Good job guys. I just started getting into DCS and have been watching your videos daily. The turn radius of the SR-71 at Mach 3 is 75 miles. So 150 Miles to do a 180. There are a lot of myths about the plane that have come out over the years. The Navigator is called an RSO (Reconnaissance System Operator) The distance from the turn point is called "setback" It depends on your speed. Fuel burn management was critical. You would climb at around 50 feet per min to keep your burn rate on the curve. Altitude and temp matter a lot! The SR-71 was a "2 G" airplane. Sorties were planned at mach 3 although we had High Mach sorties at 3.2. At Mach 3 you are going a mile every 2 seconds. The top speed of the airplane is totally dependent on temp. The compressor stall is called an "Un-start" It is a state where the shock wave is no longer inside the inlet. Air refueling was the hardest thing I ever did in a n airplane. When reaching full tanks you were burning about as much as you were taking on! Fairly well modeled although the windscreen looks more like a U-2 ...I know because I flew both! Reach out if you want to know more...google me! Bert
Wow, there can't be many people playing DCS who can talk from experience about the accuracy of the SR-71 model. It looks like the interior is the same as the in-game F-15 and I presume that was used as the basis for this mod which is why the view out of the windscreen doesn't look like the real thing. What was it like when you got an engine un-start? Also, did you get the chance to fly any of the other Blackbirds like the A-12 and if so how did they compare to the SR-71? Thanks for all the info!
@@trolleriffic Well I did not fly the DCS version but from what I see the fuel flow and handling are very good! The cockpit is way off...but I understand it is not supposed to be a perfect modeled module. The real SR was very crude by todays standards and 90% of my time was spent backing up the engine management (Spikes and Doors), balancing fuel and staying on optimum altitude for fuel burn. I am the last USAF guy to ever fly the SR, so as far as flying other variants I flew the "Family" model, SR-71B which was on lone to NASA when I was in the program. I am far too young to have flown the A-12. The B model had a few differences at altitude due to the huge protrusion of the second cockpit. Fortunately the only un-starts I experienced where in the simulator. It is a very violent bang with associated yaw and pitch-up. If I remember correctly the first "Bold Face" memory item was "Alpha within limits" because the airplane would break up if you let it diverge too far.
You can find the SR71 flight manual online, if you'd like to try again;) Interestingly, the recommended acceleration procedure for best specific range is Mach 0.9 to 30k, then full afterburner for the rest of the acceleration. Hit at least 0.95 by 33k, and then descend at 2500-3000 fps, reaching Mach 1.05 as quickly as possible. Do not descend below 29k, and then when you hit 435KEAS transition to climb, and intercept 450KEAS as you're climbing. Once past 1.1, you start accelerating very quickly, and have to then pull back to even below military power to not exceed 450 KEAS, until you eventually reach Mach 2.6, and then bleed off 10 KEAS for every 0.1 Mach over 2.6. Then you're supposed to spend as little time as possible between Mach 2.5-2.7, either go faster, or slower.... Do that until you get to 3.2 and 85,000 ft and keep it there ;)
I have been hooked on flight sims since the Apache 64 sim on the Commodore, and Janes for Windows. Now I can't afford the controls I want or the software, and my net connection is so poor, I simply live vicariously through you all! Thanks for what you do and some of us really do appreciate the realism and time these missions take.
I actually bought the old flight Sim I think it was called f19 stealth, it was a monochrome and pretty basic Graphics mainly just lines. But now I've actually got a top of the line computer that can run DCS at the highest levels with no effort, and I have good flight controls but unfortunately I have crap for Internet at least for the next few months. Hoping to change that soon. Been trying to learn the DCS flight model and such. But I got kind of a unique situation I'm retired and everything's in my RV and I haven't been able to find a good internet connection where I've been staying at
@@Wyomingchief I am retired myself, early for health reasons, but that can not last in the current state of inflation. When I do go back to work after deer season this year, I plan on saving up for what will most likely be my final computer purchase. Going to go all out on the system and controls so long as the economy does not dump me on my fanny first. Then I will work towards a better ISP. Until then, the videos will have to suffice. I have even considered building an old system and putting the old DOS on it so I can go back to Janes and some of the old sims I still have. I am a program pack rat, hate throwing out anything I paid good money for!! Have a great one.
When I used to drive a cab,I picked up a guy during the Icelandic ash cloud thing who had drove from Italy and then took the ferry to Hull then me drive him to Glasgow airport to pick up his motorbike.. Long story short he had become an instrument technician for big airlines but he also fitted the bomb aiming equipment onto the Vulcans used for this run..Not being used for its intended high altitude nuke drop made its original aiming equipment useless
Cap - you might find it interesting to watch the video on this by "the operations room" youtube - even if it only covers the first black buck raid. Basically all your troubles with refueling were very realistic - except not only did the vulcan's have to refuel but so did the victor tankers. They did end up having to refuel in the middle of a South Atlantic Storm! Apparently when the Falklands war broke out the Vulcans hadn't done air to air refueling for years, one of the old pilots said "we stopped doing that because it was too bloody dangerous!" part of one of the Vulcans refueling systems was being used as an ashtray in the squadron mess. During the refueling one of the victors refueling probes broke off so it then refueled the victor that had been refueling it and that victor continued in its place. Similarly one of the Vulcan's on a subsequent black buck mission (carrying shrikes) broke off its refueling probe and had to divert, making an emergency landing in Rio on fumes - descending almost 40000feet in one circuit - the pilot got the DFC.
I was at the beach in Rio de Janeiro when I heard the double sonic booms of the F-5s crossing from Santa Cruz Airbase overhead to intercept and escort that Vulcan. Quite the story locally until Brazil handed the aircraft back to Britain. One of the best looking bombers to ever be built.
The biggest problem with probe AAR on the Eagle and Viper is that you can't see the contact point, and the AI boom operator just holds the probe out there, they need to add some kind of vocal cueing like the LSO on the groove; 'Youre aft' 'You're low' and such. Real pilots have this and we don't, we can't even see the guide lights. I breath my Yoga breath when taking fuel and it helps a lot. Amazing mission! Really enjoyed this.
Great run guys! A shame you couldn't use actual Vulcans, but I totally understand there's no way to do this fully realistically, these aren't the days of 18-hour plus Plane of Sky raids in EverQuest any longer. I will admit to skipping large chunks of time so didn't share all the pain, but I was there for the big win, cheering you all on. The original Black Buck raiders would be proud.
TOP JOB Guys, the black buck runs were just nuts. Having to constantly refuel bombers and tankers on route...I may just watch the documentary again in your honour.
PMFG, Thank you to Bert Garrison and your tales, I'm an old Ex-US Army Vet who was in the 12th SFGA unit from 83-95 who got out as an E-5 who always wanted to fly, and in 89 did my Fast test, physicals and got orders to go to Warrant Officer candidate school to fly Helos as it was always my dream and unfortunately had a family emergency that I lost the slot. The point is, I found DCS! Now I'm tearing around on a Huey my favorite bird and am about 60% proficient and I now can fly like my dream was. So God Bless you found DCS, You can keep flying missions Brother. At least in the Army, I got to do over 58 jumps out of perfectly sound aircraft. Nothing more refreshing than having a good night jump and walking off the DZ.
Fun fact: the original startup system for these blackbirds was a pair of GM big block engines, I forget if they were the chevy 454 or the pontiac 455, but it arose from one of the engineers saying something along the lines of "it would take almost 900 horsepower to spin this engine up" to which another engineer replied "that's about double what the big block in my Chevelle makes" Then NASA decided to purchase 2 big block chevy engines, hook em together with open headers and racing carburetors, and screaming the two of those up to around 5000 RPMs for several minutes per engine. Was purportedly quite loud, first hand reports say they were louder than the engines they were starting.
I saw a doco on RUclips about the SR71. They’d take off then meet up with a tanker within about 15 mins. Then They they’d do a specific tactic to climb up to the height and speed they need.
man that air refueling was awesome. I remember spending months learning Falcon 4.0, going through that brick of a user manual, and doing these air refuels and aircraft landings in full sim.. that game was great, so was Falcon 4.0 Allied Force. I'd play this but i don't really have the money to buy a badass PC, and the patience to learn a complex sim again.
