XH558 - was Re: using new technology etc

[Peter Cetinski]

>> 
> My son is stationed at Beale AFB (where the SR-71s were originally based) and 7963 is on static display there.  I've been up to it (you can actually *touch* it!)  They are wicked cool looking and *big*.   They also have a static display of the drone which could be launched from the back of an SR-71.  After some initial testing (can't remember if they lost an aircraft in the process), they decided it wasn't a particularly good idea.  The clearance between the drone and the vertical stabilizers/rudders is not large.
> 
> TTFN - Guy


I worked on the cameras on the SR-71 at Beale in the late 1980s.  Still gives me goosebumps thinking about it.  The drone was the D-21 which flew on the back of the M-21 (which was modified A-12 (which itself was the SR-71s predecessor)).  You can see a video of that fateful test here.

https://youtu.be/GMyC2urCl_4