hi guys, i got a sr-71 the other day. On opening the box and flicking through instructions, it has a little model drone with it. What is this drone for? I didnt know a sr-71 had a drone attached to the back of it…
sasarchiver
Here’s your answer.
thnkx ajlafleche,
didnt know that lol So the drone (d21) was put in storage in 1971, mmm, interesting.
thanks again
This one is on display at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio.
The D-21 was a hypersonic reconnaisance drone with a Marquardt ramjet engine. It was designed to overfly “high risk” areas where it was too risky (and illegal) to use the SR-71 (like mainland China). Upon completion of it’s pre-programmed flight path, it was supposed to fly out to the ocean and eject it’s reconnaisance capsule containing photos, telemetry data, etc. and the capsule retreived by an MC-130 equipped with the Fulton recovery system. After that, the D-21 would dive into the ocean, destroying itself. Several successful launches were made from the M-21 (the SR-71 was called an “M-21” when it carried the drone) before one launch went awry and destroyed both aircraft, killing the RSO in the process. After that, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson prohibited any more D-21 launchings from the SR-71, and it was thereafter launched from a B-52D. There used to be quite a few D-21’s sitting out at Monthan-Davis AFB, but most of them have probably been “disposed of” by now.
If I remember right, the drone was never used on the SR-71, but on it’s predasor, the A-125
Technically, you are correct; it was an A-12 with a “Launch Technician” cockpit in place of the “Q” bay, right behind the pilot. If you look at the nose of the M-21 in the first picture, it’s slightly “pointier” than an SR’s nose; this is usually the quickest way to tell if you’re looking at an A-12 or a -71.