The first two bombing raids were against the Runway at Stanley. The attack profile was such that only a maximum of two bombs would hit the runway. 1st Bomb out of XM607 clipped the runway on the first attack with a release height of 10,000 feet. Second attack saw the bombs released from 16,000ft and the timing would have seen two bombs hit the runway. Unfortunaly either due to the extra height of release or the aircraft being too far to the right of the correct track, the bombs fell around 100 - 200 feet away from the end of the runway. First successful Shrike mission damaged the main Argentinian Search radar on the Island (TSP-43F) when the two missiles airburst 30 metres from the Radar Antenna. one of them damaged the waveguide that passed the RF signals between the Antenna trailer and the Transmitter cabin which took the radar out for 24 hours. The Second ARM sortie took out a Skyguard AAA fire control radar and killed the 4 personnel in it. The Last mission was requested by the Land Forces Commander (Gen Moore) and he wan't the Vulcan to plaster Stanley airfield with airburst VT Fused 1000lb bombs to distract the Argies while his land forces were attacking the hills close to the town. Unfortunately the bomb fuzing switches were mis-set when the bombs were released and they either left the aircraft un-armed or fuzed for impact. This was actually quite lucky for the Vulcan crew as the bomb's VT fuze had a design flaw that could result in them detonating as soon as the radar in the nose was activated, which took out a Tornado GR1 in Gulf War 1 (and badly damaged another). As for the Politics, that is a load of Fleet Air Arm Bullshit. The RAF didn't have the capability to do the mission on 2nd April. By 26th April they did and they offered it to the Task Force Commander at Northwood (Adm Fieldhouse). His attitude was the more ways I have to hit the Argies the better and damm the cost. The reason there were not more Vulcan Attacks was the fact that by the time that the second Vulcan raid was done, the RAF had got IFR capability on the C-130 Hercules and the Nimrod R1 / MR 2 and the Task Force commanders decided that getting priority stores and personnel or a maritime radar recce sweep off the Argentamin coast line (or getting extra RAF Harrier GR3's to HMS Hermes) had priority over a Vulcan mission.
Hydraulic fluid was also the Engine fuel. During refueling multiple tanks, multiple hose connections all connected through a single connection. It was a unique. 12-18 minutes depending on mission. One misshap I was peevey too. A black bird was lost over sea of Japan during a drone launch. Crew had to fall for several minutes before getting out.
Kudos to you all. LONG FLIGHT. But let me add.... First Mission was flown, if I recall, mostly at night and in shitty weather??? It all came down to that One Plane and One Bomb Run. Super Kudos to RAF in 1982!!!
Hey Cap, hearing you guys talk about GR membership and proficiency testing and such, and now that you have a more-visible GR2 RUclips channel, have you considered forming a second-level GR group for players who are newer and not quite ready to become full GR members? An "auxiliary" of sorts. This would allow people to fly some missions, hone skills, interact more with the core GR team, etc. And provide a path to full GR membership. Just a thought. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the vid! You guys should do a charity flying mission 15-24hrs and swap out flight crews, would be excellent. Back when the PS2 came out I got one along with Grand Turismo 2. Me, my brother and friend did the 24 hours Le Mans race and we would drive 2-3 hours each and completed the race in first.
To make refuelling even harder in real life, crews would have to deal with not only the centre post of the cockpit being in the way, but also wearing a pressure suit. About half way through the process, the fuel got so heavy in the aircraft that they had to light one burner and deal with asymmetric thrust while refuelling because the aircraft couldn't stay on the boom in Mil power, but both burners lit would be too fast for the tanker.
I understand, but what I don’t get is the amount of institutional racism that is within this game. Why does everything negative have to be associated with black? It makes me really frustrated to enjoy this game when it has so many racial connotations.
@@lepermessiyah5823 AI exists for a few months and now you think everything is it? Of course I’m not. I’m talking about how all the aircraft are named “black” and colored black. There’s no need for this sort of institutional racism in the military. The only color they should care about is red, white, and blue.
It’s a great morning! Not for Cap and the crew, but I’m watching. And I’ve taken a couple bathroom breaks and scratched what I wanted… God bless you all!
I "re-enacted" this mission a few years back on MSFS X (blurg!, I know) using the Vulcan mod, with a few creative licence tweaks ofc to make it. To simulate the A-A fuelling process I'd descend to 12,000ft every 2.5 hrs and slow to 260kts for 30mins, 15 mins into the slow leg I'd cheat my fuel back to full and at the end of the 30 mins I'd go back to cruise alt and speed. It took forever! To make it worse it was stinking MSFS so I didn't even get to bomb anything, I essentially did an 18+ hour flight to do a low, slow pass down a runway and then RTB. En route back to Ascension I fell asleep after the last simulated fuel "stop" and woke up 90ish miles beyond Ascension with
Tremendous job guys, absolutely awesome effort (I've not reached the end of the video yet), I've had to watch this as a mini series over three days, so watching the last episode today. You all deserve a medal.
Kinda bummed that the cockpit isnt part of the mod. Pretty cool to see a full flight of Blackbirds taking off. Not only will it never been seen before, I'll bet there were never 6 blackbirds taking off in formation EVER
He is correct, the black bird would take off 100lbs extra fuel. And just enough fuel to reach altitude for refueling. It was said during refueling had a better turning radius. Than you did at the AL 80.0+ (those who don't know you avoid any movement during refueling)
I absolutely watched your refueling. I would absolutely pay to watch Cap, Simba, Sock and Grump refuel for 24 hours. I do not care the cost. Make it happen lol
In the Vulcan refuelling was a nightmare, as the probe connected/disconnected fuel sprayed over the windscreen making visibility a nightmare, and it was dark. The vulcan's nose obscured the view of the basket. There was a worry that the fuel leaking from the basket might enter the engines and cause problems. They had huge problems finding the parts for the vulcan refuelling system since they had all be removed and had to be refitted. One part was not in the stores, but was eventually found being used as an ashtray in a nearby station's officers mess.
Great job guys! Actually watched the whole 4 hours! Fun fact about the SR71. The afterburners needed a special chemical to ignite the JP as its so hard to get to burn called TEB. There was a counter that showed how many shots they had left of this TEB, with around 16 available for typical missions. Just a thought... would you guys have had enough for this mission? 🤔
Crazy how much fuel the Blackbird burned during refueling… they had something like an 80 thousand pound tank but their intake during refueling would be 120 thousand… The tanker would be running 4 pumps then drop-down to 3 pumps and then 2 pumps then 1 pump until topped off then the tanker would turn and the SR would burn back to altitude.
3:15:50 I think you tend to overpush on the altitude despite being to slow. So decending a bit while gaining speed and then coming back up with a higher speed should help
I watched the whole thing & enjoyed it. The chess game of fuel v altitude v airspeed v distance was really quite engaging. And....you hit your target! Well done to you!
@@grimreapers i haven't laughed as much in a long time, thank you for cheering an old man up. you boys are too funny, your "should i look up" comment and then the sudden looking up, that slayed me
the 2 sets of strip lights on the tanker direct the receiver , one set tells you move foward/aft, the other tells you to move up or down, the boom operator sends the signals and if unhappy with your position/closure will initiate a breakaway.............check out the E3a AWACS almost hitting a tanker filmed from the boom operators station,,,,,,,,,,,,,,scary!! ( i'm an ex e3D Flight engineer, and tanked an awful lot both boom and probe drogue, sometimes BOTH in one sortie over afghanistan).
Well, I watched it all the way through... just as before with that other super long bombing run video. Sticking to missions like these are what separates the men from the boys imo, so well done! Cap, I suggest that you try ascending much more gradually than you do. Imagine it's yourself pushing a heavy cart up a ramp at a full sprint.
Well done... It was pain staking to watch and I was able to take breaks! I feel for you guys... and lady. Now, redo it with Vulcan Bombers (if there is a mod for them), however, start them on the last leg, right after they refueled for the final time before the bombing run. You all got enough air-to-air refueling practice.
