When I graduated from Air Force basic training in April 1990, we had an SR71 fly over our ceremony. We were told not to look at it by our TI's, you think I listened to him. Heck no. It was mostly cloudy that day and it dropped down below the clouds for like a split second and then BOOM it was gone. It was awesome. Ever since then I have been fascinated with that platform..I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade so airplanes in general fascinate me. Love the channel Jimmy!
I was there as well. Flight 232 was my basic if I remember correctly. I was at the back of the formation due to being shorter. Heard it but never did get a look!
@@Cantthinkofahandle117 Eyes forward while in formation... You need to be able to see and catch the person in front of you when they lock their knees and faint. Seriously though, I don't think we had a fly over during my basic graduation. Mine was in 1982 and I went on to work on F-16s, F-15Cs and B-1s. I saw my first SR-71 at museum outside Hill, AFB Utah. I didn't know it was there there and was shocked when I turned the corner in the museum and saw it. I didn't get to sit in it though...
Well I have a clock out the SR-71 Blackbird first lights or second flight the clock broke through changed it one of my family members changed it and it got the broken part clock
Cool fact; In my younger days I spent a brief time working in a rebar plant in Portland. During that time, the rebar used in the construction of the newer space and missle wing came through our plant. I personally bent nearly all the rebar used in that portion of the museum.
Jimmy, at 6:03 into this video you pan past an F-105G Wild Weasel aircraft, #432 (visible on the nose gear plate). #432 was my aircraft when I served in the Georgia Air National Guard back around 1980. We got the Weasel mission when the F-105G's came back from Viet Nam. I guess that confirms what my son loves to tell me - "Dad, all the airplanes you used to fly are in museums now!" Currently, I am a professor of Aviation at the University of Dubuque in Iowa - still flying at 70!
My high school math teacher (I am from a very small town and we had our own school, my graduating class was 92 students) Mr. Klessel was a retired SR71 pilot. How friggin neat is that? He used to stump every class and ask them how long it took to get from NY to LA at Mach 2.2 or something along those lines.. Whatever it was I recall the answer was 54 minutes (I don't remember exactly the 2 points) anyway he had the most amazing stories! edit: Museums are awesome!
At 4:38, you are looking at a Cessna 337 Skymaster. 30 years ago, I flew a few hundred hours in the right seat with the pilot/owner out of 30A in Tennessee. His plane, N6200F, had a STOL kit and oversize rear intake scoop. Landing gear door hydraulics are quite complicated, and were a pain to work on, but the center-thrust twin could climb like a homesick angel. It was painted navy blue, and was called "Night Fighter" by many people who saw it. I miss that bird, not to mention my friend.
Normally I would get upset with so called click bait titles. However, I knew going in the government would never let a private civilian buy an SR-71 with that being said I love the creative way you incorporated the real purchase in your video. All that to say love the work you do.
Thanks! Greetings Jimmy. Been watching you for awhile. Love the “barn” finds and all the others. Keep it up and don’t sugar coat anything. I am a long tine airline A&P in the Knoxville, TN area.
The Pima Museum in Tucson had some open cockpit days in the past. They opened their SR-71 to the public to take a seat in it. I was surprised by the amount of space in the cockpit, but the space suit would cut into that abundance really fast.
You were correct in saying it was the best day of your life after sitting in the Blackbird. I felt the sam way when I did it, but a few years earlier. I was fortunate enough to sit in the Operational #61-7974, the original Icheban Blackbird in 1978 when I was stationed at Kadena Air Base in Japan. I was one of the photo-processors that developed the film off of the Habu and 17974 was in the hanger next to our photo lab. It was talking to one of the techs that got permission for a few of us to actually get to sit in the drivers seat of this monumental aircraft. Unfortunately, that was the last Blackbird to crash in April 1989 off the Philippine coast. It is now in 25,597 feet of water, in an area known as the Mariana Trench. Buried at sea with full military honors.
Dang, you were up in McMinnville and you didn't tell me? I am 30 minutes away from there to the south. Is there still a UH-1H 502 still out front? I crewed on that Huey.
This one is on my bucket list. I visited the Spruce Goose in Long Beach, CA the second day it was on display. I saw it in pieces on barges on the Willamette River in Portland when they were moving it to McMinnville. But not living in the area now has prevented me from visiting the museum. It is on my bucket list and I hope to get it done now that we visit the Portland area frequently these days. One of the display building was built to tight specifications to receive a space shuttle, but shortly after President Obama was inaugurated the space shuttle was rerouted to another destination.
Thanks for coming out to Oregon, Jimmy! Glad you had a blast at what a lot of us consider to be the coolest museum in the state, if not the West Coast!
I was at a small private auto and military museum that was offered an SR71 tail fin from an aerospace museum. They didn’t know what to do with it, but who could turn such an offer down? Two days later, 2 FBI agents came knocking on the door, and were there to confiscate the fin. It seems the tail fin wasn’t classified, but the anti radar coating was! Bye bye tail fin!
Interestingly, Lockheed's name for the airplane was RS-71 for "reconnaissance strike." When President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the existence of the airplane ~2 yrs after it actually flew, his dyslexic brain read it as "SR" which sent Lockheed scrambling to rename the plane so as to not embarrass the president. Times have certainly changed as the media today would waste no time embarrassing the president of one political party over something like that. The name change and other tidbit about Lockheed are in Kelly Johnson's book titled "Kelly More Than My Share of it All."
The Spruce Goose, actually not made of spruce. So he let you sit in the SR-71, then tells you that one is not for sale, but proceeded to sell you a non-functioning, reduced scale facsimile of one? Sounds like a bait and switch if I ever heard of one! 🤣 Great video, Jimmy.
