Lockheed D-21: The Drone Version of the SR-71

[@thomasbolin7447]

Simon, I've stood next to that drone at the US Air Force Museum. If you are ever in the greater Dayton Ohio area, they have an awesome museum!

[@tncorgi92]

Was there last winter, it is indeed impressive.

[@jamesburleson1916]

I must agree, they have a D-21, but also an A-12, an SR-71, and the only surviving XB-70 Valkyrie, not to mention all the other stuff from early Wright built planes to an F-22 and YF-23.

[@WKRP187]

Some advice though: Leave the wife and kids at home because they won't be nearly as fascinated as you are and want to read every single placard about the history etc. of every plane there. I'd probably still be there if they hadn't drug me out and it was 2 years ago when we went 😁

[@sk1ppman]

Same. That XB-70 they parked it UNDER is MASSIVE.

[@charlesdorval394]

@@jamesburleson1916 Holy hell, that one crazy collection of birds! Well, I guess it's their stuff and their museum so I get it makes sense...

[@sk1ppman]

I've seen both in person at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton OH. Pretty incredible. Stored in the same hanger as the XB-70 Valkyrie which is just INSANELY massive.

[@kdisley]

Simon: "I have a new KZbin channel..." Me (checks watch): "Is it Thursday already...?"

[@kiranm25x]

Simon: "I have a new KZbin channel..." Me (checks channel): "It already has 100K+ subs...?"

[@finscreenname]

I wish he would start my channel

[@theamishsoylentretailersofohio]

Simon needs a day drinking show . I personally would watch that .

[@bubbystein2169]

Public drinking while going through a Wikipedia chain of links, maybe he eventually get to Kevin Bacon

[@TiaraSinica]

Mate it's Tuesday

[@VoidHalo]

They sent a Destroyer to recover a fragile film cannister and were surprised when the cannister was destroyed. Well, what did they expect would happen? It's right in the name, destroyer. It's obviously going to destroy anything around it. Destroy destroy destroy. You ever hear a word so many times that it stops making sense all together? Yeah, me neither. I wonder if you can restroy something or unstroy? What the hell is this jibberish! My mind is broken now, Tom!

[@xxxxxx5868]

...you mean "restore" ?

[@typie34]

yeah but this time of history always amazes me. how the americans came up with ways to spy on the soviets, first with ultra light high flying planes, then with ultra fast planes. sending sattelites into the orbit, and recovering their data through dropping it out of space and catching it in the air with planes. souds so awesome

[@gertjan83]

How about a megaprojects about the German baureihe 52, the kriegslok or War locomotive

[@grapeshot]

I remember the GI Joe toy it was a Cobra plane called the Night Raven and it basically was a SR-71 that had a drone piggyback.

[@Casskario]

I once spoke with an older man, who worked on this drone. It was in the Tucson Pima Air & Space Museum Really amazing!

[@johnpaulbacon8320]

Wonderful video. The Surviving M-21 / D-21 set is on display at the Boeing Museum Of Flight right out side of Downtown Seattle. The original Boeing headquarters is also a part of the MoF - the Red Barn. I have been to the Boeing MoF more times then I can remember ; seeing the M-21 / D-21 pair is always awe inspiring. Also there is a recovered cockpit from a SR-71 that crashed - you can sit in that cockpit.

[@akizeta]

Random factinos: The Soviet reverse-engineered version was the Tupolev Voron (ворон, Russian for 'Raven'). It never got beyond the prototyping stage, the Soviets deciding to concentrate on satellite recon instead. The wreckage of the D-21 recovered by China is on display at the Chinese Aviation Museum in Beijing. There's an M-21/D-21 pair on display at the Seattle Museum of Aviation.

[@GregBatte]

My grandfather worked in the Skunk works program for quite sometime in a joint project with Pratt & Whitney & others. Only thing he ever talked about was his involvement with the F-14 Afterburner project to launch from carriers. He was involved in much more from what my dad has said and hope that one day he will tell me.

