Discovery Channel-Great Planes: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (1990)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	46:50 (Case: 60)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	John Honey
Studio Distributor	Discovery Channel Magna Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

    In all the years that I have been fascinated with aircraft, there has been one aircraft company that I have been fascinated with like no other: the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. Exactly why has this company fascinated me so much? Simple really - a man named Kelly Johnson and a design bureau that goes by the name of the Skunkworks. That famed little operation has been responsible for some of the most innovative aircraft that the world has ever seen. Kelly Johnson was never a man to shy away from a task and the prolific minds at the Skunkworks were always coming up with proposals for the United States armed forces. Some were too fanciful and never progressed beyond concept drawings. Others were intriguing enough that they progressed to prototypes. Some were so full of promise that they progressed to production. Those that made it that far often had innovation with a capital I and pushed the technological envelope like no other company seemed capable of. Over the years, you only have to look at the aircraft to come from Lockheed to realise that they certainly were a name to be reckoned with: the almost unique P-38 Lightning fighter of the Second World War, the flying dart known as the F-104 Starfighter (the wings of which were so sharp that crews had to wear gloves to protect themselves from cuts), the almost irreplaceable transport C-130 Hercules and the patrol aircraft par excellence P-3 Orion (itself based upon one of the most innovative commercial airliners, the L-188 Electra). But even by Lockheed standards, two aircraft stand apart from this litany of Great Planes: the U-2 and the Blackbird family (the name, by the way, is unofficial).

    The U-2 is the famed spy plane that emerged in 1955 to meet the need for a high-altitude reconnaissance plane to fly over the then Soviet Union and other "non-friendly" (and indeed "friendly"!) nations seeking out the secrets behind the Iron Curtain. Built in an impossibly short time by Lockheed, the U-2 emerged as a virtual powered glider with an enormous altitude capability. It did the job well, but it was a b**** to fly as its stalling speed at high altitude was 400 mph - and its transonic entry speed was 412 mph! A very narrow band to operate in by any measure. Still, it generally made the Soviets nuts as they knew the aircraft was overflying their territory but could not shoot it down. Almost as soon as the U-2 first flew, the consideration of a replacement began. That replacement was the Blackbird. Initially announced in February, 1964 as the A-11 (in fact it was the A-12), the aircraft evolved into the interceptor version called the F-12. The prototype YF-12A was, like the entire Blackbird family, shrouded in secrecy. But that did not stop public announcements like the five aviation records the 'plane set in 1965 including an absolute speed record of 2,070 mph (for you younger ones, that is 3,312 kph). General consensus to this day is that the records that were announced for the Blackbird family were actually understating their true capabilities. Whatever the true figures, it is known that the Blackbird was the first aircraft capable of sustained Mach 3 flight.

    The F-12 project was cancelled by the politics of the day, but it was a glorious opportunity lost for the last genuine interceptor aircraft of the world. Although disappointed by the cancellation of the project, Kelly Johnson and his team proceeded with turning the YF-12A design into the SR-71 Blackbird. It is interesting to note too that a drone version of the design called the D-21 was also built - with just as much secrecy as the piloted aircraft. The SR-71 was simply an aircraft way ahead of its time. The first production aircraft to cruise at Mach 3, the first production design to incorporate what is now called stealth technology (although in 1965 it was very modest stuff that merely reduced the radar signature rather than eliminate it) and virtually hand-built, with every aspect of its design and production involving new or specially adapted techniques. It first flew on 22nd December 1964, and was accepted into the United States Air Force in late 1965. An unarmed aircraft, this bird was built for one thing - strategic reconnaissance. Everything about it was shrouded in secrecy; with just snippets of information being released, this remained the case for a long time. Indeed, to this day much of the work remains on the Top Secret list and will not become available for public release until the late 2030's - fifty years after its operational withdrawal. Much of what was known about the aircraft remained supposition until a dramatic turn of events saw the aircraft appear at the 1974 Farnborough Air Show. From that time, right up until its withdrawal from service in 1990, its appearances at air shows were relatively rare - and guaranteed to draw big crowds. Even years after it first flew, the SR-71 remained a technological marvel, with some peculiarities as a result of the hostile environment it worked in.

