Behold The SR-71 Blackbird's Raw Power In This Crazy Low-Light Afterburner Photo (Updated)

[Wingnut]

The SR-71 Blackbird continues to capture the public's imagination like no other aircraft on Earth even two decades after it was retired. Any new stories, video, pilot interviews, historical tidbit, or whatever about the jet are gobbled up like fine desserts by fans of the plane, or of just engineering, technology, and history, in general. Case in point the crazy photo above.

It shows a Blackbird with a Skunk Works tail-flash maneuvering relatively low over a populated area at twilight with full afterburner selected. The only way to capture such a shot was with high-speed, grainy film, but that quality actually adds to the photo's mystique, in my opinion. Multiple SR-71's wore the Skunk Works tail flash, so it is near impossible to understand what aircraft this was. Best guess was it was a test bird out of Palmdale towards the end of the SR-71's career, but that is just a wild guess.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/30804/this-low-light-sr-71-blackbird-afterburner-photo-will-melt-your-face

Updated Info on the photo at the link.

[skeeter]

The SR-71 Blackbird continues to capture the public's imagination like no other aircraft on Earth even two decades after it was retired. Any new stories, video, pilot interviews, historical tidbit, or whatever about the jet are gobbled up like fine desserts by fans of the plane, or of just engineering, technology, and history, in general. Case in point the crazy photo above.

It shows a Blackbird with a Skunk Works tail-flash maneuvering relatively low over a populated area at twilight with full afterburner selected. The only way to capture such a shot was with high-speed, grainy film, but that quality actually adds to the photo's mystique, in my opinion. Multiple SR-71's wore the Skunk Works tail flash, so it is near impossible to understand what aircraft this was. Best guess was it was a test bird out of Palmdale towards the end of the SR-71's career, but that is just a wild guess.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/30804/this-low-light-sr-71-blackbird-afterburner-photo-will-melt-your-face

Updated Info on the photo at the link.

Probably out of Edwards AFB.

[PeteS in CA]

IIRC, SR-71s were operating out of Beale AFB, near Marysville and Yuba City. So the pic might be from that area.

[Free Vulcan]

My favorite all-time Blackbird story - the 'Speed Check':

The Ultimate Ground Speed Check - Tales from the Blackbird

Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed." Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground."

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/favorite-sr-71-story-1079127041

[Wingnut]

The pilot of the Blackbird that night said it was :

The highest time SR-71 pilot ever, BC Thomas, reached out to me about the photo. Here is its awesome backstory:

The photographer was Lt Col Bill Flanagan, taken from our SR-71 Flight Test T-38 chase plane #10363. Lt Col Tom Tilden was the T-38 pilot. I was the SR-71 pilot and my RSO was Lt Col JT Vida. The takeoff was from Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, CA, around 1986, with Palmdale in the background. Note the two small Mach diamond reflections, lower left, in the canopy of the T-38. The aircraft was #972, the SR-71 which graces the entrance to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles International Airport, and the aircraft which holds the world’s speed record coast-to-coast (Lt Cols Ed Yeilding and JT Vida crew).

[Wingnut]

My favorite all-time Blackbird story - the 'Speed Check':

Agreed!