My uncle was the president of Evergreen for. Any years. He was the one that insured the new home for the Spruce Goose. Such a cool place. McMinnville OR.
I live here in Va.Beach and was in a local restaurant and the old guy standing in front of me had on a flight jacket and hat with SR-71 nomenclature so I had to ask. Hey cool jacket I love the SR-71..! turns out he was a pilot that flew it quite a bit. He was telling me that they would only carry enough fuel to get off the ground and meet up with the tanker and then fill up and go on their mission.! About that time his wife pulled his arm and mine pulled mine and that was that..!
We went to the Evergreen Aerospace Museum recently and it was great. Going up in to the Spruce Goose was amazing. If anyone hasn't been, I highly recommend going. We didn't get to sit in the SR-71 so how cool was that you did! I'm jelly😝
I really enjoyed my visit here some years back. Got to play around in the b-17 there with a old fella who used to fly them. Spent a good hour checking stuff out and chatting with him. 🍻
I got to sit in the pilot seat of the Spruce Goose last Memorial Day weekend. The Evergreen Air & Space Museum in McMinnville Oregon is cool place to check out.
Hey Jimmy, I am so happy that you got to visit the Evergreen Museum in McMinnville Oregon. That is one of the coolest Aviation Museums out there. I have visited the Smithsonian, but not the Annex Air Museum at the airport. I have Also visited the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum, the Warner Robbins Air Force Museum and the Air Force Academy visitors center. I have visited many private Aviation Museums and Evergreen was one of the best.
I don't see the SAC Museum on there! Definite shame as SAC has some great exhibits of the big bomber fleet aircraft, including a surviving B-1A. Best part is its right off of I-80 near Ashland, Nebraska so you can stop in while driving by.
Jimmy so awesome - in the Early 2000's I was a VP with Evergreen, and used to buy and sell - been in the cockpits of those planes back in the day...... even the Spruce Goose HAHAHA seems like a thousand years ago..... nice visit I haven't been there in years. Since Dell Smith was still alive and my boss :)
@@buckmurdock2500 yep u got that right on my phone so Del spellchecks to Dell - thanks great catch….. after Michael passed away a lot of things change I was there in the late 90s until 2002. I worked out of Miami and flew back every month for meetings crazy. Had to buy some aircraft right out of 9/11 for training for the US military out of Marana. Crazy times.
I visited the place with my grandma as one of the last things we did together before she passed. She had never been even though she lived in the area for decades and I had never been even though I remember growing up in the area and reading all about the Spruce Goose being brought up there - as I had moved away before the museum opened. Glad they still have the X-38. I never hear anyone talking about it but I thought it was pretty cool.
Wow, that museum has really grown up in the 20 years since I was there. Back then it was just the 1 hall with the H16 and some other stuff parked under it.
I agree. I haven’t been to the Evergreen Museum since about 2005. Wasn’t even aware the Smithsonian had acquired it. Just the one hanger when dad and I were there. I had seen the Goose in Long Beach next to the QM before she was moved to McMinnville. I’ll have to make another trip someday. Another air museum that is nearby is at Tillamook where the Erickson Museum is or was located. It occupied to US Navy Blimp hangers. If I remember correctly they are the largest free standing wood structures in US. The engineering of these structures was amazing to behold.
My father was maintenance chief at Dobbins ARB back in their late 70s early 80s he was a major in the Air Force. He came into work one morning, and in the hangar where several C-130s were supposed to be parked, they were nosed out of the hangar. Behind a lead shielded curtain in the back of the hanger apparently was sitting an SR 71… It developed a hydraulic leak somewhere over Mississippi and made it to Marietta Georgia in about 15 to 20 minutes. Dad got a chance to talk to the pilots, and they told him some crazy stories about flying that bird. Those pilots have seen three sunrises on a flight, which is pretty cool, also, they told him a couple of stories of where they were shot at with missiles just outside of Soviet air space, and by the time the missiles got up to altitude …the SR71 was somewhere else. That bird could absolutely move.
I joined the Air Force in January 1982 and retired in 2006 as a avionics technician. My first base was Beale AFB and at 19 I sat in that very cockpit running ops checks, replacing the avionics and repairing the wiring. I have been all over the world and ended my career working for Lockheed Martin teaching the AF, Navy, and Marines how to maintain the F-35, another even cooler plane. Nothing beats working on the SR-71 though. Great video 👍
I was there 10 days before you posted this one. What an amazing place! I also got to sit in the cockpit of the 'Goose', so much fun!! Recommended for everyone by me. The space side of the museum is very cool as well.
I was just there at 3pm today. It was 107 outside, and they had closed earlier because of the extreme heat we are having. I'm going back and I'll camp there and spend a week looking at every inch. Really enjoyed this video. Thanks
If you're gonna be down there, don't forget the Oregon Air and Space Museum in Eugene! The volunteers are fantastic and it's very well stocked considering its size.
one was on the ground at an airshow in the UK some years ago. Surrounded by razor wire and an armed guard and the windows blanked off, and drip trays all around it, catching the fuel that was dripping out the tanks and off the wings and fuselage. Awesome, it took off later if my memory serves me right, circa 1980 maybe?
I used to live an hour away from Evergreen Museum, a great place to spin the day. McMinnville airport is across the road from the museum, for those wanting to fly in for a visit.
Fun video. On the SR-71 the "speedometer" is in fact the triple display indicator (TDI) which is right below the instrument you pointed to. The TDI reads out Mach number, altitude, and "KEAS" (knots equivalent airspeed).
I was in the USAF 1984 to 1990. The only reason for limiting the SR71 to mach 3 was heat. It was actually able to do sprinting beyond mach 3 for short periods of time.