Another motivation for the original Black Buck raids was to demonstrate our capability to bomb targets in the Falklands. While the raids didn't achieve much in terms of damage to Argentine capabilities, they added a factor that the Argentine commanders would have to consider in any operational planning. Obviously, the logistical mountain of how Black Buck was achieved was a closely-guarded secret until the conflict was over. If the Argentine commanders had known how difficult and dangerous each mission was, they might have felt comfortable ignoring whatever threat it posed.
A story by a real SR71 pilot: "As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn't one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual “high” speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Let’s just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn’t previously seen. So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, “what was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?” This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following. I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England , with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea , we proceeded to find the small airfield. Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field-yet; there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field. Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and haze, I couldn't see it.. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point we weren't really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass. Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn't say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of “breathtaking” very well that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach. As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there-we hadn't spoken a word since “the pass.” Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?” Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.” We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again!” And I never did. A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer’s club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, “It was probably just a routine low approach; they're pretty impressive in that plane.” Impressive indeed. Little did I realize after relaying this experience to my audience that day that it would become one of the most popular and most requested stories. It’s ironic that people are interested in how slow the world’s fastest jet can fly. Regardless of your speed, however, it’s always a good idea to keep that cross-check up…and keep your Mach up, too." Sorry, I don't remember the name of the author.
Cap, I never get bored of this one mission, I always hear and see a new detail or word that is amusing, entertaining and yes, educational. There's a smaller story behind the The Falklands War, which was my time, I was an active Army National Guard member but other than an alert status, there was no announced deployment, America supported both sides but their hand leaned to Thatcher, I supported Reagan and he admired the Iron Lady, many Americans still do. Anyways, in the days of the failed negotiations, I was involved in my hobby of SCCA amateur car racing at my home track Laguna Seca Raceway, with my chums from Canada & Britain when the US press prematurely announced movement of the combined UK naval forces. My racing UK mate, Bob Philips, was Royal Navy on official leave had no call up until that very moment the task force was sailing as to not alert the Argies but the US press screwed the pooch. Bob was a anti-sub weapons ops tech on HMS Andromeda, It took an amazing relay of Military Lift Command transports, arranged by Gen Hal Moore, my father's former Vietnam CO and present Provost Marshall of nearby Ft Ord, that put him back board HMS Andromeda while underway at the Gibraltar merge. The US was still neutral and kept the transport of various Royal Forces personnel quiet until the Argies rejected negotiations, causing Reagan to restrict any arms sale & support to the Argies, only then did the news restrictions end. Bob served well as did all of the Royal Forces. Upon his honorable discharge, he returned to the Monterey Peninsula to resume his racing with us chums, he brought souvenirs: large stickers of a Sea Harrier laid over a background of the Union Jack, emblazoned under the image was the slogan, "The Empire Strikes Back", it's still on my Audi Fox (80) racer as it sits in my son's stable in Rio, Brazil. When think back to the US press announcement, it certainly horrified us, it may compromise OPSEC, operational security, of the task force. Only the arrogance of the Argies military junta saved the Royal Navy from any pre-emptive strike by the Argies Russian proxy Cuban allies, if not for the Argies foolishness, like you mentioned, they just didn't believe Thatcher would risk such a long reaching, expensive operation, they were WRONG.
I started grilling at the beginning at the start of this video. I managed to make 4 steaks and a pot of green beans and bacon before it finished. Thoroughly impressive endurance run.
Allowing Violet to cut corners in a Mach 3 jet is bound to be entertaining. It'll be interesting to see if, on her own, she runs the XB-71 more fuel-efficiently. RE: the Concorde.... not surprised it would grow 9 inches when at-speed and ready... I imagine GR will develop a custom skin for that one. Around @27:00, Cap notices they are 20 miles from Waypoint 2 and running at Mach 3 ... cant wait to see the re-fueling couple/contact with a 1500 nmph difference. (I predict Cap will be reluctant to slow down as it will increase the fuel consumption rate, and the viewers will get to see if an XB-71 wake will destroy a KC Tanker). Please make a mod that DOES shoot polar bears and bunnies out the J58s ... Cap said it happens...
@@fnglert I've seen the Concorde in motion, once. On a very snowy day, in Hartford Conn (an international airport in name only) 'about '85 and I was in a 12 seat twin-prop job w/a curtain between the pilot and the cabin. All flights are trying to get out of town because the snow is blowing up from the south (wtf East Coast??), even heading for Canada ... Imagine that, heading to Canada to avoid snow !!) We get up to #5 in line and Cap pulls back the curtain and says "We have a special guest today, transferred from LaGuardia due to weather : ITS THE CONCORD !!." And that massive Delta-Brit cooks off all 6 burners, cranks the nose snowward and turns the tarmac into a giant Tar Pit. We were sure we'd stick to it like flypaper. Even after getting off the ground, a couple of us sardines in the 12-holer were wondering aloud "Do you see wingtip vortices in the falling snow, before they hit you and rip your wings off?" Fond memories, lol.
@@tomaszwota1465 (a year is a long time, but) I think I was talking about the effect of heat on the structure. In general, increases in the temperature cause an expansion (e.g. lengthening) of metals, ceramics and the like. The Concorde was steel, titanium and a little ceramic, iirc. Nothing too exotic. I would expect an expansion in all dimensions.. Checking online (always a dicey proposition), the Concorde's structural material was aluminum alloy and the wings were made of a copper based aluminum alloy, known as Hiduminium RR58 in the UK and AU2GN in France (iirc that's 2618-T851 in the USA) You can read about a lot of Hiduminium's basic characteristics in the Wiki, and there are lots of thermal and stress studies available online.
Ah, thank you for this! My late grandfather was a nav plotter on Vulcans, so anything involving them is of huge interest to me! Edit: Anyone wanting to read about the Black buck raids in some detail, pick up a copy of 'Vulcan 607' by Rowland White. Excellent book, really shows how difficult the Black Buck raids really were!
Agreed, I was luckily enough to read the Proof before its release and it is a fascinating story of Thatchers Britain mothballing the Vulcan, standing down the squadrons. The the race to get them in operational use and the refuelling strategy due to the US refusing to allow the RAF to strike from their bases. Only to ask the UK to use the bases in the UK to bomb Libya in the later 80s. The idea to get the idea out to the Argentine forces & politicians the no matter where you are we can reach you. ~Trooper
"I've designed the waypoints so that if we do balloon around them it doesn't matter much... It means we'll go a little bit further, than we need to...." That's like saying "I've designed a route to avoid traffic, but if we do hit traffic, it'll just take a little bit longer to get there".
That is the longest video I have watched start to finish on RUclips and the hilarious conversation is what made it great for me, that and the amazing patience and skills to refuel for that long!!!
Hi guys, just a noob question. What if you done your refueling a bit higher? Like from FL 440 down. Wouldn't it be easier on the fuel consumption during the refuel (so even the refueling ratio faster) and also climbing back would be easier and faster. My question is: Is it even possible or are there any restrictions for the tanker? (I think kc35 can go up to 500.)
I had the honor of getting to meet a panel of SR-71 pilots and RSOs at the Pima Air and Space Museum back in the late 90s (99, I think). I also got to sit in the cockpit. :) I don't remember the names of the crew, but I wonder if Major Garrison was there? It was very interesting, and although there were still a lot of 'can't tell you it's classified' , we learned a lot. BTW, I looked up the fuel flow rate for the KC-10, which was used to refuel the SR-71, and it's slightly higher, at 7300 lbs/min.
For a 4 hour video, this was surprisingly interesting for a noob like me. I had no idea just how long it would take to do a mid air refueling. I had it in my mind that refuelling something like a SR71 would be a matter of 5 or 10 minutes, not 45mins to an hour! Also very interesting to see the technical aspects of fuel burn rates at different altitudes and how that refects how fast you can go. 4 hours of being in a maths exam lol Good job guys and girls. 🙂🙂
WOW. 3,800 miles and 18 bombs on target and this is going to sound crazy BUT I have been sitting in this chair now for over 5 hours watching this video. I did pause it a few times when my lady handed me dinner and a few times when she got me coffee, but I sat here through the entire mission. I JUST HAD TO SEE IF I COULD DO IT ALMOST 65 YEARS OF AGE. Maybe someday when I can afford a new computer and hotas I can join the reapers. Until then a big Whiskey Delta to all you and thank you.
