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The mighty J58 engine, the SR-71’s secret powerhouse

6:01 pm

An evening pause: For the geeks out there, this video is a very nice and detailed explanation of the engineering that makes this jet engine so powerful.

Hat tip Tom Biggar.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

7 comments

7 comments

  • Joe
    June 29, 2015 at 9:42 pm

    I wonder if the Russians ever had a powerhouse recon aircraft like the sr71, after all they copied the space shuttle!

  • pzatchok
    June 29, 2015 at 10:03 pm

    I am sort of honored to have been one of the last few to have actually watched one fly and been able to service it on the ground,

    Personally my favorite plane of all time.

  • pzatchok
    June 29, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    They couldn’t even make missiles capable of its speed and altitude.

    Sadly some of its last missions were little more than acting as a fast carrier pidgin.

  • Cotour
    June 30, 2015 at 6:17 am

    Watching the video explanation of how complex the engines were in order accomplish their job I am not surprised when I watched a documentary about its operation one of the pilots who flew it I believe said it took three years of training to qualify to fly it? Am I remembering that correctly?

    He said that there was little to no time to enjoy the scenery at 80,000 feet and at speed because if you did not pay complete attention to the plane and all of its complexities it could begin to set a series of operational problems.

  • E Wolf
    June 30, 2015 at 6:59 am

    As a non-engineer, I was fascinated by this video. I was also reminded of this description of the Turbo Encabulator. Both videos made an equal amount of sense to me:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7G7xOG2Ag

  • Robert Zimmerman
    June 30, 2015 at 10:54 am

    I posted this as an evening pause back in November 2014. Quite funny, and revealing in a way.

  • Phill O
    July 1, 2015 at 3:35 pm

    A refueling speed of 0.9 Mach seems it would be not for your average pilot. I wonder what plane they use to refuel it with/from.

    Phill

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