I took the family there on vacation, 2007. Very cool place ! McMinville Oregon. I’ve seen 3 SR-71’s on display. Evergreen Museum in Oregon. Hill AirBase in Utah. Pima Air & Space Tucson
Your in my territory Jimmy. 100 miles from the Museum. I worked all around that area when the Spruce Goose was in pieces across the road from there. 2 big long temp controlled, semi-clear tents. One tent held the wings and motors, and the other tent had the main fuselagee in it. Howard Hughes kept the Goose in 100% flyable condition until his death in 1976, by his orders. Evergreen was working on the funds and permits for quite some time for that museum. They used to fly model airplanes on that spot in that museum area. They had a paved control line circle for awhile, for U-control string planes and a paved landing strip for RC planes. The control line circle was to the west of the museum and the RC flying field was right behind it.
I try to go to evergreen every couple years. They let you park the rv in the parking lot. Perfect 3 day weekend trip. Maybe I'll be able to park my custom rv next to the elvis jet there someday?
I was the guy that rebuilt the green jack for that sr71. I used to work in evergreen restoration department. Along with that navy heli drone. I remade the antenna covers from scratch. Ive got tons of behind the scenes pics and my father and I doing all the work.
When I was stationed at Offutt AFB in the mid 90's I got to look inside the SR-71 that was at the back gate by Wherry housing. They used to have a crawl through once a year where you got to go through all their aircraft. They had a walkway leading up to the aircraft and the cockpit was open. Sadly, some of the instrumintation was removed of coarse. It was still cool to look inside though. I was told all the aircraft are housed in a museum now. When I was stationed at Ramstein in the early 90's a friend of mine was an ex-boomer. He had a video of various aircraft re-fuelling that he took with his camcorder. F-15's and F-16's would request re-fuelling and he would causually finish his coffee, slowly walk back to the boomer seat and wait for the aircraft to approach. The last video on the tape was a call from an SR-71. He ran back and the SR-71 was already there waiting. He wasn't supposed to record it, but he did anyway. The pilot and co-pilot never reported him doing it.
I was there a few years back, while they still had their B-17G. For a few bucks they let you climb inside, but you couldn’t go up to the cockpit. It was an amazing experience.
Woo, Evergreen Wings and Waves! Glad to see them getting some recognition. I've been there many times. (Took a troop of Girl Scouts from Atlanta there.) They do need to trim down the speedbumps into the parking lot though.
I fortunate enough that I got to go to Beal AFB and actually see and touch the SR71 when I was only 14 years old. Met the pilots that were suiting up watched it take off and 25 min. later return. They said they flew to Colorado, circled back and landed. 25min. It goes way faster than mach whatever they say it does. It used to take the USA so much money to keep the thing that they canned it. But pilots won't say how fast it actually is. One pilot said that he got shot at by missiles and he just pumped up the throttle and walked away.
My Dad was an astronavigation technician on SR-71s in the 60s. He knew their top speed, because he had to program it into the navigation computers. He also never told us the top speed, but whenever some tv show or article would give the top speed as "Mach 3 point whatever", he'd just laugh and wink. Dad's favorite story was the time a Blackbird was coming in to land and one of the engines died. The pilot firewalled the other engine, pointed it straight up, and disappeared. The crew came floating down in parachutes a few minutes later.
@@murphsmodels8853they got a Ex United B727-200 sitting in the holding area and hasn’t had anything done to it since it’s been there in either 03 or 06
When me and my girlfriend went there I noticed the ch-37 and the staff let us out the back door to check it out. I didn't know that they existed up to that point. It is an excellent museum. The modern stuff is just out there in a way that you can get right up and touch it.
welcome to Orygun...lol. I wished i knew you were here because I'm only 40 mins from there. Love that museum. In the back there are some old russian military vehicles or even some across the street. Where is your next stop? Head to Tillamook museum? Seattle's Museum of Flight? Paul Allen collection? Erickson aircraft collection in Madres, OR. Have fun in your PNW stay. If you get out to the coast you can drive on the beaches at some places from Seaside to Warrenton.
Only about 30 miles from me. Been there at least twice before they built the water slide out of the 747. yea I have touched the SR71. I love pointing out that the P-38 (they had one last time I was there) and the SR71 were both designed by Kelly Johnson. And yea, I got that same model of SR71 as well =)
When he was standing by the SR-71 in the background you can see hanging from the ceiling an X-15 which my grandfather was one of the designers of, he died in 1964 and my grandmother kept the display model he was given and even though I begged her for it before she passed she gave it my cousin. 😢
I live just a few miles from the museum...If you had gone to the coast you could have seen another air museum that's in a WW2 Blimp hanger. It's part of an abandoned military base. Did you get out to some of the dozens of vineyards in the area?
That little biplane is a Baby Great Lakes, designed by Barney Oldfield. It was advertised as as having champagne performance on a beer budget. Great fun and aerobatic! Friend of mine had one and stored it my hanger.
If you need it Mig15 for parts or just another mig-15 there is one on Beverly airport in Massachusetts don't know it's for sale but it's been there for a long time
I remember in 2000 or 2001 my aviation explorer scout troop took a trip to johnson space center and we saw that x38 as they were working on on it. Too cool.
Awesome museum! I am wearing my Spruce Goose shirt right now! I went there for the first time last year. Wish I could of stayed longer, so much to see and take in. Super cool you videoed inside the water slide. That has to be the most unique water park ever! Looks like you had a great time, I plan on going back someday. What helicopter is at 8:09 ? It was pouring when I was there and didn't want to go outside again haha.
