Blackbird

December 22, 2014 marked the 50^th anniversary of the first flight of the Lockheed Martin SR-71.  I know that was a few days ago, but I was busy on other projects and couldn’t post this on that date.  The plane won’t mind since it wasn’t doing it for the glory, but for the speed.  We can relate to that since AcMo is focused on achieving ludicrous ground-based speeds.  Over one thousand missiles were fired at blackbirds; none hit their target.  That kind of superiority has to be demoralizing to all missiles. The plane probably taunted them as it sped past the target zones. "Let me teach you something about breakaway speed," it would say just as the afterburners lit. The lessons were always short because the plane was out of sight seconds after full afterburner was achieved.

At AcMo, we set goals so high that even irrational minds perceive them as impossible to achieve.  We try to prove everyone wrong by surpassing those goals.  Completing the objective always involves obstacles, but overcoming difficulties strengthens the final result.  If you can achieve even more than the initial ambitious goal, the chances anyone will even attempt to replicate the success reduce toward zero.  Reaching immeasurable and impossible heights can crush the competition’s spirit and solidify a reputation of excellence.  Even if you just get lucky, no one else has to know.  That may have been on Lockheed designer Kelly Johnson’s mind during the initial concept stage of SR-71 development.  AcMo’s daily meetings start out in a similar fashion, only with a lot of chair throwing and table flipping thrown in for theatrical purposes.

All of our work with Fred is in large part due to this aircraft.  We wanted to make our mark in history by creating the fastest flying bird.  We want a bird that is worthy to fly alongside the legendary Blackbird and say it too has never been shot down by enemy fire.  If only Fred could say the same for enemy windows.  We think Fred is that bird especially after we fit him with our twin turbocharged AcMo miniaturized Blackbird chassis.

Back when the SR-71 was conceived, computers weren’t pocket sized and every toddler wasn’t expected to have a tablet and a mobile phone.  Life was hard before color TV was the standard.  I don’t know how some people survived that.  Now consider that a plane so far ahead of its time it still holds speed records was built at a time when computers didn’t run the world and no one had a DVR.  It seems unbelievable unless you consider the possibility the build team had help from the same consultants who worked with the Egyptians during pyramid construction.  I’m not saying that’s what happened, just that it is a possibility.

Depending on your clearance level and which classified documents you can read, the SR-71 could still be the fastest military jet ever produced.  It is by far the most menacing appearing non-armed plane, and I shudder when I even write this, but it leaks fuel on the ground just like those aliens drool acid.  You NEVER want to encounter one of those on a bad day.

Building a jet that surpassed the known limits at the time required vision, confidence, and a great deal of courage.  We have all of those things at AcMo.  What we don’t have is a government funded black budget.  That’s why we need to do things in an unconventional manner.

AcMo’s future rests on the ability of our bird to survive re-entry.  The success of the F-One endeavor, while operated as a separate entity, will also bolster AcMo’s reputation around the worldwide.  Once we have that, we can rest on our laurels for years and churn mediocre product for the masses like George Flucas.

We patterned Fred’s flight “suit” on the SR-71’s airframe and added twin turbochargers because we had some on the shelf off of a customer’s vehicle.  Putting all of that together requires having a competent modeler on staff.  We don’t have one any longer, so we had to use the person with the tiniest hands.  If I had thought about it sooner, we could have 3D printed the chassis, but then we would still have to find someone here who read the operating manual and knows how to use the printer.  Building by hand is taking a great deal of time, and that is the main reason we haven’t started our Christmas shopping or scheduled the annual AcMo holiday party yet.  We’ve spent this entire year recovering from last year’s Die Hard themed party that got a bit too real.  That won’t happen again.

Party planning is an important aspect of daily AcMo business, but it is secondary to our other pursuits such as setting records on land, in and on the sea, and in the air.  As a matter of fact, it occurred to me that we never heard back from the FAA when we inquired about flight restrictions for Fred.  I guess that means we can fly him however we want.  The lack of response also bodes well for our proposed drone program.  We have a couple cities we would like to do aerial surveillance on to find new vehicles for our VIP clients.