SR-71 Blackbird Walk AroundBy James Goodall
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Here is one of my favorite subjects to be released from Squadron/Signal Publications - an in-depth photo walk around of the Blackbird! Even in retirement, many aspects of this aircraft are still classified, such as its top speed and altitude. Remember that this aircraft could cruise at Mach 3+ using advanced propulsion technologies developed in the 1950s and was developed, tested and flown in secret.
The author starts the coverage with the first version of the aircraft, the A-12. At first glance, the A-12 might look like an SR-71, but it only had one cockpit and the corrugated metal skin in the wing panels had squared corrugation versus the round corrugation on the SR-71. The two-seat aircraft on display at the Boeing Museum in Seattle also looks like an SR-71, but it too has the squared corrugation, making it an D-21 drone mothership (you can still see where the mount was installed between the tails for the D-21).
The
author provides a nice look into the YF-12A program (the Mach-3 interceptor
variant of the SR-71) and the one and only SR-71C that is now on display
at the Hill AFB Museum. The SR-71C was a two-seat SR-71B with the rear
fuselage of a YF-12A, including the folding ventral tail.
Of course, no coverage of this topic would be complete without a thorough look at the SR herself. This title is crammed full of excellent color and B&W photographs getting into the cockpit, engine bays and many other areas of interest to the modeler. In addition, a number of color profiles are also included to illustrate the family of aircraft from the first A-12 to the SR-71s that were reactivated in the 1990s following their first retirement.
This book is highly recommended to aviation historians and modelers alike.
My sincere thanks to Squadron/Signal Publications for this review sample!