That airplane that was in the farmers field is an F5D Skylancer, they made 4 of them, it was a follow on to the F4D Skyray. I have always wanted to go see the Spruce Goose. You are thinking of the 337 Mixmaster Jimmy. Actually it is the Skymaster. Ahhh, Jimmy the F-85 was an Oldsmobile, that is an F-86H. They did make two XF-85 Goblins though. I'm jealous, to get to sit in the cockpit of an SR-71 would be really cool.
When I worked at the Toronto international Airport (YYZ) I had the chance prior to the 9/11 to go inside every commercial aircraft since I was a refueler. The amount of space in the AN-124 crew cabin was amazing. Had behind the control cabin a small kitchen, table large enough for 4 members then further in the back is the sleeping quarters which I didn't look at. However almost all controls are in Russian. The amount of fuel it took was roughly 7 loads at 50,000 litres of fuel where it was in route to a place in Africa then to continue to Australia. It was an awesome plane to see up close.
You need to make Cameron into another Turbulence, Now that is a go fast Lancair. I was at Burbank airport when they did the retirement flyby of the SR, Kelly Johnson was also there. The following day I was at work at Kelly Johnson Research and development center, which sat in a canyon above Santa Clarita, when it flew over there, It actually came up the canyon below us then full afterburner climb out wow is that plane loud. I also worked on the F-117 in structural test.
Jimmy so jealous you got to sit in the SR71. I used to have a poster of it on my bedroom wall in the 70s , and seen it flying many times from RAF Mildenhall at the 80s air displays, one time at about 300ft in a tight turn to avoid the crowd line it went BOOM BOOM BOOM as it approached me at near stall speed, I thought I was a goner as flames came out of the back end. Have dozens of Kodachrome slides I need to copy somehow!
If I'm not mistaken, the Swedish Airforce radar division was the first and only to lock their radar on the SR71 when it took a ride around the Baltic sea during the cold war. I was on that radar unit doing my military duty. Unfortunately it wasn't I who locked the radar on it. According to what I heared, they got a congrats card from the US for that. Hooray for Sweden, we have "sunk" one of your aircraft carriers too with one of our submarines of Gotland class, in a training session. This led to that the US Navy rented the sub and its crew for a year. I love your videos! You are a funny and crazy dude! 🙂
I was stationed in Warner Robins, GA back in 1969, USAF. I was an acft mechanic on the grave shift. It was dawn and we were all caught up and sitting in front of the plane, when we saw what we thought were two fighters coming in next to each other-really close. We went into the c-141, opened the top hatch and got on top of the plane for a better look. WTF. It taxied over to the SAC hangar. When the flight line supervisor came by in the truck we asked him what kind of plane it was. He answered "What plane" The weird one that they put in the SAC hangar "What plane" We were all excited and tried to explain it to him, "What plane" Little light going off in my brain, oh, one of those planes. It had some kind of emergency and had to land at our base but they didn't have any emergency vehicles on the runway
the SR-71's top speed was limited to the compressor inlet temperature, which was the gauge to the left of the airspeed indicator; 427deg. C...so on an abnormally cold day at altitude, the SR would be a little faster than standard temperature.
When I graduated from Air Force basic training in April 1990, we had an SR71 fly over our ceremony. We were told not to look at it by our TI's, you think I listened to him. Heck no. It was mostly cloudy that day and it dropped down below the clouds for like a split second and then BOOM it was gone. It was awesome. Ever since then I have been fascinated with that platform..I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade so airplanes in general fascinate me. Love the channel Jimmy!
Don't look at it??? It's a plane, not a nuke 😂 I'm glad you didn't listen and miss out on a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I was there as well. Flight 232 was my basic if I remember correctly. I was at the back of the formation due to being shorter. Heard it but never did get a look!
@@herbferguson They put the short guys in the back? WTF? I guess I'd have been back there with you, lol.
@@herbferguson don't even recall my flight number, will have to find it now that you have brought that up
@@Cantthinkofahandle117 Eyes forward while in formation... You need to be able to see and catch the person in front of you when they lock their knees and faint. Seriously though, I don't think we had a fly over during my basic graduation. Mine was in 1982 and I went on to work on F-16s, F-15Cs and B-1s. I saw my first SR-71 at museum outside Hill, AFB Utah. I didn't know it was there there and was shocked when I turned the corner in the museum and saw it. I didn't get to sit in it though...
My dad was flying around Sacramento with his 110 camera and a SR71 came cruising by us and dad snapped a picture ,it was very impressive
Ah, the ole 110 camera 📷 🤗
Well I have a clock out the SR-71 Blackbird first lights or second flight the clock broke through changed it one of my family members changed it and it got the broken part clock
Can this photo be viewed anywhere on the ol interwebs? We'd love to see it
Proof please
Post the pic somewhere snd reply with the link
Cool fact; In my younger days I spent a brief time working in a rebar plant in Portland.
During that time, the rebar used in the construction of the newer space and missle wing came through our plant.
I personally bent nearly all the rebar used in that portion of the museum.
that's pretty freakin cool!
Jimmy, at 6:03 into this video you pan past an F-105G Wild Weasel aircraft, #432 (visible on the nose gear plate). #432 was my aircraft when I served in the Georgia Air National Guard back around 1980. We got the Weasel mission when the F-105G's came back from Viet Nam.
I guess that confirms what my son loves to tell me - "Dad, all the airplanes you used to fly are in museums now!" Currently, I am a professor of Aviation at the University of Dubuque in Iowa - still flying at 70!
My high school math teacher (I am from a very small town and we had our own school, my graduating class was 92 students) Mr. Klessel was a retired SR71 pilot. How friggin neat is that? He used to stump every class and ask them how long it took to get from NY to LA at Mach 2.2 or something along those lines.. Whatever it was I recall the answer was 54 minutes (I don't remember exactly the 2 points) anyway he had the most amazing stories!
edit: Museums are awesome!
