337mm APO for US$4500!

[clive milne]

I have been trying to dig up some info on this lens, I haven't come up with much other than the design was by James Gilbert Baker.

The field is supposed to be highly corrected over a large angle with minimal vignetting, but I can find no reference to it being apochromatic. Some aerial lens designs had their seidel aberrations optimised at the expense of achromatism, and so required the use of a coloured filter to keep them sharp.
It is not suggested that this lens is of that variety though.

An interesting and highly desirable piece of optical history.

fwiw) Here are a few more pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50231105@N03/

[avandonk]

Did not Perkin Elmer make the stuff up with the Hubble?

Bert

[clive milne]

I'm not quite sure I understand the question?

[gregbradley]

Perkin Elmer made the Hubble Space Telescope and ground the mirrors to the wrong focal length requiring a NASA mission to insert some corrective optics. This is the same company that made this 36 inch lens.

Greg.

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

Originally Posted by mswhin63

Loved that aircraft when I was a kid, found out recently it was taken away because the expansion and contraction caused it to leak fuel ever trip.

They were designed to leak fuel at ' Ground Level ' . The leading edge of the fuselage ... made of ' thin titanium ' ... would gradually ' close ' at high altitude ... and ' military high speed runs ' .... this would make the leading edge ' glow red hot ' ... even in the upper atmosphere's thin air.... enormous amount of friction.

The Fuel had a ' high flash point ' ... much higher than Jet A1 ( fuel for the F111C ). ( fact ) You could light a match while standing near the SR71 and not pose a fire risk ..... The SR71 has a ceiling of well over 20 miles up.... could out accelerate the Russian FOXBAT ( MIG 25 ) which had a Top Speed 3 x Speed of Sound ... and if the SR71 could fire off a Sidewinder Air to Air Missile ... it could " outrun " the missile in a straight out ' speed dash '

Some Pilot's who flew enough hours in this Aircraft were awarded their ' Astronaut Wings " .... why wouldn't they ...their on the edge of Space most of the time.
Not uncommon for them to see the " curvature " of the earth on normal missions.

They may not want to admit it ... but the CIA " borrowed " this plane at times ... to further their " intelligence " on Soviet Propaganda.

Impressive Aircraft for it's time.

Flash

[koputai (Jason)]

And it was initially designed as an interceptor, not a recon aircraft, according to the Aerofax Minigraph I bought about it in 1987.

It's a great little book, tons of photo's taken during the R&D and build process. They also developed the D-21 drone that could be carried up by the A-12 (SR-71) and launched into hostile areas. The D-21 was powered by a ramjet.

Cheers,
Jason.

[marki]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

It was the most beautiful aircraft ever designed. Elegant and with high speed.

Certainly was and the tewchnical achievements made to get it flying were staggering. Still the most advanced airframe ever built and will remain so for some time.

Mark

[Shano592 (Shane)]

Yeah, look at this plane, and the era it was launched in, and then tell me a human designed it.

A definite product of Area 51.






What? You were all thinking it!

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Hi Guys,

Please note the plane in the photograph is a Lockheed A-12 which was originally built for the CIA in about 1962. It is not an SR-71 Blackbird, although they look very very similar. This design by Lockheed's Kelly Johnson was the precursor to the YF-12 and subsequently the SR-71 Blackbird. The Lockheed A-12 was taken out of service in 1968. The SR-71 Blackbird was taken out of service in 1998.

Cheers,
John B

[traveller (Bo)]

Originally Posted by Shano592

Yeah, look at this plane, and the era it was launched in, and then tell me a human designed it.

A definite product of Area 51.

Actually its made by the Skunk Works

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

Hi Guys,

Please note the plane in the photograph is a Lockheed A-12 which was originally built for the CIA in about 1962. It is not an SR-71 Blackbird, although they look very very similar. This design by Lockheed's Kelly Johnson was the precursor to the YF-12 and subsequently the SR-71 Blackbird. The Lockheed A-12 was taken out of service in 1968. The SR-71 Blackbird was taken out of service in 1998.
John B

Yep its an A-12, the interceptor verison, single seater, SR71 is a twin seater.

[cventer]

There is an excellent book called "Skunk Works" which goes into the history of the buid of this aircraft and the first forays into stealth technology. Fantastic read if this kind of thing floats your boat.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

Hi Guys,

Please note the plane in the photograph is a Lockheed A-12 which was originally built for the CIA in about 1962. It is not an SR-71 Blackbird, although they look very very similar. This design by Lockheed's Kelly Johnson was the precursor to the YF-12 and subsequently the SR-71 Blackbird. The Lockheed A-12 was taken out of service in 1968. The SR-71 Blackbird was taken out of service in 1998.

Cheers,
John B

Geez... when you see what was flying up there in 62 you're just wondering what's flying up there now.

[DavidTrap (David)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Geez... when you see what was flying up there in 62 you're just wondering what's flying up there now.

UAVs. Far less political fallout if one goes down compared to the Garry Powers' saga.

It's really quite amazing what was done with the technology available at the time.

DT

[Scopie (Brad)]

"It's really quite amazing what was done with the technology available at the time."

I'd have to counter this with the comment that, in my opinion, these days there is far more "can't do" than there was 50 years ago.