[@AtheistOrphan]

F-14, one of my favourite aircraft and pride of the Iranian Air Force.🇮🇷

[@TheBillzilla]

Another excellent video, thanks Simon. If you're keen to do another video on an amazing aircraft, have a look at the Miles M.52. If you haven't heard about it, it was a late WW2 British secret project to build the first supersonic manned aircraft. It differed from the Bell X-1 in that it was powered by a Whittle jet engine with a huge afterburner system that was the precursor to the SR-71's bypass afterburner system, and it would have taken-off from the ground under its own power as well. Eric Brown was earmarked to fly it as he was a short chap and could fit into the small cockpit. In 1946 with the change of government, the project was cancelled with no official reason given.

[@hughoneill9861]

The Museum of Flight in Seattle has one, mated with a M-21 "mother ship". I was fortunate to be able to see this last March.

[@THEFINALHAZARD]

I saw that last month!! Was amazing to see

[@justinvzu01]

Your channels totally seem like mass produced WatchMojo clickbaity stuff, but you really know your stuff. These videos are incredibly entertaining and the facts are almost always spot on. Definitely getting some merch to support your endeavors.

[@angelosasso1653]

Love that design. Will live on in the SR-72.

[@razorfett147]

Growing up in the 80s its interesting how many SR-71 toys had this drone affixed to them. Matter of fact, im not sure i ever saw a die cast toy or model of the Blackbird that DIDN'T have the drone attached back then

[@tylerdixon3290]

Recently saw one of these at the Castle Air Museum. It was at the restoration hanger where they're restoring an F-117. I kinda knew it was a drone of some sort when I first saw it since it had the same shapes and color as the blackbird (they have one btw). Never knew they existed till that day.

[@WilboSwagz]

Not that you'd need any help researching, but the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich (former director of said organisation) is a really good read and incredibly interesting if you haven't already read it. And thanks for another great video!

[@shinano3010]

Please do one on the Newport News ship building

[@ElPirato]

OH MAN that would be nice. I got one better. the Virginia colony

[@shinano3010]

That’s would be really cool too

[@boomeranglord3035]

One of ma favourite drones 👍🏽

[@vr6swp]

My dad was a Skunk Works employee 1964 - 1980. I know he was on the A-12 / SR-71 contract, and a couple of follow - on / support deals afterwards. Wonder if he did any of the machine or fab work on the D-21.

[@hifinsword]

When you mentioned picking up the D-21 mid-air with a C-130, it brought back to mind a similar mission of the C-130 you might want to do. They had a mission to pluck people from off the ground while flying. It involved a small balloon released by the person on the ground waiting to be picked up. The balloon carried a wire attached to a harness on the person. A hook would snag the person and pull them off the ground and they would then crank the cable in and retrieve the person. I believe it was for CIA and other similar people like Special Forces that needed extraction from hostile territory.

[@enloeeagle7258]

That sounds a lot like batman

[@hifinsword]

@@enloeeagle7258 It was used to extract special forces inside Vietnam. I never got yanked out but I've seen movies of it during testing. It looks like a pretty wild ride.

[@andrebaudoind]

Skyhook

[@anthonylloyd6094]

The D-21 has a menacing look that wouldn't be out of place in a sci-fi film.

[@spencerellis83]

Simon: skunks works. I haven’t read it but it’s coming up. Super cool 😂😂😂

[@koharumi1]

12:01 imagine being the captain of the ship who just sailed over and destroyed the camera.

[@dezdesilets5047]

I've been waiting for this one!! But also, you should do the Seawolf submarine class. Lots and lots of interesting unclassified history!

[@richardr3178]

Thanks for another great project, Simon!

[@xmeda]

Soviets had couple of similar devices. Some were photographing England on regular basis. Tu-123 Jastreb for example. And of course the well known Tu-143 Reys with shorter range.

[@neilturner6749]

I don’t think there’s any evidence that they ever flew operationally and the statement that they photographed England regularly is just laughable!

[@johniwan1]

The one pictured at 6:42 is at the Boeing Air and Space Museum in Seattle. They also have an SR-71 cockpit section that you can sit in and a start cart (2 Buick Wildcat V8 engines) used to start the engines.

[@HeavyTanker-vx4oq]

The Black Bird had many versions, including a prototype super high altitude bomber capable of carrying even the largest nuclear weapons.