At 4:38, you are looking at a Cessna 337 Skymaster. 30 years ago, I flew a few hundred hours in the right seat with the pilot/owner out of 30A in Tennessee. His plane, N6200F, had a STOL kit and oversize rear intake scoop. Landing gear door hydraulics are quite complicated, and were a pain to work on, but the center-thrust twin could climb like a homesick angel. It was painted navy blue, and was called "Night Fighter" by many people who saw it. I miss that bird, not to mention my friend.
Actually, the plane in the Museum is an authentic O-2A.
@@buckmurdock2500 Thanks for the correction. Skymaster was the civilian version.
Normally I would get upset with so called click bait titles. However, I knew going in the government would never let a private civilian buy an SR-71 with that being said I love the creative way you incorporated the real purchase in your video. All that to say love the work you do.
I can shop around for all sorts of things I'll never have the money or be allowed to buy, that doesn't deter me in the least.
why not just build the actual one yourself although it would be radar deterent
@@ryanlemons3255 yes lets bamboozle the Russians again to get the titanium and rebuild all the tools from scratch as the originals were all destroyed
Thanks! Greetings Jimmy. Been watching you for awhile. Love the “barn” finds and all the others. Keep it up and don’t sugar coat anything. I am a long tine airline A&P in the Knoxville, TN area.
Awesome! Thank you!
The Pima Museum in Tucson had some open cockpit days in the past. They opened their SR-71 to the public to take a seat in it. I was surprised by the amount of space in the cockpit, but the space suit would cut into that abundance really fast.
You were correct in saying it was the best day of your life after sitting in the Blackbird. I felt the sam way when I did it, but a few years earlier. I was fortunate enough to sit in the Operational #61-7974, the original Icheban Blackbird in 1978 when I was stationed at Kadena Air Base in Japan. I was one of the photo-processors that developed the film off of the Habu and 17974 was in the hanger next to our photo lab.
It was talking to one of the techs that got permission for a few of us to actually get to sit in the drivers seat of this monumental aircraft.
Unfortunately, that was the last Blackbird to crash in April 1989 off the Philippine coast. It is now in 25,597 feet of water, in an area known as the Mariana Trench. Buried at sea with full military honors.
Dang, you were up in McMinnville and you didn't tell me? I am 30 minutes away from there to the south. Is there still a UH-1H 502 still out front? I crewed on that Huey.
I used to sit on a seawall in Kadena, Okinawa drinking beers and watch the SR-71's take off and land. so cool.
This one is on my bucket list. I visited the Spruce Goose in Long Beach, CA the second day it was on display. I saw it in pieces on barges on the Willamette River in Portland when they were moving it to McMinnville. But not living in the area now has prevented me from visiting the museum. It is on my bucket list and I hope to get it done now that we visit the Portland area frequently these days. One of the display building was built to tight specifications to receive a space shuttle, but shortly after President Obama was inaugurated the space shuttle was rerouted to another destination.
What a collection!! WOW!!
Thanks for coming out to Oregon, Jimmy! Glad you had a blast at what a lot of us consider to be the coolest museum in the state, if not the West Coast!
It's always fun to go to! And also watching the air shows they put on is super fun. And on a hot day going to the water park lol
The Museum of Flight in Seattle is pretty cool too. I enjoyed both of them.
I was at a small private auto and military museum that was offered an SR71 tail fin from an aerospace museum. They didn’t know what to do with it, but who could turn such an offer down? Two days later, 2 FBI agents came knocking on the door, and were there to confiscate the fin. It seems the tail fin wasn’t classified, but the anti radar coating was! Bye bye tail fin!
It has to be a good day when you are allowed to sit in an SR71. Thanks for sharing that moment.
Interestingly, Lockheed's name for the airplane was RS-71 for "reconnaissance strike." When President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the existence of the airplane ~2 yrs after it actually flew, his dyslexic brain read it as "SR" which sent Lockheed scrambling to rename the plane so as to not embarrass the president. Times have certainly changed as the media today would waste no time embarrassing the president of one political party over something like that.
The name change and other tidbit about Lockheed are in Kelly Johnson's book titled "Kelly More Than My Share of it All."
The Spruce Goose, actually not made of spruce. So he let you sit in the SR-71, then tells you that one is not for sale, but proceeded to sell you a non-functioning, reduced scale facsimile of one? Sounds like a bait and switch if I ever heard of one! 🤣
Great video, Jimmy.
😂😂
The news media nick named it the Spruce Goose. What rhymes with Birch? Not catchy huh.
@@petemoss8245 I can think of something that rhymes with birch, but it's not a word that would have been used in media.
Great way to start a Saturday morning with jimmy’s World
I agree 😎👍
My uncle was the president of Evergreen for. Any years. He was the one that insured the new home for the Spruce Goose. Such a cool place. McMinnville OR.
Very cool!
I live here in Va.Beach and was in a local restaurant and the old guy standing in front of me had on a flight jacket and hat with SR-71 nomenclature so I had to ask. Hey cool jacket I love the SR-71..! turns out he was a pilot that flew it quite a bit. He was telling me that they would only carry enough fuel to get off the ground and meet up with the tanker and then fill up and go on their mission.! About that time his wife pulled his arm and mine pulled mine and that was that..!
Amazing feildtrip !!
We went to the Evergreen Aerospace Museum recently and it was great. Going up in to the Spruce Goose was amazing. If anyone hasn't been, I highly recommend going. We didn't get to sit in the SR-71 so how cool was that you did! I'm jelly😝
I really enjoyed my visit here some years back. Got to play around in the b-17 there with a old fella who used to fly them. Spent a good hour checking stuff out and chatting with him.
