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Bye Bye Blackbird
I know I'm generalising here, but I'm a typical woman. I like clothes, handbags, the colour pink and watching soaps; but I also love motorbikes.
We have a Honda Blackbird bike, which is named after the jet aeroplane that holds the record as the world's fastest and highest, air breathing, production aircraft. Similarly, when the Blackbird motorbike was first made in 1996, it was the fastest production bike in the world. Oh the sheer thrill and exhilaration of zooming along the roads on it - it is breathtaking!
Anyway, we have this thing, that whenever it's our birthday, we take the day off and the birthday boy or girl gets to do what they want for the day - within reason. So, for my husband's birthday recently, he decided he wanted to go to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. I let out a surreptitious groan of despair, I mean, it's not exactly my idea of a fun day out - but as it was his birthday I said of course we'd go.
After a two hour drive to get there, we paid to get in, then realised we'd be walking for miles from hangar to hangar. I hadn't taken a coat and the airfield was freezing. This put me in a glum mood, but I tried to be cheerful for hubby's sake, and trailed around with him.
The first three hangars we went in contained aeroplanes… and more planes… and, oh look, another aeroplane, how lovely!Hubby could see I was bored and cold, so said we'd go and have something to eat in the café. After a plate of chicken gougons chips and beans - they weren't exactly a Michelin star restaurant - I felt a bit warmer, so we ventured out again. Luckily just as we were walking along, a minibus came and took us across to the next hangar. I have to say this one was more interesting; with tanks, army vehicles and Montgomery's caravan, so we spent a good while having a look at everything.
Then we went into the American hangar where there were even more aeroplanes, but hubby pointed to something sleek, black and UFO looking over in the corner. It was a Blackbird! I've always wanted to see the plane that our bike was named after, and now was my chance.
Well, he couldn't get me away from it. I spent an hour and a half looking at it and taking notes. How on earth someone could look at one plane for an hour and a half I don't know, but I did. My poor husband had become bored and wandered off - ha, it made a change for him to be the bored one!
But, what a spectacular aircraft. It has an aerodynamic streamlined shape with slightly tilted wings and tail, and special paint which helps to keep its skin temperature down and absorb radar waves. The paint changes colour from black to blue in flight, and has tiny iron balls that disperse radar signals to help avoid detection.
For a woman who usually loves girly things, I was fascinated with this beautiful aeroplane. Built in 1958 in strict secrecy at the Lockhead plant in Burbank, California, it took its first flight in 1962. A total of thirty two were built, and between the 1960s and end of the Cold War in 1989, SR-71 Blackbirds flew on secret missions detecting activities in the Soviet Union and China to ensure limits on nuclear weapons were being observed. It was retired in 1990 due to the high running costs, had a bit of a reprieve in 1995, but was retired again in 1997.
The speed record of 2,193.167 mph still stood in 2002. This speed was at Mach 3.31, which means 3 times the speed of sound. It reached a height of 85,069 feet, another world record, and it has a range of 2,982 miles without refuelling.
All this takes its toll on the two man crew - a pilot and reconnaissance systems officer - so they have to wear special pressure suits like astronauts wear. Because, at 63,000 feet the pressure is so low that their body fluids would boil, and above 45,000 feet without oxygen masks, they would only survive for about 12 seconds.
To give a comparison of this magnificent machine's speed, a trip from London to Edinburgh in a car travelling at 60 mph would take 6 hours and 20 minutes, on a high speed train it would take 1 hour 11 minutes, on Concorde it would take 16 minutes, and in the Blackbird it would take 10 minutes! Wow, what I would give for a flight in it.
I could go on forever and bore you even more with facts about its jet engines, but I won't; I will only say what a shame it is that it no longer flies. But, consuming fuel at 1000 lbs. per minute, I am not surprised that the running costs forced the plane to be retired. It really is worth seeing, so I would recommend a visit to the museum.
The next time my husband wants to visit somewhere I deem boring, I'm taking my notepad - you never know what I might see!
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