thats a lot of horsies my friend

Nice shot of the Habu! I wonder if this one ever went to Okinaw? Where did you shoot this aircraft?

--
I swim through a sea of stars without looking back to shore.
Faster than light, bending time. Forever. Wherever. -- R-Type Final

This A/C is at March Field Air Museum. (See my other piece, Blackbird.)
Not sure if it was ever in Okinawa. I do know that she's had some various other adventures. In the eighties, evading a SAM, she threw a turbine blade that exited one nacelle and entered the other. She limped back to base at Tyndall, I believe. She had been in an undisclosed location (that was 90 miles off the coast of Florida.... you figure it out.) We found the patches on the nacelle, and decided to look into her history.
Additionally, when we sanded down the left vertical Stab, we found another tail number. They had cannibalized a retired Blackbird to repair her. The tail number was from the aircraft that flew over Hanoi at the end of the Viet Nam war at Mach 3 to let the POWs know that they would be back for them.
Awesome stories from an awesome aircraft!

What an awesome piece of kit she is, a real beaut and the story behind her too!

First time I've had a good look at a BlackBird photo actually. The lines are just amazing, but what is with the photoshoppin of the photo? ie, front landing gear vanishes into the surrounding grass?

Mmmm, I was hopin' noone would look that closely.
I removed some stansions, ropes, and a plaque from the picture. I did what I could with what I had available to me.
Turned out decently, considering how it started out,
Don't be so damned observant form now on, eh?

Hmm, that WASN'T the answer I was looking for! I was thinking more on the lines of... "...when we sanded down the left vertical Stab, we.... found the cloaking device button and voila, the aircraft vanished! Well... We thought it did, but standing back, we noticed it was just one of the tyres as that was the only part we didn't sand" I was under the impression you forgot to mention that or something. Ohwell, damn you... damn you and your non-mystery seeking answer. Hehe.

Sorry, I was thinking inside the box!

nice bit of information there, I knew that engine was powerful but sweet jesus! Nice bit of history on the engine problem as well. So do you do restoration work at the museum there or something?

--
So Say We All....

Many years ago. (Ok, not really THAT many. I'm only 23.)
I vollunteered while I was in high school. I had more than 650 hours when I ran out of time to vollunteer. I was the youngest person ever to earn a lifetime membership to the museum foundation through vollunteer hours. All before the age of 18.
I did a lot of restoration work while I was out there. I helped restore the B-17, the T-38, and a bunch of others! If you're ever in the neighbourhood, come check out my handywork!

--
Tom Hurst
Atmos Photography
[link]
and check out my Cafe Press store [link]