🍻
I got to sit in the pilot seat of the Spruce Goose last Memorial Day weekend. The Evergreen Air & Space Museum in McMinnville Oregon is cool place to check out.
Hey Jimmy, I am so happy that you got to visit the Evergreen Museum in McMinnville Oregon. That is one of the coolest Aviation Museums out there. I have visited the Smithsonian, but not the Annex Air Museum at the airport. I have Also visited the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum, the Warner Robbins Air Force Museum and the Air Force Academy visitors center. I have visited many private Aviation Museums and Evergreen was one of the best.
I don't see the SAC Museum on there! Definite shame as SAC has some great exhibits of the big bomber fleet aircraft, including a surviving B-1A. Best part is its right off of I-80 near Ashland, Nebraska so you can stop in while driving by.
Very happy he came here to see it
Jimmy so awesome - in the Early 2000's I was a VP with Evergreen, and used to buy and sell - been in the cockpits of those planes back in the day...... even the Spruce Goose HAHAHA seems like a thousand years ago..... nice visit I haven't been there in years. Since Dell Smith was still alive and my boss :)
Except his nickname was Del Smith with one "L" as that was a shortened version of Delford.
@@buckmurdock2500 yep u got that right on my phone so Del spellchecks to Dell - thanks great catch….. after Michael passed away a lot of things change I was there in the late 90s until 2002. I worked out of Miami and flew back every month for meetings crazy.
Had to buy some aircraft right out of 9/11 for training for the US military out of Marana. Crazy times.
Thanks Jimmy, that was a great trip around the museum. You should do one more often. Regards Richard 🇬🇧
YESSSSSSSSSSSS Finally a Jimmys World video!
I visited the place with my grandma as one of the last things we did together before she passed. She had never been even though she lived in the area for decades and I had never been even though I remember growing up in the area and reading all about the Spruce Goose being brought up there - as I had moved away before the museum opened. Glad they still have the X-38. I never hear anyone talking about it but I thought it was pretty cool.
Wow, that museum has really grown up in the 20 years since I was there. Back then it was just the 1 hall with the H16 and some other stuff parked under it.
I agree. I haven’t been to the Evergreen Museum since about 2005. Wasn’t even aware the Smithsonian had acquired it. Just the one hanger when dad and I were there. I had seen the Goose in Long Beach next to the QM before she was moved to McMinnville. I’ll have to make another trip someday. Another air museum that is nearby is at Tillamook where the Erickson Museum is or was located. It occupied to US Navy Blimp hangers. If I remember correctly they are the largest free standing wood structures in US. The engineering of these structures was amazing to behold.
My father was maintenance chief at Dobbins ARB back in their late 70s early 80s he was a major in the Air Force. He came into work one morning, and in the hangar where several C-130s were supposed to be parked, they were nosed out of the hangar. Behind a lead shielded curtain in the back of the hanger apparently was sitting an SR 71… It developed a hydraulic leak somewhere over Mississippi and made it to Marietta Georgia in about 15 to 20 minutes. Dad got a chance to talk to the pilots, and they told him some crazy stories about flying that bird. Those pilots have seen three sunrises on a flight, which is pretty cool, also, they told him a couple of stories of where they were shot at with missiles just outside of Soviet air space, and by the time the missiles got up to altitude …the SR71 was somewhere else. That bird could absolutely move.
I joined the Air Force in January 1982 and retired in 2006 as a avionics technician. My first base was Beale AFB and at 19 I sat in that very cockpit running ops checks, replacing the avionics and repairing the wiring. I have been all over the world and ended my career working for Lockheed Martin teaching the AF, Navy, and Marines how to maintain the F-35, another even cooler plane. Nothing beats working on the SR-71 though. Great video 👍
I was there 10 days before you posted this one. What an amazing place! I also got to sit in the cockpit of the 'Goose', so much fun!! Recommended for everyone by me. The space side of the museum is very cool as well.
I was just there at 3pm today. It was 107 outside, and they had closed earlier because of the extreme heat we are having. I'm going back and I'll camp there and spend a week looking at every inch. Really enjoyed this video. Thanks
If you're gonna be down there, don't forget the Oregon Air and Space Museum in Eugene! The volunteers are fantastic and it's very well stocked considering its size.
one was on the ground at an airshow in the UK some years ago. Surrounded by razor wire and an armed guard and the windows blanked off, and drip trays all around it, catching the fuel that was dripping out the tanks and off the wings and fuselage. Awesome, it took off later if my memory serves me right, circa 1980 maybe?
I used to live an hour away from Evergreen Museum, a great place to spin the day. McMinnville airport is across the road from the museum, for those wanting to fly in for a visit.
Fun video. On the SR-71 the "speedometer" is in fact the triple display indicator (TDI) which is right below the instrument you pointed to. The TDI reads out Mach number, altitude, and "KEAS" (knots equivalent airspeed).
I was in the USAF 1984 to 1990. The only reason for limiting the SR71 to mach 3 was heat. It was actually able to do sprinting beyond mach 3 for short periods of time.
I grew up going to this place- even had prom under the Goose! Very very cool!
And Jimmy demonstrated the importance of asking for what you want... It can never hurt, right? Awesome visit to the museum!
Hello from Minnesota!! That place is on my bucket list!!
I took the family there on vacation, 2007. Very cool place ! McMinville Oregon.
I’ve seen 3 SR-71’s on display.
Evergreen Museum in Oregon.
Hill AirBase in Utah.
Pima Air & Space Tucson
So Amazing , Thank You . Looks like a place to spend several Days Exploring
That’s a great museum. My good buddy’s name is on the side of the A-10 there. It was used as a test bed for Raytheon.