"What happens to a human in the atmosphere at mach 10?" Space Shuttle Columbia answered that. I believe the A-12 accident mentioned actually happened to an SR-71 that crashed on a ranch in Tucumcari N.M. In that incident the backseater suffered a broken neck during ejection.
I've been an aviation lover for many years. My wife literally is impressed by the stuff that I can tell her about aircraft that we see on shows and movies. Anyway, I've been a GR fan for several years and I really look forward to the time that I can afford the equipment to hopefully become a member and take part in this stuff. I love about 98% of y'all's content, and the other 2%, well I may not love it, but I tend to at least like it. Please keep the vids coming folks, there's a lot of us living vicariously through y'all. Sincerely, A U.S. Navy vet/K9 Cop!! Side note, a very close family friend took part in the filming of Top Gun, and I got a behind the scenes tour of NAS Miramar in about 1988. Which isn't where my passion started, but it really sparked it into a fire. My late grandfather was a USMC helo pilot back around the Korean conflict, and flew the crew of Apollo 11 from Chicago O'Hara, to NTC Great Lakes, which is where I attended boot camp in 1995. We have a signed manifest from the flight in his shadow box. A small bit of history that I thought that you, and your viewers may enjoy. Sorry for the length of this, but I knew no other way to express this to y'all.
Yf12 Flight suit had climate control connection , built in o2, plus "G" suit connections. And a para shoot. I thought that was engineering marvel in it self. Every thing around that project was a first and way ahead of anything going at the time. And led the way for new technology.
SR-71/U-2 pilots wear what is called a UCD (Urinary Collection Device). Picture a heavy duty condom with a tube coming out of the tip. The portion that you fit into has a collar that you have to trim to fit. We’d tell the pilots to be honest with themselves because if they trimmed too much material, they wouldn’t be able to get a seal and they’d end up pissing their pants. The tube is then plugged into the inside leg of the suit. The way the system works is when you have to wee, you put a little pressure into the suit using the pressure controller. Then you turn on the UCD valve located on the outside leg of the suit. This creates a vacuum so that when you pee, the pee is carried through the UCD tube and valve to another tube that’s plugged into a small hole where the “honey bucket” is located. You’d have to really control your stream otherwise it’ll back up into the UCD and spill out onto you, effectively filling the left booty of your full pressure suit.
Please people, Argentinian here. Make an emulation about what could have happen if the Argentinians did put defenses over the San Carlos bay, like Germans did in Normandy or Japaneses in Iwo Jima. During the Falklands War, only the Air Force tried to stop the dissembark of 21th of May. There were no Argentine infantry. Please, do it! Also, there is the other hypothesis about the war cruiser "ARA General Belgrano". It was going to attack the royal fleet with all its cannons with the air support of the aircraft carrier "ARA 25 of May". Good video! 👏👏👏
BLACK-CAP-PICKLES-HUNTING-BIRD: A heads up on turbojet efficiency. The F-104 with the last and most potent variant of the mighty J79 (the -19 [DASH NINETEEN]) saw the 104 cruise at Mach 2.0 @ 73,000 feet, and sip a mere 100 lbs/min with only 3/4 afterburner. This is something like 1150 kts using only 100lbs/min. GOBSMACK! Fuel flow at sea level (750-800 kts?/M1.2) was 1000 lbs/min. Fuel flow at Mach 2.0 @35,000 feet was 350 lbs/min. And y'all reckon (ooops.. I am Canadian... sorry about that) 50,000 lbs/min per engine is "decent" fuel flow? The F-104 with the J79-19 engine was using 6,000 lbs/min and less a whole Mach of course. The M2.0 cruise at 73,000 feet was NOT a maximum height and speed profile. We can only speculate what the ultimate altitude and speed of the F-104 was. By comparison during your mission, a M3.2-ish SR-71 at 80,000-ish feet, used 1,666 lbs/min or 16 times more fuel than the F-104 did at FL730 @M2.0. Not exactly apples to apples but I am confident you get the idea. And remember, if the F-104 flew higher than FL730, the fuel flow would been less. Makes me wonder what the max altitude would be if MAX afterburner was used. Who is willing to guess? Mach 2.5 and 80,000 feet? I believe the F-104 needs 310 kts to fly without flaps depending on weight.
Just before you said two hours and two minutes. You said that you were at 91,000+ feet. Did you by chance notice that your visual became blurry. Not to compare apples and oranges. But while driving my tractor trailer over the upper mountains in Colorado. In the range of 14,000 feet my GoPro camera catches the blur that my eyes at that height.
57:10 Re: using baskets (drogue & chute) vs probe refueling… The US Navy does use the basket method. The USAF chose the probe instead. I’ve always wondered why. 3:51:00 Just caught the “Return to Mt. Pleasant…” That’s the same name as a small skiing hill near my childhood home. Very odd moment.
Good job guys. I just started getting into DCS and have been watching your videos daily. The turn radius of the SR-71 at Mach 3 is 75 miles. So 150 Miles to do a 180. There are a lot of myths about the plane that have come out over the years. The Navigator is called an RSO (Reconnaissance System Operator) The distance from the turn point is called "setback" It depends on your speed. Fuel burn management was critical. You would climb at around 50 feet per min to keep your burn rate on the curve. Altitude and temp matter a lot! The SR-71 was a "2 G" airplane. Sorties were planned at mach 3 although we had High Mach sorties at 3.2. At Mach 3 you are going a mile every 2 seconds. The top speed of the airplane is totally dependent on temp. The compressor stall is called an "Un-start" It is a state where the shock wave is no longer inside the inlet. Air refueling was the hardest thing I ever did in a n airplane. When reaching full tanks you were burning about as much as you were taking on! Fairly well modeled although the windscreen looks more like a U-2 ...I know because I flew both! Reach out if you want to know more...google me! Bert
The Major Garrison? Wow, we'd like to see you on cam collab with this channel!
@@h.cedric8157 That is me! When I get a bit more accustom to DCS I would like that a lot!
Wow, there can't be many people playing DCS who can talk from experience about the accuracy of the SR-71 model. It looks like the interior is the same as the in-game F-15 and I presume that was used as the basis for this mod which is why the view out of the windscreen doesn't look like the real thing. What was it like when you got an engine un-start? Also, did you get the chance to fly any of the other Blackbirds like the A-12 and if so how did they compare to the SR-71? Thanks for all the info!
I won’t how it must have felt the first time being at such high altitude.
@@trolleriffic Well I did not fly the DCS version but from what I see the fuel flow and handling are very good! The cockpit is way off...but I understand it is not supposed to be a perfect modeled module. The real SR was very crude by todays standards and 90% of my time was spent backing up the engine management (Spikes and Doors), balancing fuel and staying on optimum altitude for fuel burn. I am the last USAF guy to ever fly the SR, so as far as flying other variants I flew the "Family" model, SR-71B which was on lone to NASA when I was in the program. I am far too young to have flown the A-12. The B model had a few differences at altitude due to the huge protrusion of the second cockpit. Fortunately the only un-starts I experienced where in the simulator. It is a very violent bang with associated yaw and pitch-up. If I remember correctly the first "Bold Face" memory item was "Alpha within limits" because the airplane would break up if you let it diverge too far.
A highlight to my 12 hour shift monitoring pressures and temperatures; watching 7 people monitor fuel, altitude and speed. Loved it
A Highlight to my 8 hour shift of monitoring revenue and traffic: watching along with people who watch 7 people monitor fuel, altitude, and speed
Alarms. Same.
You can find the SR71 flight manual online, if you'd like to try again;) Interestingly, the recommended acceleration procedure for best specific range is Mach 0.9 to 30k, then full afterburner for the rest of the acceleration. Hit at least 0.95 by 33k, and then descend at 2500-3000 fps, reaching Mach 1.05 as quickly as possible. Do not descend below 29k, and then when you hit 435KEAS transition to climb, and intercept 450KEAS as you're climbing. Once past 1.1, you start accelerating very quickly, and have to then pull back to even below military power to not exceed 450 KEAS, until you eventually reach Mach 2.6, and then bleed off 10 KEAS for every 0.1 Mach over 2.6. Then you're supposed to spend as little time as possible between Mach 2.5-2.7, either go faster, or slower.... Do that until you get to 3.2 and 85,000 ft and keep it there ;)
Officially the longest video I’ve watched. How cool to have the last man to pilot the SR-71 comment and give incredible feedback. Thanks again fellas!
