Fast

A handful of good speedy prototype china photos I discovered:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird port panorama (Bowlus 1-S-2100 Senior Albatross “Falcon” overhead)

Image by Chris Devers
See much more images of this, and the Wikipedia post.

Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Bowlus 1-S-2100 Senior Albatross &quotFalcon&quot

Hawley Bowlus created the Senior Albatross series from a style he named the Bowlus Super Sailplane. In Germany, designers and pilots led the globe in the building and flying of high-overall performance gliders, and Bowlus was strongly influenced by their work. He and German glider pioneer, Martin Schempp, taught courses in aircraft style and construction at the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute in Glendale, California. The two instructors led a group of students that constructed the Super Sailplane in 1932. The Super’ served as a prototype for the Senior Albatross.

In May possibly 1934, Warren E. Eaton acquired the Senior Albatross now preserved at NASM from Hawley Bowlus. Eaton joined the U. S. Army Air Service and flew SPAD XIII fighters (see NASM collection) in the 103rd Aero Squadron, 3rd Pursuit Group, at Issoudon, France, from August 27, 1918, to the Armistice. He was credited with downing 1 enemy aircraft in aerial combat. Following the war, Eaton founded the Soaring Society of America and became that organization’s 1st president.

Gift of Mrs. Genevieve J. Eaton.

Manufacturer:
Bowlus-Dupont Sailplane Firm

Date:
1933

Nation of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 18.8 m (61 ft 9 in)
Length: 7.two m (23 ft 7 in)
Height: 1.six m (five ft 4 in)
Weight: Empty, 153 kg (340 lb) Gross, 236 kg (520 lb)

Supplies:
Initially skinned with mahogany and covered with lightweight cotton &quotglider cloth,&quot then covered with a shellac-primarily based varnish. In 2000, restorers removed original fabric and shellac coating, recovered with Grade A cotton fabric followed by a number of coats of nitrate dope, then lemon shellac, finishing with numerous coats of Johnson Wax.

Physical Description:
Monoplane glider with strut-braced, gull-type wing mounted high on monocoque fuselage wooden construction with steel and aluminum fittings and controls fuselage and wing leading edge covered with mahogany plywood. Fuselage skin applied more than laminated Spruce bulkheads. Landing gear consists of single-wheel and …. [size?] tire mounted beneath forward fuselage, spring-steel tail skid beneath rudder.

Cockpit covered with hood produced from laminated Spruce bulkheads and covered with Mahogany plywood. Circular openings reduce into hood on either side of pilot’s head. Instrumentation: altimeter, airspeed, variometer plus a bank-and-turn indicator powered by low-speed venturi tube installed on retractable mount beneath appropriate wingroot.

Locations aft of wing spar and all manage surfaces covered with glider cloth. Cloth is doped straight onto ribs and plywood skin with no stitching for smooth finish. Continual-chord wing from fuselage to mid-span, tapered profile from mid-span to wingtip continuous-chord,
split-trailing edge flaps and high-aspect ratio ailerons. A Gö 549 airfoil is employed at the wing root, becoming symmetrical at the tip.

All-flying elevator mounted on duraluminum torque-tube, rudder hinged to box-beam post, each surfaces built up from Spruce and covered with glider cloth.

Long Description:
Long prior to he developed and built the Bowlus-DuPont &quotFalcon,&quot William Hawley Bowlus had contributed to aviation history. In 1926, T. Claude Ryan hired him as factory manager at the Ryan Airlines, Inc., plant at San Diego, California. Late in February 1927, Bowlus and twenty Ryan workmen, supervised by chief engineer Donald A. Hall and Charles A. Lindbergh, built a lengthy-range monoplane primarily based on the Ryan M-two. Lindbergh christened the modified M-two the &quotSpirit of St. Louis.&quot It is said that Bowlus suggested many design functions that Lindbergh approved and incorporated in the finished airplane. Bowlus renewed his friendship with Lindbergh late in 1929. He taught the ocean flyer and his wife, Anne Morrow, to fly sailplanes and in January 1930, each Charles and Anne completed their 1st solo glider flights.

Hawley Bowlus developed the Senior Albatross series from a design that he called the Bowlus Super Sailplane. In Germany, designers and pilots led the planet in developing and flying higher-efficiency gliders and Bowlus was strongly influenced by their function. He and German glider pioneer, Martin Schempp, taught courses in aircraft style and building at the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute in Glendale, California. The two instructors led a group of students who constructed the Super Sailplane in 1932. The Super Sailplane served as a prototype for the Senior Albatross. The wing of the Super was nearly a copy of the German &quotWein&quot sailplane designed and flown with fantastic achievement in 1930 and 1931 by Robert Kronfeld. Both gliders employed the identical Goettingen 549 wing airfoil and even the ideas of the manage surfaces curved to practically identical contours. When Bowlus built the Senior Albatross series, the cockpit enclosure closely resembled another record-setting and influential German sailplane, the &quotFafnir,&quot made by Alexander Lippisch especially for pilot Gunther Groenhoff.