OMG! Green with envy over you Jimmy! SR71 is THE best plane ever made. I would love to sit in there
My wife and I got to walk thru the Spruce Goose when it was in Long Beach..and spent the night on the Queen Mary docked next door.. Good Times!
Your in my territory Jimmy. 100 miles from the Museum. I worked all around that area when the Spruce Goose was in pieces across the road from there. 2 big long temp controlled, semi-clear tents. One tent held the wings and motors, and the other tent had the main fuselagee in it. Howard Hughes kept the Goose in 100% flyable condition until his death in 1976, by his orders. Evergreen was working on the funds and permits for quite some time for that museum. They used to fly model airplanes on that spot in that museum area. They had a paved control line circle for awhile, for U-control string planes and a paved landing strip for RC planes. The control line circle was to the west of the museum and the RC flying field was right behind it.
I was just there a few months ago. My family lives nearby. Glad to see it in RUclips.
Shoulda made your way out to the big airship hanger in tillamook after evergreen. The collection isnt massive but theres some cool stuff there.
I try to go to evergreen every couple years. They let you park the rv in the parking lot. Perfect 3 day weekend trip. Maybe I'll be able to park my custom rv next to the elvis jet there someday?
I was the guy that rebuilt the green jack for that sr71. I used to work in evergreen restoration department. Along with that navy heli drone. I remade the antenna covers from scratch. Ive got tons of behind the scenes pics and my father and I doing all the work.
When I was stationed at Offutt AFB in the mid 90's I got to look inside the SR-71 that was at the back gate by Wherry housing. They used to have a crawl through once a year where you got to go through all their aircraft. They had a walkway leading up to the aircraft and the cockpit was open. Sadly, some of the instrumintation was removed of coarse. It was still cool to look inside though. I was told all the aircraft are housed in a museum now.
When I was stationed at Ramstein in the early 90's a friend of mine was an ex-boomer. He had a video of various aircraft re-fuelling that he took with his camcorder. F-15's and F-16's would request re-fuelling and he would causually finish his coffee, slowly walk back to the boomer seat and wait for the aircraft to approach. The last video on the tape was a call from an SR-71. He ran back and the SR-71 was already there waiting. He wasn't supposed to record it, but he did anyway. The pilot and co-pilot never reported him doing it.
I was there a few years back, while they still had their B-17G. For a few bucks they let you climb inside, but you couldn’t go up to the cockpit. It was an amazing experience.
Woo, Evergreen Wings and Waves! Glad to see them getting some recognition. I've been there many times. (Took a troop of Girl Scouts from Atlanta there.) They do need to trim down the speedbumps into the parking lot though.
I fortunate enough that I got to go to Beal AFB and actually see and touch the SR71 when I was only 14 years old. Met the pilots that were suiting up watched it take off and 25 min. later return. They said they flew to Colorado, circled back and landed. 25min. It goes way faster than mach whatever they say it does. It used to take the USA so much money to keep the thing that they canned it. But pilots won't say how fast it actually is. One pilot said that he got shot at by missiles and he just pumped up the throttle and walked away.
My Dad was an astronavigation technician on SR-71s in the 60s. He knew their top speed, because he had to program it into the navigation computers. He also never told us the top speed, but whenever some tv show or article would give the top speed as "Mach 3 point whatever", he'd just laugh and wink. Dad's favorite story was the time a Blackbird was coming in to land and one of the engines died. The pilot firewalled the other engine, pointed it straight up, and disappeared. The crew came floating down in parachutes a few minutes later.
Yes, pilots are more than willing to say how fast it goes.
You should check out the Air Force museum in Dayton Ohio. Lots of cool stuff!
That, and I'll add Pima Air and Space museum in Tucson, Arizona.
@@murphsmodels8853they got a Ex United B727-200 sitting in the holding area and hasn’t had anything done to it since it’s been there in either 03 or 06
McMinville?! Awesome, this is my back yard and I love that place.
Jimmy you never cease to entertain and enlighten👍👍
When me and my girlfriend went there I noticed the ch-37 and the staff let us out the back door to check it out. I didn't know that they existed up to that point. It is an excellent museum. The modern stuff is just out there in a way that you can get right up and touch it.
welcome to Orygun...lol. I wished i knew you were here because I'm only 40 mins from there. Love that museum. In the back there are some old russian military vehicles or even some across the street. Where is your next stop? Head to Tillamook museum? Seattle's Museum of Flight? Paul Allen collection? Erickson aircraft collection in Madres, OR. Have fun in your PNW stay. If you get out to the coast you can drive on the beaches at some places from Seaside to Warrenton.
Only about 30 miles from me. Been there at least twice before they built the water slide out of the 747. yea I have touched the SR71. I love pointing out that the P-38 (they had one last time I was there) and the SR71 were both designed by Kelly Johnson. And yea, I got that same model of SR71 as well =)
When he was standing by the SR-71 in the background you can see hanging from the ceiling an X-15 which my grandfather was one of the designers of, he died in 1964 and my grandmother kept the display model he was given and even though I begged her for it before she passed she gave it my cousin. 😢
You need an Aerostar 😉
Agreed! Has been on the list since day 1.
Nice purchase! Fuel cost shouldn't be too painful. Enjoy.
I live just a few miles from the museum...If you had gone to the coast you could have seen another air museum
that's in a WW2 Blimp hanger. It's part of an abandoned military base.
Did you get out to some of the dozens of vineyards in the area?
I cycled across America 2018 and went and spent the day here just amazing !!!!
What a place! I visited it a few years ago specifically to see the Spruce Goose but was surprised by their other exhibits.