I have been hooked on flight sims since the Apache 64 sim on the Commodore, and Janes for Windows. Now I can't afford the controls I want or the software, and my net connection is so poor, I simply live vicariously through you all! Thanks for what you do and some of us really do appreciate the realism and time these missions take.
for me, it was chuck yeagers air combat that got me hooked a lifetime ago at age 13.
I actually bought the old flight Sim I think it was called f19 stealth, it was a monochrome and pretty basic Graphics mainly just lines.
But now I've actually got a top of the line computer that can run DCS at the highest levels with no effort, and I have good flight controls but unfortunately I have crap for Internet at least for the next few months. Hoping to change that soon.
Been trying to learn the DCS flight model and such. But I got kind of a unique situation I'm retired and everything's in my RV and I haven't been able to find a good internet connection where I've been staying at
@@Wyomingchief I am retired myself, early for health reasons, but that can not last in the current state of inflation. When I do go back to work after deer season this year, I plan on saving up for what will most likely be my final computer purchase. Going to go all out on the system and controls so long as the economy does not dump me on my fanny first. Then I will work towards a better ISP. Until then, the videos will have to suffice. I have even considered building an old system and putting the old DOS on it so I can go back to Janes and some of the old sims I still have. I am a program pack rat, hate throwing out anything I paid good money for!! Have a great one.
Other than flight sim I played Janes F15 for thousands of hours it was my favorite
Team Apache for me.
Now it's Warthunder (free) with an old joystick and a used VR headset.
I might bite the bullet one day and download DCS
Top work guys, my old man was based at RAF Waddinton in 1982 and worked on the Vulcan's ready for the sorty and their flight to Acension Island.
Just seeing a flight of SR-71 taking off is a gift. Friggin cool.
When I used to drive a cab,I picked up a guy during the Icelandic ash cloud thing who had drove from Italy and then took the ferry to Hull then me drive him to Glasgow airport to pick up his motorbike.. Long story short he had become an instrument technician for big airlines but he also fitted the bomb aiming equipment onto the Vulcans used for this run..Not being used for its intended high altitude nuke drop made its original aiming equipment useless
Cap - you might find it interesting to watch the video on this by "the operations room" youtube - even if it only covers the first black buck raid. Basically all your troubles with refueling were very realistic - except not only did the vulcan's have to refuel but so did the victor tankers. They did end up having to refuel in the middle of a South Atlantic Storm! Apparently when the Falklands war broke out the Vulcans hadn't done air to air refueling for years, one of the old pilots said "we stopped doing that because it was too bloody dangerous!" part of one of the Vulcans refueling systems was being used as an ashtray in the squadron mess. During the refueling one of the victors refueling probes broke off so it then refueled the victor that had been refueling it and that victor continued in its place. Similarly one of the Vulcan's on a subsequent black buck mission (carrying shrikes) broke off its refueling probe and had to divert, making an emergency landing in Rio on fumes - descending almost 40000feet in one circuit - the pilot got the DFC.
Yup I'm already an avid viewer :)
I was at the beach in Rio de Janeiro when I heard the double sonic booms of the F-5s crossing from Santa Cruz Airbase overhead to intercept and escort that Vulcan. Quite the story locally until Brazil handed the aircraft back to Britain.
One of the best looking bombers to ever be built.
It didn't help that it had a live missile hanging off it.
Where are you from? Do you speak English?
The biggest problem with probe AAR on the Eagle and Viper is that you can't see the contact point, and the AI boom operator just holds the probe out there, they need to add some kind of vocal cueing like the LSO on the groove; 'Youre aft' 'You're low' and such. Real pilots have this and we don't, we can't even see the guide lights. I breath my Yoga breath when taking fuel and it helps a lot. Amazing mission! Really enjoyed this.
@Drew Smith I’m dyslexic and you’re a jerk. People like you make this world what it is.
Agreed and was something that existed in older sim plane games
Great run guys! A shame you couldn't use actual Vulcans, but I totally understand there's no way to do this fully realistically, these aren't the days of 18-hour plus Plane of Sky raids in EverQuest any longer. I will admit to skipping large chunks of time so didn't share all the pain, but I was there for the big win, cheering you all on. The original Black Buck raiders would be proud.
Plus, there are no Vulcans to use, afaik. No official module (here's an idea... anybody?) and no flyable community mods.
The fact that you ran out of fuel on the runway is probably the coolest fact. Like you said, what are the chances? Epic mission in the books.
TOP JOB Guys, the black buck runs were just nuts. Having to constantly refuel bombers and tankers on route...I may just watch the documentary again in your honour.
thx
PMFG, Thank you to Bert Garrison and your tales, I'm an old Ex-US Army Vet who was in the 12th SFGA unit from 83-95 who got out as an E-5 who always wanted to fly, and in 89 did my Fast test, physicals and got orders to go to Warrant Officer candidate school to fly Helos as it was always my dream and unfortunately had a family emergency that I lost the slot. The point is, I found DCS! Now I'm tearing around on a Huey my favorite bird and am about 60% proficient and I now can fly like my dream was. So God Bless you found DCS, You can keep flying missions Brother. At least in the Army, I got to do over 58 jumps out of perfectly sound aircraft. Nothing more refreshing than having a good night jump and walking off the DZ.
Fun fact: the original startup system for these blackbirds was a pair of GM big block engines, I forget if they were the chevy 454 or the pontiac 455, but it arose from one of the engineers saying something along the lines of "it would take almost 900 horsepower to spin this engine up" to which another engineer replied "that's about double what the big block in my Chevelle makes"
Then NASA decided to purchase 2 big block chevy engines, hook em together with open headers and racing carburetors, and screaming the two of those up to around 5000 RPMs for several minutes per engine. Was purportedly quite loud, first hand reports say they were louder than the engines they were starting.
I saw a doco on RUclips about the SR71. They’d take off then meet up with a tanker within about 15 mins. Then They they’d do a specific tactic to climb up to the height and speed they need.
man that air refueling was awesome. I remember spending months learning Falcon 4.0, going through that brick of a user manual, and doing these air refuels and aircraft landings in full sim.. that game was great, so was Falcon 4.0 Allied Force. I'd play this but i don't really have the money to buy a badass PC, and the patience to learn a complex sim again.
I mean, if you flew that -- you've got a lot of knowledge already there, just need a refresher and some retraining for another airship. ; )
@@tomaszwota1465or just a refresher if he picks up a Falcon...
The first two bombing raids were against the Runway at Stanley. The attack profile was such that only a maximum of two bombs would hit the runway. 1st Bomb out of XM607 clipped the runway on the first attack with a release height of 10,000 feet. Second attack saw the bombs released from 16,000ft and the timing would have seen two bombs hit the runway. Unfortunaly either due to the extra height of release or the aircraft being too far to the right of the correct track, the bombs fell around 100 - 200 feet away from the end of the runway.
First successful Shrike mission damaged the main Argentinian Search radar on the Island (TSP-43F) when the two missiles airburst 30 metres from the Radar Antenna. one of them damaged the waveguide that passed the RF signals between the Antenna trailer and the Transmitter cabin which took the radar out for 24 hours. The Second ARM sortie took out a Skyguard AAA fire control radar and killed the 4 personnel in it. The Last mission was requested by the Land Forces Commander (Gen Moore) and he wan't the Vulcan to plaster Stanley airfield with airburst VT Fused 1000lb bombs to distract the Argies while his land forces were attacking the hills close to the town. Unfortunately the bomb fuzing switches were mis-set when the bombs were released and they either left the aircraft un-armed or fuzed for impact. This was actually quite lucky for the Vulcan crew as the bomb's VT fuze had a design flaw that could result in them detonating as soon as the radar in the nose was activated, which took out a Tornado GR1 in Gulf War 1 (and badly damaged another).
