I've been meaning for some time now to pay a visit to the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, which I pass often in my travels along the 101. Last Saturday turned out to be a perfect day to drop by, as they had U-2 pilot Rich Perkins and Blackbird pilot Brian Shul giving back-to-back talks about the planes and their experiences. Both were affable guys and talented speakers with an abundance of great stories to tell, making for an unforgettable afternoon.

Perkins' excellent U-2 talk was up first. Some assorted facts of interest about the plane: Weight at takeoff is about 19,000 lbs., with the plane's single engine providing 18,000 lbs. thrust. Takeoffs are at an extremely steep 70 degree climb angle, necessary to keep the airspeed low so the plane's enormous wings don't shear off. Both takeoffs and landings are made difficult by the design of said wings, which flex significantly over their 80-104 ft. (in various models) wingspan, and whose fuel load can slosh freely due to the lack of baffles in the wing tanks. U-2 pilots spend an hour suited up breathing pure oxygen before flight, to offload nitrogen that would otherwise produce a fatal case of the bends at the plane's typical flight altitude of 70,000 ft. Missons lasted up to 7-8 hours. I had thought the U-2 was long ago retired, but not so: Turns out every SCUD missile site taken out in the Gulf War was spotted by a U-2, with the targeting info thus provided accurate to within 1 m.

SR-71 pilot Brian Shul was next to delight the assembled audience, with stories and years of pictures he's taken that can finally be shared. (In his second career as a photographer, Shul has gained fame for his now-published Blackbird pics. He's also done ride-alongs with the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels, doing some truly impressive aerial photography along the way.) The main subject of Shul's talk, of course, was the SR-71. It's just hard not to be impressed by a plane designed and built inside of 18 months four decades ago (well before computer-aided drafting and aerodynamic anaysis) that still holds the world speed and altitude records for a conventional aircraft. The SR-71's exact top speed (mach 3.3 is the rough limit) turns out to be less a matter of aerodynamic stability or lack of engine power (of which it has plenty to spare) than one of temperature: 427 degrees C is as hot as the engines' compressor inlets can be allowed to get. Time from brake release to 26,000 ft. is a little over 3 minutes. The planes take on additional fuel once airborne (12,000 gallons, or 80,000 lbs., in a mere 15 minutes), before climbing to an altitude of 80,000 ft. or more. Pilot and navigator wear pressurized suits as in the single-pilot U-2, with the cabin pressurized to 25,000 ft. The final flight of the SR-71 now on exhibit in the Smithsonian was a coast-to-coast trip completed in 68 minutes.

I mentioned the Great Images in NASA site in an earlier post. It's home to a few nice Blackbird pics such as this one, and at least one U-2 pic with a novel story attached. The ever-informative Wikipedia has articles about the SR-71 and U-2 (as well as the various other things named “U-2”).

The Hiller Museum looked like a neat place. One of these days I've got to go back and spend some time checking out their permanent exhibits.