That little biplane is a Baby Great Lakes, designed by Barney Oldfield. It was advertised as as having champagne performance on a beer budget. Great fun and aerobatic! Friend of mine had one and stored it my hanger.
Baby Lakes. Barney Oldfield never used "Great" in the name.
If you need it Mig15 for parts or just another mig-15 there is one on Beverly airport in Massachusetts don't know it's for sale but it's been there for a long time
That is an awesome museum have been there twice and still will go back!
I remember in 2000 or 2001 my aviation explorer scout troop took a trip to johnson space center and we saw that x38 as they were working on on it. Too cool.
Jimmy, I think you're having more fun than is legally allowed!
Awesome museum! I am wearing my Spruce Goose shirt right now! I went there for the first time last year. Wish I could of stayed longer, so much to see and take in. Super cool you videoed inside the water slide. That has to be the most unique water park ever! Looks like you had a great time, I plan on going back someday. What helicopter is at 8:09 ? It was pouring when I was there and didn't want to go outside again haha.
We had that helicopter in Korea in 1963-64 . Don't remember what it was called.
CH-37 Mojave guys 😊
Ok, i am officially jealous , sitting in the sr71. Super cool 😎
That airplane that was in the farmers field is an F5D Skylancer, they made 4 of them, it was a follow on to the F4D Skyray. I have always wanted to go see the Spruce Goose.
You are thinking of the 337 Mixmaster Jimmy. Actually it is the Skymaster.
Ahhh, Jimmy the F-85 was an Oldsmobile, that is an F-86H. They did make two XF-85 Goblins though.
I'm jealous, to get to sit in the cockpit of an SR-71 would be really cool.
I loved this episode, Jimmy! Greetings all the way from Bulgaria :)
"Wherever the Skunk works is".
It was at Burbank, CA. until 1989 when it moved to Palmdale, CA.
When I worked at the Toronto international Airport (YYZ) I had the chance prior to the 9/11 to go inside every commercial aircraft since I was a refueler. The amount of space in the AN-124 crew cabin was amazing. Had behind the control cabin a small kitchen, table large enough for 4 members then further in the back is the sleeping quarters which I didn't look at. However almost all controls are in Russian. The amount of fuel it took was roughly 7 loads at 50,000 litres of fuel where it was in route to a place in Africa then to continue to Australia. It was an awesome plane to see up close.
I worked with the SR71 mission while I was in the ASA (Army Security Agency), based at Torii Station Okinawa.
I've been in the goose a few times, when it was in long Beach. Fascinating aircraft..
Holly Shirt! I worked on that SH-2F Seasprite!!! She looks GREAT!
You need to make Cameron into another Turbulence, Now that is a go fast Lancair. I was at Burbank airport when they did the retirement flyby of the SR, Kelly Johnson was also there. The following day I was at work at Kelly Johnson Research and development center, which sat in a canyon above Santa Clarita, when it flew over there, It actually came up the canyon below us then full afterburner climb out wow is that plane loud. I also worked on the F-117 in structural test.
Jimmy so jealous you got to sit in the SR71.
I used to have a poster of it on my bedroom wall in the 70s , and seen it flying many times from RAF Mildenhall at the 80s air displays, one time at about 300ft in a tight turn to avoid the crowd line it went BOOM BOOM BOOM as it approached me at near stall speed, I thought I was a goner as flames came out of the back end.
Have dozens of Kodachrome slides I need to copy somehow!
Always a joy when I need a break from the insanity.
I flew the sr71 that is retired right here in Tucson Arizona at the air and space museum ,I was it's last pilot
If I'm not mistaken, the Swedish Airforce radar division was the first and only to lock their radar on the SR71 when it took a ride around the Baltic sea during the cold war. I was on that radar unit doing my military duty. Unfortunately it wasn't I who locked the radar on it.
According to what I heared, they got a congrats card from the US for that.
Hooray for Sweden, we have "sunk" one of your aircraft carriers too with one of our submarines of Gotland class, in a training session. This led to that the US Navy rented the sub and its crew for a year.
I love your videos! You are a funny and crazy dude! 🙂
I was stationed in Warner Robins, GA back in 1969, USAF. I was an acft mechanic on the grave shift. It was dawn and we were all caught up and sitting in front of the plane, when we saw what we thought were two fighters coming in next to each other-really close. We went into the c-141, opened the top hatch and got on top of the plane for a better look. WTF. It taxied over to the SAC hangar.
When the flight line supervisor came by in the truck we asked him what kind of plane it was. He answered "What plane" The weird one that they put in the SAC hangar "What plane" We were all excited and tried to explain it to him, "What plane" Little light going off in my brain, oh, one of those planes.
It had some kind of emergency and had to land at our base but they didn't have any emergency vehicles on the runway
You should go do the airspace museum in Huntsville AL. You can stand next to a complete Space Shuttle tanks and boosters.
Please don't start clickbaiting like every other RUclipsr this is one of the only channels left that I actually look forward to watching 😢
Got a kitset ftom Heller of an SR71 since I was a kid.
Am a bit envious and proud you got to sit in the real one.
That's marvellous 😂
the SR-71's top speed was limited to the compressor inlet temperature, which was the gauge to the left of the airspeed indicator; 427deg. C...so on an abnormally cold day at altitude, the SR would be a little faster than standard temperature.
the sr 71 money to noise generator is on full blast sitting in the museum!
That spruce goose is crazy. makes me want to watch the aviator again
Good luck getting fuel for that thing, and also the maintenance costs, and genuine costs in general, and the chance to disintegrate mid air.
Looks like I need to go back. I saw some new stuff since we were there last!
Jimmy you need to check out the air museum in Tillamook, oregon. The building itself is amazing.
Sitting in the SR-71 I would of Said "Clear on 1?"