As for the Politics, that is a load of Fleet Air Arm Bullshit. The RAF didn't have the capability to do the mission on 2nd April. By 26th April they did and they offered it to the Task Force Commander at Northwood (Adm Fieldhouse). His attitude was the more ways I have to hit the Argies the better and damm the cost.
The reason there were not more Vulcan Attacks was the fact that by the time that the second Vulcan raid was done, the RAF had got IFR capability on the C-130 Hercules and the Nimrod R1 / MR 2 and the Task Force commanders decided that getting priority stores and personnel or a maritime radar recce sweep off the Argentamin coast line (or getting extra RAF Harrier GR3's to HMS Hermes) had priority over a Vulcan mission.
Thanks
Hydraulic fluid was also the Engine fuel. During refueling multiple tanks, multiple hose connections all connected through a single connection. It was a unique. 12-18 minutes depending on mission. One misshap I was peevey too. A black bird was lost over sea of Japan during a drone launch. Crew had to fall for several minutes before getting out.
Nothing like a 3 hour grim reapers video to watch with breakfast 🇯🇲
Hey mon !wah gwon ? You irie 🔥💯
4 hours...
Four hours dude!
its 4 hours bro
Kudos to you all. LONG FLIGHT. But let me add.... First Mission was flown, if I recall, mostly at night and in shitty weather??? It all came down to that One Plane and One Bomb Run. Super Kudos to RAF in 1982!!!
Hey Cap, hearing you guys talk about GR membership and proficiency testing and such, and now that you have a more-visible GR2 RUclips channel, have you considered forming a second-level GR group for players who are newer and not quite ready to become full GR members? An "auxiliary" of sorts. This would allow people to fly some missions, hone skills, interact more with the core GR team, etc. And provide a path to full GR membership. Just a thought. Keep up the great work!
Outstanding Flying on that mission, Reapers! That Bomb run looked absolutely Air-Show Tight! Big Salute To All Of You! Reapers Rule!
Only the Reapers could;
A) Think this up in the first place
B) Pull it off with such panache.
Legends.
Thanks for the vid! You guys should do a charity flying mission 15-24hrs and swap out flight crews, would be excellent.
Back when the PS2 came out I got one along with Grand Turismo 2. Me, my brother and friend did the 24 hours Le Mans race and we would drive 2-3 hours each and completed the race in first.
As long as we can change crews I'll do it!
I love that you guys micro-mod the game for specific mission requirements, like the GR AESA or the AIM 120D.
To make refuelling even harder in real life, crews would have to deal with not only the centre post of the cockpit being in the way, but also wearing a pressure suit. About half way through the process, the fuel got so heavy in the aircraft that they had to light one burner and deal with asymmetric thrust while refuelling because the aircraft couldn't stay on the boom in Mil power, but both burners lit would be too fast for the tanker.
I understand, but what I don’t get is the amount of institutional racism that is within this game. Why does everything negative have to be associated with black? It makes me really frustrated to enjoy this game when it has so many racial connotations.
@@GardenGuy1942 Is this a bot or AI generated comment? there is literally no context for what you have written
@@lepermessiyah5823 AI exists for a few months and now you think everything is it? Of course I’m not. I’m talking about how all the aircraft are named “black” and colored black. There’s no need for this sort of institutional racism in the military. The only color they should care about is red, white, and blue.
It’s a great morning! Not for Cap and the crew, but I’m watching. And I’ve taken a couple bathroom breaks and scratched what I wanted… God bless you all!
Just finished it… well done getting 4 back at the end and a successful bomb run!
This week on In Flight Refuelling Simulator, Cap sucks some juice, Damp Sock pops a fuse, Simba becomes a power bottom and Fly drops his load.
I "re-enacted" this mission a few years back on MSFS X (blurg!, I know) using the Vulcan mod, with a few creative licence tweaks ofc to make it. To simulate the A-A fuelling process I'd descend to 12,000ft every 2.5 hrs and slow to 260kts for 30mins, 15 mins into the slow leg I'd cheat my fuel back to full and at the end of the 30 mins I'd go back to cruise alt and speed. It took forever! To make it worse it was stinking MSFS so I didn't even get to bomb anything, I essentially did an 18+ hour flight to do a low, slow pass down a runway and then RTB. En route back to Ascension I fell asleep after the last simulated fuel "stop" and woke up 90ish miles beyond Ascension with
Well done Blue!
Tremendous job guys, absolutely awesome effort (I've not reached the end of the video yet), I've had to watch this as a mini series over three days, so watching the last episode today. You all deserve a medal.
Thanks for your dedication!
Kinda bummed that the cockpit isnt part of the mod. Pretty cool to see a full flight of Blackbirds taking off. Not only will it never been seen before, I'll bet there were never 6 blackbirds taking off in formation EVER
Good job Cap, not dropping the gear and jamming it a couple hours into the mission this time, lol.
erm...
"chariots of fire" music springs to mind. nice one chaps!
That was actually fantastic, I loved it. Awesome job all of you!
He is correct, the black bird would take off 100lbs extra fuel. And just enough fuel to reach altitude for refueling. It was said during refueling had a better turning radius. Than you did at the AL 80.0+ (those who don't know you avoid any movement during refueling)
I absolutely watched your refueling. I would absolutely pay to watch Cap, Simba, Sock and Grump refuel for 24 hours. I do not care the cost. Make it happen lol
Good Lord, I already get a MASSIVE wife bollocking from this one...
In the Vulcan refuelling was a nightmare, as the probe connected/disconnected fuel sprayed over the windscreen making visibility a nightmare, and it was dark. The vulcan's nose obscured the view of the basket. There was a worry that the fuel leaking from the basket might enter the engines and cause problems. They had huge problems finding the parts for the vulcan refuelling system since they had all be removed and had to be refitted. One part was not in the stores, but was eventually found being used as an ashtray in a nearby station's officers mess.
Great job guys! Actually watched the whole 4 hours!
Fun fact about the SR71. The afterburners needed a special chemical to ignite the JP as its so hard to get to burn called TEB. There was a counter that showed how many shots they had left of this TEB, with around 16 available for typical missions. Just a thought... would you guys have had enough for this mission? 🤔
Well done!
@@grimreapers 29:30 hey Cap... don't be a dick 👍👍👍
It took me 4 attempts to get all the way through this. I’m so impressed you actually flew it!
Good job 😊🎉 Been waiting for this mission for yrs.😅 glad you all made it.
This was awesome, Cap. Thanks for the vid, guys!
That was great. I used to be into Falcon 2.0 with a pile of add ons, so I appreciate what you've done here. Good stuff!
God bless
Crazy how much fuel the Blackbird burned during refueling… they had something like an 80 thousand pound tank but their intake during refueling would be 120 thousand…
The tanker would be running 4 pumps then drop-down to 3 pumps and then 2 pumps then 1 pump until topped off then the tanker would turn and the SR would burn back to altitude.
3:15:50 I think you tend to overpush on the altitude despite being to slow.
So decending a bit while gaining speed and then coming back up with a higher speed should help
I watched the whole thing & enjoyed it. The chess game of fuel v altitude v airspeed v distance was really quite engaging. And....you hit your target! Well done to you!
Having viewed a few of the GR videos in the last day or so, here one sits, 11:20pm on a Sunday evening, ready to watch a 4hr video
Now that's commitment.
@@grimreapers i haven't laughed as much in a long time, thank you for cheering an old man up. you boys are too funny, your "should i look up" comment and then the sudden looking up, that slayed me
I am so glad you guys did this, for us lol GG Reapers! awesome job :)
the 2 sets of strip lights on the tanker direct the receiver , one set tells you move foward/aft, the other tells you to move up or down, the boom operator sends the signals and if unhappy with your position/closure will initiate a breakaway.............check out the E3a AWACS almost hitting a tanker filmed from the boom operators station,,,,,,,,,,,,,,scary!! ( i'm an ex e3D Flight engineer, and tanked an awful lot both boom and probe drogue, sometimes BOTH in one sortie over afghanistan).
I keep coming back, and the longer it gets the better! Keep up the content cap!
Beautiful formation on that first tanking, Cap.