Richard C. du Pont was also an essential character in the history of the Senior Albatross. By the time he completed higher school, this heir to the Delaware-based chemical empire could fly gliders with some ability. During his very first year at the University of Virginia, he founded a campus soaring club. His passion for motorless flight drew him farther away from traditional academics and in 1932, he transferred to the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute. Du Pont was almost certainly among the students who constructed the Super Albatross.

In 1933, du Pont teamed with Hawley Bowlus and the two males set up shop in San Fernando, California, to create gliders. Bowlus furnished the style experience and performed much of the construction. Du Pont supplied enthusiasm, labor, and financing. The Bowlus-DuPont Sailplane Company became an official entity in 1934 not in California, but in Delaware. The firm folded in September 1936 but for the duration of its quick corporate life, the tiny factory built 4 examples of the Senior Albatross but no two have been constructed specifically alike. All 4 sailplanes did have ‘gull’ wings (every wing was bent down slightly at about mid-span) and this function differentiates these airplanes from the prototype Super Sailplane. Bowlus fitted two with wing flaps, rather than spoilers, for better speed and altitude manage throughout landing. Mahogany plywood skinned one particular and spruce plywood covered the other 3 aircraft. Bowlus sold each of these handcrafted airplanes for ,500.

In 1935, Hawley Bowlus started work on a two-seat Senior Albatross constructed from aluminum but other distractions delayed completion till 1940. In 1939, Ernest Langley and Jim Gough built one more Senior Albatross at the Bowlus ranch in California.

Functionality calculations revealed a ideal glide ratio of 23:1 when flying at 64.four kph (40 mph). If it became required, the pilot of a Senior Albatross could push his mount well more than 161 kph (100 mph) as long as he never ever exceeded a speed of 241.five kph (150 mph). With an accomplished pilot at the controls, the Senior Albatross could fly greater than any American airplane without a motor and they had been very pleasing to look at also. A quotation from the July 1934 problem of &quotAviation,&quot a popular periodical, sums up a single writer’s impressions of the Bowlus-Du Pont Senior Albatross:

&quotFew flying machines have ever exhibited such an extraordinary combination of workmanship, finish, and aerodynamic refinement, so that it seems really protected to say that the new ships represent the ultimate in soaring style practice in the United States, if not the globe.&quot

The pilots who flew the Senior Albatross practically dominated American competitive soaring. In 1933, Richard du Pont flew the first Senior Albatross at the fourth U. S. National Soaring Championships held at Elmira, New York. On September 21, du Pont set the American sailplane distance record by flying 196 km (121.6 miles). On June 25, 1934, he flew to inside three.two km (two miles) of New York City and established a new globe distance record of 254 km (158 miles). On June 30, 1934, du Pont set the U. S. altitude record for sailplanes by climbing to 1,892 m (six,223 ft). The following year, Lewin Barringer soared his Senior Albatross parallel to the ridges of the Allegheny Mountains for 250.three km (155.five miles).

In May possibly 1934, Warren E. Eaton acquired from Hawley Bowlus the Senior Albatross that is now preserved at NASM. Eaton was currently a veteran aviator. He had joined the U. S. Army Air Service and flew SPAD XIII fighters (see NASM collection) in the 103rd Aero Squadron, 3rd Pursuit Group, at Issoudon, France, from August 27, 1918, until Armistice Day, November 11. He was credited with downing one particular enemy aircraft in aerial combat. Soon after the war, Eaton founded the Soaring Society of America and became that organization’s initial president.

Eaton had commissioned Bowlus to build this glider after he saw Richard C. du Pont fly the second Senior Albatross at the U. S. Nationals the year ahead of. Eaton’s ordered flaps for his aircraft and it was the only Senior Albatross skinned with mahogany plywood. He christened it &quotFalcon&quot and it bore the federal aircraft registration number G13763. Many gold decals edged in black also appeared at a variety of locations on the fuselage. &quotWarren E. Eaton&quot and &quotFalcon&quot appeared on both sides of the nose. A stylized albatross and the firm motto &quotOn the Wings of an Albatross&quot were applied to the vertical fin above the words &quotBowlus-Du Pont Sailplane Company.&quot

Eaton initial flew the glider at San Diego. In June, he brought it to the national contest at Harris Hill, New York. At Huge Meadows, Virginia, Eaton set the American soaring altitude record, two,765 m (9,094 ft), during September 1934. 3 months later, Eaton died in Florida flying a Franklin p glider.

In 1935, Warren Eaton’s widow, Genevieve, donated the &quotFalcon&quot to the Smithsonian Institution. It arrived in Washington on May possibly 28 and a handful of days later, museum personnel suspended the glider from the ceiling of the West Hall of the Arts and Industries Developing where it remained on display for several years.

• • • • •

See much more photographs of this, and the Wikipedia article.

Specifics, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in a lot more hostile airspace or with such total impunity than the SR-71, the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technologies developments throughout the Cold War.

This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its final flight, March 6, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, four minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging three,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight’s conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

Designer:
Clarence L. &quotKelly&quot Johnson

Date:
1964

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 18ft five 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (five.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (five.638m x 32.741m x 16.942m)

Components:
Titanium

Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft airframe constructed largley of titanium and its alloys vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-variety material) to decrease radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines feature large inlet shock cones.