On the NAR Facebook page, Frank Burke posted a picture of his latest R/C Boost Glider:
"YF-12 interceptor version of the A-12/SR-71 family. Hardly ever modeled. This was an interceptor version that wound up being used for testing the aim 47 missile and doing tests for NASA. The chines were shorter on this design because of the large rounded nose cone that held the radar system. The R/C Rocket glider uses 9mm depron, bt80 tubing and is designed for 32mm glider G-12 reloads. Currently 16 oz airframe weight. with electronics, paint, nose weight and motor it'll be about 26 and 1/2 ready to fly so it should be a pretty good performer."
I thought this profile looked familiar. I put together the (much smaller) Apogee SR-72 Darkbird a while back. To see the build: CLICK HERE
At the time, I asked Tim at Apogee where he came up with the name. He said: "We wanted to show the next generation of the SR-71, we call ours the SR-72."
Looks like the Apogee kit was based on the same YF-12 Interceptor that Frank built. I never even knew it existed.
I wonder how many people had toyed with the idea of making a Lockheed D-21 model (perhaps as a parasite glider) to sit atop their SR-71 model?
ReplyDeleteThere's also an M-21 (which you can see complete with the D-21 mentioned above, in Seattle). One of my favorite aircraft. Had a friend who used to fly them but he was killed a few years back in a GA crash. https://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/lockheed-m-21-blackbird
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