Thanks for the great streams lately
That was grueling. Great job hanging in there and finishing the mission. Can't believe how close it was on fuel😂
Well, I watched it all the way through... just as before with that other super long bombing run video. Sticking to missions like these are what separates the men from the boys imo, so well done! Cap, I suggest that you try ascending much more gradually than you do. Imagine it's yourself pushing a heavy cart up a ramp at a full sprint.
thx
Well done... It was pain staking to watch and I was able to take breaks! I feel for you guys... and lady.
Now, redo it with Vulcan Bombers (if there is a mod for them), however, start them on the last leg, right after they refueled for the final time before the bombing run. You all got enough air-to-air refueling practice.
Well done GR!!! Mission half done to 100% GR spec....loved all of it!!!!!
Undisputed refueling champs. Jokes aside, this was a great video. Enjoyed every bit of it
The line of Bomb craters to the south of the Runway were from the 1st attack by XM607 on 1st May 1982.
thx
Quality mission! Well done all.
Another motivation for the original Black Buck raids was to demonstrate our capability to bomb targets in the Falklands. While the raids didn't achieve much in terms of damage to Argentine capabilities, they added a factor that the Argentine commanders would have to consider in any operational planning.
Obviously, the logistical mountain of how Black Buck was achieved was a closely-guarded secret until the conflict was over. If the Argentine commanders had known how difficult and dangerous each mission was, they might have felt comfortable ignoring whatever threat it posed.
A story by a real SR71 pilot:
"As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn't one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual “high” speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Let’s just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn’t previously seen. So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, “what was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?” This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following. I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England , with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea , we proceeded to find the small airfield. Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field-yet; there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field. Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and haze, I couldn't see it.. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point we weren't really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass. Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn't say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of “breathtaking” very well that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach. As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there-we hadn't spoken a word since “the pass.” Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?” Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.” We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again!” And I never did. A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer’s club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, “It was probably just a routine low approach; they're pretty impressive in that plane.” Impressive indeed. Little did I realize after relaying this experience to my audience that day that it would become one of the most popular and most requested stories. It’s ironic that people are interested in how slow the world’s fastest jet can fly. Regardless of your speed, however, it’s always a good idea to keep that cross-check up…and keep your Mach up, too."
Sorry, I don't remember the name of the author.
thx
Sounds like a story from Brian Shul, he's also the LA speed check guy
Cap, I never get bored of this one mission, I always hear and see a new detail or word that is amusing, entertaining and yes, educational. There's a smaller story behind the The Falklands War, which was my time, I was an active Army National Guard member but other than an alert status, there was no announced deployment, America supported both sides but their hand leaned to Thatcher, I supported Reagan and he admired the Iron Lady, many Americans still do. Anyways, in the days of the failed negotiations, I was involved in my hobby of SCCA amateur car racing at my home track Laguna Seca Raceway, with my chums from Canada & Britain when the US press prematurely announced movement of the combined UK naval forces.
My racing UK mate, Bob Philips, was Royal Navy on official leave had no call up until that very moment the task force was sailing as to not alert the Argies but the US press screwed the pooch. Bob was a anti-sub weapons ops tech on HMS Andromeda, It took an amazing relay of Military Lift Command transports, arranged by Gen Hal Moore, my father's former Vietnam CO and present Provost Marshall of nearby Ft Ord, that put him back board HMS Andromeda while underway at the Gibraltar merge. The US was still neutral and kept the transport of various Royal Forces personnel quiet until the Argies rejected negotiations, causing Reagan to restrict any arms sale & support to the Argies, only then did the news restrictions end. Bob served well as did all of the Royal Forces. Upon his honorable discharge, he returned to the Monterey Peninsula to resume his racing with us chums, he brought souvenirs: large stickers of a Sea Harrier laid over a background of the Union Jack, emblazoned under the image was the slogan, "The Empire Strikes Back", it's still on my Audi Fox (80) racer as it sits in my son's stable in Rio, Brazil.
When think back to the US press announcement, it certainly horrified us, it may compromise OPSEC, operational security, of the task force. Only the arrogance of the Argies military junta saved the Royal Navy from any pre-emptive strike by the Argies Russian proxy Cuban allies, if not for the Argies foolishness, like you mentioned, they just didn't believe Thatcher would risk such a long reaching, expensive operation, they were WRONG.
Great vid as always Cap, you guys inspired me to upload my own DCS vid today, bit shorter than this one though! Keep up the great work 🍻
:)
I started grilling at the beginning at the start of this video. I managed to make 4 steaks and a pot of green beans and bacon before it finished. Thoroughly impressive endurance run.
Very clever, Cap & Crew! Well done, Sirs! Most enjoyable.
Allowing Violet to cut corners in a Mach 3 jet is bound to be entertaining. It'll be interesting to see if, on her own, she runs the XB-71 more fuel-efficiently.
RE: the Concorde.... not surprised it would grow 9 inches when at-speed and ready... I imagine GR will develop a custom skin for that one.
Around @27:00, Cap notices they are 20 miles from Waypoint 2 and running at Mach 3
... cant wait to see the re-fueling couple/contact with a 1500 nmph difference. (I predict Cap will be reluctant to slow down as it will increase the fuel consumption rate, and the viewers will get to see if an XB-71 wake will destroy a KC Tanker).
Please make a mod that DOES shoot polar bears and bunnies out the J58s ... Cap said it happens...
tbf I'd grow 9 inches if I were in a concorde at flight too
@@fnglert I've seen the Concorde in motion, once.
On a very snowy day, in Hartford Conn (an international airport in name only) 'about '85 and I was in a 12 seat twin-prop job w/a curtain between the pilot and the cabin. All flights are trying to get out of town because the snow is blowing up from the south (wtf East Coast??), even heading for Canada ... Imagine that, heading to Canada to avoid snow !!) We get up to #5 in line and Cap pulls back the curtain and says "We have a special guest today, transferred from LaGuardia due to weather : ITS THE CONCORD !!." And that massive Delta-Brit cooks off all 6 burners, cranks the nose snowward and turns the tarmac into a giant Tar Pit. We were sure we'd stick to it like flypaper. Even after getting off the ground, a couple of us sardines in the 12-holer were wondering aloud "Do you see wingtip vortices in the falling snow, before they hit you and rip your wings off?"
Fond memories, lol.
Wouldn't it shorten at speed, though?
@@tomaszwota1465 (a year is a long time, but) I think I was talking about the effect of heat on the structure. In general, increases in the temperature cause an expansion (e.g. lengthening) of metals, ceramics and the like. The Concorde was steel, titanium and a little ceramic, iirc. Nothing too exotic. I would expect an expansion in all dimensions.. Checking online (always a dicey proposition), the Concorde's structural material was aluminum alloy and the wings were made of a copper based aluminum alloy, known as Hiduminium RR58 in the UK and AU2GN in France (iirc that's 2618-T851 in the USA) You can read about a lot of Hiduminium's basic characteristics in the Wiki, and there are lots of thermal and stress studies available online.
Thank you, I’ve been asking for this for a long time 😀
Yes you have!
Ah, thank you for this! My late grandfather was a nav plotter on Vulcans, so anything involving them is of huge interest to me!
Edit: Anyone wanting to read about the Black buck raids in some detail, pick up a copy of 'Vulcan 607' by Rowland White. Excellent book, really shows how difficult the Black Buck raids really were!
Agreed, I was luckily enough to read the Proof before its release and it is a fascinating story of Thatchers Britain mothballing the Vulcan, standing down the squadrons. The the race to get them in operational use and the refuelling strategy due to the US refusing to allow the RAF to strike from their bases. Only to ask the UK to use the bases in the UK to bomb Libya in the later 80s. The idea to get the idea out to the Argentine forces & politicians the no matter where you are we can reach you. ~Trooper
thx
Did the real Sr-71s have a HUD and avionics like this? I feel as though this is a bit advanced for it no?
"I've designed the waypoints so that if we do balloon around them it doesn't matter much... It means we'll go a little bit further, than we need to...."
That's like saying "I've designed a route to avoid traffic, but if we do hit traffic, it'll just take a little bit longer to get there".
I lost it when Fly decided to be honest 2.5hrs into flying that he had already dropped most of his bomb load
yes not me brightes moment 😀
That is the longest video I have watched start to finish on RUclips and the hilarious conversation is what made it great for me, that and the amazing patience and skills to refuel for that long!!!
@@bamafan-in-OZ yes it was hard but it was just cool to have done it and I out run everyone on the last leg was on my list🤣
@@FlybywireTheGerman if you had made the road landing that would have been the cherry on the top but the fact you made it was incredible
Hi guys, just a noob question. What if you done your refueling a bit higher? Like from FL 440 down. Wouldn't it be easier on the fuel consumption during the refuel (so even the refueling ratio faster) and also climbing back would be easier and faster. My question is: Is it even possible or are there any restrictions for the tanker? (I think kc35 can go up to 500.)
I had the honor of getting to meet a panel of SR-71 pilots and RSOs at the Pima Air and Space Museum back in the late 90s (99, I think). I also got to sit in the cockpit. :) I don't remember the names of the crew, but I wonder if Major Garrison was there? It was very interesting, and although there were still a lot of 'can't tell you it's classified' , we learned a lot. BTW, I looked up the fuel flow rate for the KC-10, which was used to refuel the SR-71, and it's slightly higher, at 7300 lbs/min.
For a 4 hour video, this was surprisingly interesting for a noob like me. I had no idea just how long it would take to do a mid air refueling. I had it in my mind that refuelling something like a SR71 would be a matter of 5 or 10 minutes, not 45mins to an hour!
Also very interesting to see the technical aspects of fuel burn rates at different altitudes and how that refects how fast you can go. 4 hours of being in a maths exam lol
Good job guys and girls. 🙂🙂
Love SR-71 Blackbird, such a majestic kite, just like Concorde, so beautiful.
Best SR-71 refueling tutorial I've ever seen
WOW. 3,800 miles and 18 bombs on target and this is going to sound crazy BUT I have been sitting in this chair now for over 5 hours watching this video. I did pause it a few times when my lady handed me dinner and a few times when she got me coffee, but I sat here through the entire mission. I JUST HAD TO SEE IF I COULD DO IT ALMOST 65 YEARS OF AGE.
Maybe someday when I can afford a new computer and hotas I can join the reapers. Until then a big Whiskey Delta to all you and thank you.
"What happens to a human in the atmosphere at mach 10?" Space Shuttle Columbia answered that. I believe the A-12 accident mentioned actually happened to an SR-71 that crashed on a ranch in Tucumcari N.M. In that incident the backseater suffered a broken neck during ejection.
I've been an aviation lover for many years. My wife literally is impressed by the stuff that I can tell her about aircraft that we see on shows and movies. Anyway, I've been a GR fan for several years and I really look forward to the time that I can afford the equipment to hopefully become a member and take part in this stuff. I love about 98% of y'all's content, and the other 2%, well I may not love it, but I tend to at least like it. Please keep the vids coming folks, there's a lot of us living vicariously through y'all.
Sincerely,
A U.S. Navy vet/K9 Cop!!
Side note, a very close family friend took part in the filming of Top Gun, and I got a behind the scenes tour of NAS Miramar in about 1988. Which isn't where my passion started, but it really sparked it into a fire. My late grandfather was a USMC helo pilot back around the Korean conflict, and flew the crew of Apollo 11 from Chicago O'Hara, to NTC Great Lakes, which is where I attended boot camp in 1995. We have a signed manifest from the flight in his shadow box. A small bit of history that I thought that you, and your viewers may enjoy. Sorry for the length of this, but I knew no other way to express this to y'all.
I hope you and the "boys" didn't burn yourselves out doing this mission, I want more MORE!!
I put this on and started watching. I just had the impulse to look at the time. This is 4 hours long!! Lol. I’m going to have to watch this in chunks.
lmao the relaxing the butt tip got me, ah hahaha
Yf12 Flight suit had climate control connection , built in o2, plus "G" suit connections. And a para shoot. I thought that was engineering marvel in it self. Every thing around that project was a first and way ahead of anything going at the time. And led the way for new technology.
Great video for earbuds and sleep! Thanks guys!
SR-71/U-2 pilots wear what is called a UCD (Urinary Collection Device). Picture a heavy duty condom with a tube coming out of the tip. The portion that you fit into has a collar that you have to trim to fit. We’d tell the pilots to be honest with themselves because if they trimmed too much material, they wouldn’t be able to get a seal and they’d end up pissing their pants. The tube is then plugged into the inside leg of the suit. The way the system works is when you have to wee, you put a little pressure into the suit using the pressure controller. Then you turn on the UCD valve located on the outside leg of the suit. This creates a vacuum so that when you pee, the pee is carried through the UCD tube and valve to another tube that’s plugged into a small hole where the “honey bucket” is located. You’d have to really control your stream otherwise it’ll back up into the UCD and spill out onto you, effectively filling the left booty of your full pressure suit.
This episode shall earn the Lifetime Achievement Award
Bird is the real hero for sticking with the refueling tanker for almost an hour 😂
Please people, Argentinian here.
Make an emulation about what could have happen if the Argentinians did put defenses over the San Carlos bay, like Germans did in Normandy or Japaneses in Iwo Jima.
During the Falklands War, only the Air Force tried to stop the dissembark of 21th of May. There were no Argentine infantry. Please, do it!
Also, there is the other hypothesis about the war cruiser "ARA General Belgrano". It was going to attack the royal fleet with all its cannons with the air support of the aircraft carrier "ARA 25 of May".
Good video! 👏👏👏
That does sound like fun!
Had to watch the whole thing. good on you guys!
Cheers for the awesome streams!
Btw four hours! Damn, gonna have to watch this over several days 😂
Eh, actually watched it in one night!
You thought you were reenacting the Black Buck raid, but you ended up reenacting the Doolittle raid
Omg.... right?
Almost 4 hours entertainment. U guys thats was impressive. Well done.
BLACK-CAP-PICKLES-HUNTING-BIRD: A heads up on turbojet efficiency. The F-104 with the last and most potent variant of the mighty J79 (the -19 [DASH NINETEEN]) saw the 104 cruise at Mach 2.0 @ 73,000 feet, and sip a mere 100 lbs/min with only 3/4 afterburner. This is something like 1150 kts using only 100lbs/min. GOBSMACK! Fuel flow at sea level (750-800 kts?/M1.2) was 1000 lbs/min. Fuel flow at Mach 2.0 @35,000 feet was 350 lbs/min. And y'all reckon (ooops.. I am Canadian... sorry about that) 50,000 lbs/min per engine is "decent" fuel flow? The F-104 with the J79-19 engine was using 6,000 lbs/min and less a whole Mach of course. The M2.0 cruise at 73,000 feet was NOT a maximum height and speed profile. We can only speculate what the ultimate altitude and speed of the F-104 was. By comparison during your mission, a M3.2-ish SR-71 at 80,000-ish feet, used 1,666 lbs/min or 16 times more fuel than the F-104 did at FL730 @M2.0. Not exactly apples to apples but I am confident you get the idea. And remember, if the F-104 flew higher than FL730, the fuel flow would been less. Makes me wonder what the max altitude would be if MAX afterburner was used. Who is willing to guess? Mach 2.5 and 80,000 feet? I believe the F-104 needs 310 kts to fly without flaps depending on weight.
OK I'll give you that, that is IMPRESSIVE tech. F-22 got nothing on F-104/SR-71.
Just before you said two hours and two minutes. You said that you were at 91,000+ feet. Did you by chance notice that your visual became blurry. Not to compare apples and oranges. But while driving my tractor trailer over the upper mountains in Colorado. In the range of 14,000 feet my GoPro camera catches the blur that my eyes at that height.
Please follow up with a challenge, how many tankers can people gun down in 3 minutes?
This vid was a sweet campaign, loved every minute guys
57:10 Re: using baskets (drogue & chute) vs probe refueling… The US Navy does use the basket method. The USAF chose the probe instead. I’ve always wondered why.
3:51:00 Just caught the “Return to Mt. Pleasant…” That’s the same name as a small skiing hill near my childhood home. Very odd moment.
Amazing! Strangely compelling to watch
"Falklands? SR-71? Bombing?!?!"
"This has got to be the stupidest...Oh, this is a Grim Reapers video? Heck yeah!"