Are all VF-1 variants having the same performance

[Knight26]

The M-21 was the mothership, a modified SR-71, the D-21 was the drone. It was designed to do the actual overflight, at speeds aproaching the hypersonic threshhold and then parachute to safety in a friendly country. I should have stated that better sorry. I don't waht you were talking about with the designations.

[Draykov]

The M-21 was the mothership, a modified SR-71, the D-21 was the drone. It was designed to do the actual overflight, at speeds aproaching the hypersonic threshhold and then parachute to safety in a friendly country. I should have stated that better sorry. I don't waht you were talking about with the designations.

Gotcha. I thought it was strange that they would redesignate an SR-71 to M-21 instead of M-71.

"Mother Ship"

[Agent ONE]

Hey look, an SR-71 with a FAST Pack.

[dna]

I've always thought it was an extra jet of some type. But now I know. And knowing if half the battle.

[David Hingtgen]

There's one M-21 left, it's in Seattle. In fact, it is the EXACT plane in the photo above. Hard as hell to photograph though, the bare polished titanium finish with matte black stripes really messes with the camera. Every pic I took came out horrible. Has a D-21 mounted on it, too.

[JB0]

Ok, I used to give a weekly instructional briefing on the SR-71/A-12/YF-12/M-21+D-21, etc... I will quickly explain the A-12 designation. The "A" Stands for Archangel, which was the code name Lockheed used for the top secret CIA project. Archangel 12, A-12, was the twelfth and final design considered for the series and is the one that was built.

Ah. And it all makes sense now.

The YF-12 was designed as an anti-nuclear bomber interceptor, it carried 3 tactical nuclear missiles in internal bays that it would launch at formations of Russian bombers.  The missile is the direct precursour to the AIM-54 Phoenix and much of its technology went into that weapon.  THe YF-12 concept was scrapped becuase launch at high speed caused seperation damage to the aircraft, the aircraft could not turn on a dime at high speed, and the resulting EMP would have klnocked out all of its avionics, mind you all the Black Bird Varients were pretty much flown strictly on instruments. 

Again, it all makes sense now.

The M-21/D-21 was developed about the same time, and so was the SR-71, the A-12 was the daddy to all of them.  The M-21 was intended to be able to carry the D-21 drone to the border of russian airspace, release the drone, let it over fly and then ditch itself someplace safe for pick up.  However, several disasterous test launchs ended that program, leaving only the SR-71 and the handful of A-12s left.

Actually, there was only one accident. The drones never really succeeded, but only one M-21 was ever lost.

[JB0]

There's one M-21 left, it's in Seattle. In fact, it is the EXACT plane in the photo above. Hard as hell to photograph though, the bare polished titanium finish with matte black stripes really messes with the camera. Every pic I took came out horrible. Has a D-21 mounted on it, too.

2 words. Manual focus.

[David Hingtgen]

Well I didn't know it wasn't going to focus until the pics came back. I've never photographed bare titanium before in a museum. That camera (now retired) had never not focused on anything, even stealths, but it didn't like the M-21.

Nowadays I have a digital, so I can more easily adjust stuff, and get instant feedback on the pics. Will be a while before I'm in Seattle again though.

[Knight26]

Actually an accident occured with each seperation test, but only one resulted in the destruction of the aircraft.

[JB0]

Actually an accident occured with each seperation test, but only one resulted in the destruction of the aircraft.

Y're sure? I know none of the drones ever actually photographed anything, but I'm pretty sure the only time there was ever any issue with the launch was the crash.

[JB0]

Well I didn't know it wasn't going to focus until the pics came back. I've never photographed bare titanium before in a museum. That camera (now retired) had never not focused on anything, even stealths, but it didn't like the M-21.

Nowadays I have a digital, so I can more easily adjust stuff, and get instant feedback on the pics. Will be a while before I'm in Seattle again though.

Mmmm...

I use an SLR.

And stripes and reflections both confuse the hell out of auto-focus circuits, for future reference.

[Knight26]

Accident type 1: The aerodynamic fairing that originally covered the intake of the drone was pyrotechnically jettisioned, damaging both drone and mothership, mothership RTBed with drone still attached. Several attempts were made that fit this profile in order to try and solve the problem.

Accident 2: -1G seperation technique, seperation successful, but control issues caused drone to collide with mothership, drone destroyed, mothership severally damaged, forced to RTB. Several launchs were actaully made this way, but determined to be unusable outside of a testing situation.

Accident 3: Aerodynamic faring removed, no way found to overcome the problem. Standard 1G acceleration, drone seperation failed, drone crashed into mothership destroying both craft.

The M-21/D-21 project was closed shortly there after. The D-21 continued life as a recon dron launched from B-52s, using a rocket motor get it up to speed for the Ramjet to work. There was also the problem that with the Drone attached the extra weight and drag required to get the ship up to speed enough for the ramjet to work required a run up from New Mexico to the california coast.

[JB0]

Accident type 1: The aerodynamic fairing that originally covered the intake of the drone was pyrotechnically jettisioned, damaging both drone and mothership, mothership RTBed with drone still attached. Several attempts were made that fit this profile in order to try and solve the problem.

Accident 2: -1G seperation technique, seperation successful, but control issues caused drone to collide with mothership, drone destroyed, mothership severally damaged, forced to RTB. Several launchs were actaully made this way, but determined to be unusable outside of a testing situation.

Accident 3: Aerodynamic faring removed, no way found to overcome the problem. Standard 1G acceleration, drone seperation failed, drone crashed into mothership destroying both craft.

The M-21/D-21 project was closed shortly there after. The D-21 continued life as a recon dron launched from B-52s, using a rocket motor get it up to speed for the Ramjet to work. There was also the problem that with the Drone attached the extra weight and drag required to get the ship up to speed enough for the ramjet to work required a run up from New Mexico to the california coast.

Ah.

The D-21 is currently in service with NASA, if I recall.