    For instance, when sitting on the ground the aircraft leaked like a sieve. Fuel (a special type, too) leaked out very noticeably as the fuel tanks used the outer aircraft skin as the fuel cell skin - and these were designed to operate at very high temperatures. Those leaks only stopped when the 'plane reached its operational altitude and temperatures. Even knowing that, it remained an intriguing experience to stand near one of these aircraft (I had the chance a couple of times at air shows in the 1980's) and watch the fuel leak out!

    A staggering technological achievement that simply is beyond comparison to anything else, the aircraft set records with almost gay abandon - an indication, but nothing more, of its true capabilities. That 1974 visit to Farnborough saw the aircraft fly from New York to London in just under 1 hour 55 minutes. It followed that up with a flight from London to Los Angeles in 3 hours 48 minutes. It set a non-stop flight record by flying 15,000 miles in 10 and one half hours. Its final mission before its original withdrawal from service in 1990 was to fly from Los Angeles to Washington in under 69 minutes - a speed that no other US combat aircraft has even approached since I believe. The aircraft was returned to active duty in 1995 but was withdrawn again in the late 1990s - probably as a result of the costs to operate the aircraft (about $400 million a year for 20 aircraft in 1990). Its speed records were probably not a true reflection of its capabilities but 2,193 mph in 1976 is nonetheless bloody impressive! Not bad either for an aircraft that officially ran to a total production run of 32 aircraft - 29 SR-71As, 2 SR-71Bs and 1 SR-71C.

    For those who are interested in the SR-71 Blackbird, I would recommend that you check out www.sr-71.org, which has a wealth of information on the aircraft. For me, this is the greatest aircraft ever built. Considering the technological problems that had to be overcome to build the aircraft, and considering that the records it set are still unbeaten, it is doubtful that any air-breathing aircraft will emulate the achievements of this Great Plane. This was the one DVD from the series I was really looking forward to watching and it did not disappoint.

Video

    Given the high level of secrecy that even today surrounds a lot of what the SR-71 Blackbird did, the chance to see any footage of the aircraft is an event worthy of notice. Whilst I would not say I have never seen any footage of the aircraft, it is fair to say that what I have seen is rather limited. This DVD certainly expanded that quite a bit.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and it is not 16x9 enhanced.

    With much archival material still classified, I would suspect, what we have got would have to suffice, whatever its condition. As a result, it is pleasing to note that there is a decent quality to what we have here. Interestingly too, there is interview footage featuring Kelly Johnson included. Overall quality is pretty good, with generally good definition, all things considered. Detail could have been better, of course, but we are just going to have to live with what we have gotten here. Shadow detail is not much of an issue. The clarity is decent, with some consistent minor grain throughout, and one particular section (of a pilot being pushed out of the back of a transport aircraft!) being very grainy indeed. There does not appear to be any problem with low level noise.

    The colours tend to be a little underdone here, but that again is just going to have to be lived with - rather understated footage than no footage at all. Some of the stuff is not to shabby though, although some depth to the blacks would really have been appreciated at times. With the aircraft having got its nickname from its black colour, it is pleasing to note that the slightly underdone colours means that no detail has been lost in the images - quite welcome when you see the footage of the aircraft leaking fuel all over itself whilst taxiing!

    There did not appear to be any MPEG artefacting in the transfer - although that aforementioned heavy grain section almost looks like it is macro-blocking. There does not appear to be any significant film-to-video artefacting either. Obviously some of the source material is affected by film artefacts, but this is not unexpected - and the nature of the material certainly ensures that at least I am not going to jump up and down about the artefacts being present.

    This is a single sided, single layer DVD. There are no subtitle options to accompany the narration.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is just the one soundtrack on the DVD, being a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

    The narration comes across very well and there are generally no real problems understanding it - although on the odd occasion early on in the program, the music tends to overshadow the narration a little too much.

    The small amount of musical accompaniment is again not credited, and to be honest is a little too intrusive at times for my liking.

    Nothing really wrong with the soundtrack, which again does enough to carry the narration and little else. It is reasonable clean and clear, but sorely lacking the underlying aircraft dynamic. This is very similar in style to the previous DVDs reviewed from the series.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Nothing whatsoever apart from some menu audio.

    It would appear that this DVD has not yet been released in Region 1 - although this is by no means certain.

    Great Planes: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is, for me at any rate, an extremely interesting look at one of the most secrecy-shrouded aircraft of the last fifty years. Since the program is of special interest to me, I would rate this as the pick of the series so far. Being objective, I would still rate this as a worthy effort that you might like to investigate.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall