The SR-71 Blackbird is still giving us wonderful images to discover even over two decades after its retirement. Case in the point, the gorgeous photograph below, showing a pair of SR-71 Blackbirds sitting idle in their hangars on the flight line at Beale AFB at dawn.
It was from here that SR-71s would launch and recover for stateside missions. The aircraft would ooze its specialized JP7 jet fuel prior to starting in these hangars, a byproduct of an airframe designed to expand due to friction heat as much as four inches during high-speed flight.
![message-editor%2F1609543769351-sr71hangars2.jpg](https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor%2F1609543769351-sr71hangars2.jpg?strip=all&quality=95)
The hangars also housed all the unique support equipment that was required to generate sorties for these extreme performance machines. This included the giant AG-330 start cart that used a pair of 401-cubic inch Buick ‘Wildcat’ V8 engines to stir the Blackbird’s J58 turbojets to life. While the tailor-made hangars may seem simple in design, the gear inside them that surrounds the Blackbirds makes the facilities look almost sci-fi in nature.
You can watch what a launch of the Blackbird from these hangars was like here and here (great soundtracks too!).
![message-editor%2F1609546697586-screenshot2021-01-01at4.17.59pm.png](https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor%2F1609546697586-screenshot2021-01-01at4.17.59pm.png?strip=all&quality=95)
At one time, a dozen of the hangars dotted the apron at the Air Force’s master strategic aerial reconnaissance base in Northern California, but over time they have dwindled in number.
![message-editor%2F1609548510460-130802-f-xx999-001.jpeg](https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor%2F1609548510460-130802-f-xx999-001.jpeg?strip=all&quality=95)
Up until 2013, four of these original hangars still stood, when two were demolished. The remaining two still stand on the flight line at Beale and are used to support ongoing U-2 Dragon Lady and RQ-4 Global Hawk operations.
![message-editor%2F1609545669133-130620-f-na343-001.jpeg](https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor%2F1609545669133-130620-f-na343-001.jpeg?strip=all&quality=95)
The plan was to demolish the final two in 2020 as part of an ongoing initiative to get rid of or revamp Cold War-era infrastructure on the base, but that has yet to happen.
![message-editor%2F1609548626842-screenshot2021-01-01at4.50.19pm.png](https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor%2F1609548626842-screenshot2021-01-01at4.50.19pm.png?strip=all&quality=95)
It’s great that a small piece of the Blackbird’s legacy at Beale still stands in the form of a pair of these hangars, the likes of which were gloriously captured in the beautiful sunrise image.
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com