ago
I brought my brother-in-law from Korea to there one time not long after it opened. After spending the requisite half-hour drooling all over the floor by the SR-71 we went into the space flight hanger. I pointed to the shuttle there and said "look at that! it's a space ship!" Another visitor looked over at me and said "no that's just a...." eyes widened in sudden awareness, "I guess...I guess it is a space ship!" My brother-in-law excitedly asked "this is a great model, where's the real thing?" "That's the real thing, you're 5 feet from an actual, real space ship." Mind blown, we next walked over to the actual Enola Gay...which sits not too far from an actual Concord. It's an absolutely mind-blowing awe inspiring place. edit BTW, the shuttle flew at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph) so fast you could see the sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. That's Mach 22.
- pdonis 13y ago
  That's Mach 22 If the Shuttle were flying at sea level, yes. But of course it isn't. Mach number is meaningless in orbit. (During reentry, once the atmosphere is thick enough for Mach number to be meaningful, I believe the highest readings seen are Mach 25 to 26, since the speed of sound is lower at high altitude.)

erbo 13y ago

There's also an SR-71 on display in the foyer of the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS: http://www.cosmo.org http://www.cosmo.org The Cosmosphere is one of my favorite places. It has the largest collection of American space hardware outside of the Smithsonian in DC, and the largest collection of Russian space hardware outside of Russia. Definitely worth a visit.

mercurial 13y ago

I remember seeing one at the Paris flight show when I was a kid. It looked like nothing else. You'd think it was a fighter jet, except it's so massive and streamlined, it's more like a misplaced, oversized prop from a sci-fi flick. Absolutely amazing aircraft. Anybody has a list of other "odd" planes? I know about the giant Soviet plane, the Kalinin K-7 [1], though while being "special" it's not particularly elegant and never went beyond the prototype stage. 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinin_K-7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinin_K-7

rangibaby 13y ago
The "Capsian Sea Monster" certainly counts as odd: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan
- mercurial 13y ago
  Definitely odd. Looks like Russian designers had a weakness for unwieldy, large "planes".
aerocapture 13y ago
One of the best collections of "odd" planes is the Research and Development gallery at the U.S. Air Force museum in Dayton, OH. Well worth the trip. http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/exhibits/r&d/ http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/exhibits/r&d/
Theodores 13y ago
Those machine gun turrets are quite unusual on the K7. It took a while for planes to become big tubes with wings on them, with the jet engines in pods. Economics is the thing, it is down to cost per mile, that is it for passengers and freight (fresh vegetables). The era of experimentation is over. Tilt-rotors, Spruce Gooses, Harrier Jump Jets, Concordes, twin-boom P38s - history.

chris_mahan 13y ago

There's one at the California Science Center (images: https://www.google.com/search?q=sr-71+california+science+center&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=sr-71+california+science+cen...) I've been there a couple of times. There's a path that snakes under, and the engines are about 12 feet above ground. There's a little higher path in the rear, where you can look more evenly, and you're about 8 feet behind. It's in very good shape and very impressive.