[@bobthompson4319]

The craziest jet they made at skunkworks is the SR-71 because it's late 50s tech. 50s tech 🤯

[@Obelixr1]

You can find what appears like a couple of these drones on satellite pictures (Google Earth) of Edwards Airforce Base between 2002 and 2006, seemingly "lying around" near the MDD (Spaceshuttle loading/mating rig (now demolished)) in the most northern area of the main base, if you're interested...

[@joemac8474]

Bro are there enough hours in the day for all your channels? You have to be the busiest dude on KZbin. Respect!

[@zachnance478]

We have one here on display at the Boeing Museum of Flight here in Seattle if anybody cares to see one in person. They even have it perched on top of an A12

[@michaelampe95]

Best presentation of 2021 ... yet! ;-)

[@AllDayBikes]

Didn't even know this variant existed, cool!

[@roman8747]

Yeah that's right and that's with the tech. Back then. Imagine that today with the modern drone tech.

[@edshelden7590]

Makes one wonder what other little airborne projects have failed and will never hear about them.

[@lisandronicoletti8567]

Mega project idea, AC 75, the coolest and most badass modern sailboat

[@artdonovandesign]

D-21. Coolest looking thing EVER!

[@joshuacarter4484]

Simon, my friend. Please don't stop these absolutely amazing timeless videos. I listen to them while smoking ribs/brisket for hours upon hours until I get carried away from you mumbling on and them in 10min over from a mid injection lmao. Seriously happened today while watching about the world's largest damn in China lol.

[@rickj6348]

If you are in Seattle, the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field has one of these drones.

[@pericbowen4958]

Exceptional! 👍😀👍

[@jarink1]

5:06 Of course it's plausible. The US used quite a few Ryan Model 147 Lightning Bug drones for recon over the North during the Vietnam war. Main difference being that the entire drone was recovered midair instead of just a film capsule. The midair recovery method was also used for years by photorecon satellites.

[@dgb1952]

Fun fact, my dad worked on some of the electronics on Project Oxcart!

[@docholliday5472]

You really need to do a video on the Horton HO-229 Nazi Stealth Fighter. That one would shock people.

[@GlennMulderij]

Speaking about things ahead of its time!

[@FallenPhoenix86]

It wasn't stealth though... its a myth.

[@buckeyesfan4700]

@@FallenPhoenix86 the bell is very interesting

[@weasle2904]

Its not a stealth aircraft at all, it only had a reduced RCS because of the shape of the plane. The Germans didn't intend that at all (nor did it really make a difference)

[@mikenewmanhayes2010]

Cool saw one at Blackbird park out by the Skunkworks few years back

[@nickbarrett3163]

I feel like Yakety Sax should've been playing when he was explaining the missions.

[@wmarkwitherspoon]

There is one at the BlackBird Park out at the Palmdale CA site near the SkunkWorks...

[@christianklein5774]

some craft i dint had any knowleage about, thats good, i dont need to know more , thank you.

[@Lyra_of_Spinning_Winds]

Do the underground nuke silos in Kansas? Idk if you’ve done this already

[@Havoc-zt8lb]

Wdym in kansas? they're all over the US

[@redruml5872]

My grandfather worked in the skunk works. I have photos of him with Kelly Johnson .... among other things.

[@carlholm7867]

I'd like an in-depth video of the inspiration for R2-D2! The astro-computer which kind of worked as an auto pilot for the SR-71!

[@PKXkid]

A video on the Bismarck would be great.

[@turdferguson9725]

The "D' in D-21 didn't stand for "drone" it stood for "disappointment".

[@AAronFpv]

In aviation it's always measured in feet for safety and continuity

[@gregvonrump1794]

Please do a video on the 309th AMARG at Davis Monthan AFB. Its way more then just a boneyard for old aircraft

[@goiterlanternbase]

Awesome machine👍

[@JuiceBoxScott]

You should do a video on the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan aka AMARG. There's a lot of interesting stuff in there and you might want to visit it once these COVID times are over.

[@linlyons1962]

There is a D21 at the Evergreen Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

[@kevinoduor9841]

i cant believe i never heard of this one

[@gddesigner]

I haven’t seen it yet if it’s been done, but I’d love to see a video on the A-10 Thunderbolt. My favorite plane ever.

[@shaunhickey7233]

Mega project on Skydome. First ever roof that opens on a stadium

[@n0madfernan257]

i'll watch simon riding the sr-71 anyday

[@danieljob3184]

And there was me thinking it was a countermeasure intended to distract any SAMs that might have been able to reach the SR-71!

[@c.l.7525]

Look how tiny it is! It's so CUTE!!!

[@kengyeow4540]

Love your videos! Would you be able to do the F-16?

[@busixnesse7384]

Supersonic drone 🤤 need to build 1 now

[@NotPhat69]

Love all your content, just how many channels do u have?

[@patrickgrenier4331]

Should make a video about the difference between a statoreactor and a scramjet. 😉

[@steppib.4598]

The Drone Version of the Mig-21 😎😎

[@tonbopro]

well done

[@cameronidk2]

i keep finding myself going "another fucking channel?" But you do put out a quality product!

[@thechinaman9754]

love ur shirt

[@hectorjosee3611]

Ace combat 7 players: *Nervous sweating*

[@MrJinglejanglejingle]

MGS3 players: *snickering*

[@isotaan]

SR-71 in the title. Gonna be a popular video.

[@spacecatboy2962]

simon just started a new channel where he makes videos in which he only talks about his new channels since he makes 10 new channels every day. So be sure to tune in and watch videos of simon whistler talking about simon whistlers new videos and new channels

[@LikeTheBuffalo]

More aircraft with faces, please, thank you.

[@mafiousbj]

Never again will i think i'm a failure after learning about the D-21

[@ioanbota9397]

Realy I like this powerful fastest planes

[@nimroddjcs]

I went to your Merch store to look at the A-12 T-shirt, but that is not an A-12, that is the YF-12.

[@matthewjones8798]

I agree Simon, yes, you SHOULD do ALL the Megaprojects on planes. That way, we can finally see OTHER Projects. Yes. Go on. Their is only so many. (He will run out eventually 😒)

[@Sacto1654]

It was an interesting idea, but the technology to _control_ the D-21 was just beyond the technology available to the "Skunk Works" team in the 1960's. Today, with modern satellite guidance, the D-21 would actually work, flying along border frontiers at speeds up to Mach 4.0.

[@bbcharleslau]

Do the Antarctic research bases! (Amundsen Scott and McMurdo!)

[@marshallcarhart579]

I’m not sure if you’ve done this or not, but a video on a Tesla giga factory would be cool

[@KickenItOldSchool]

Theres one D21 atop a blackbird in Seattle

[@EthanRawlins]

Do the Kirov Class Nuclear Battle Cruiser next!

[@supraking85]

omg, please do some merch with that d-21 face

[@europademon]

Soooo, still looking for that F-16 megaproject video. 😏

[@user-rn3rn6nl3h]

Simon is proof that Americans will believe anything said with a British accent, enhanced with a beard, glasses and bald head, he is unstoppable.

[@michaelpipkin9942]

Do a MegaProjects just comparing the weight of elephants to things.

[@megaprojects9649]

Entire KZbin channel dedicated to this.

[@michaelpipkin9942]

@@megaprojects9649 I'm not subscribing to that channel. I've already subscribed to all 87 of your channels.

[@williampulley]

Lockheed brings the big D once again

[@Theringodair]

I love planes. Especially warplanes. They are so fascinating. I know. I'm a nerd.

[@glenncartwright6136]

Not all of the D-21s were scrapped. If you'd like to see one up close there is one on display at The Museum of The United States Air Force on Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.

[@Josh-vj5ip]

We need a skunk works tee-shirt with the cool skunk 🦨

[@michael7324]

Simons next Mega Project video should be on Simons entire KZbin cannon of KZbin channels.

[@chrisward9026]

U help me make it thru work everynight wit ALL CHANNELS

[@stueymon]

I used to work for Lockheed Martin! What terrible war weapon was I secretly working on? The UK Census... I know. Weird, right?

[@aaronseet2738]

Feels like a drone Mig-21

[@higginsjedi85]

I still say you should do skunk works as a whole for mega projects.

[@higginsjedi85]

Obviously I wrote this comment before you mentioned the video was in the pipe line. Lol.

[@redroyal4287]

Video Ideas, but maybe you should wait on some of them cuz they still in progress. 1. Artemis Program and SLS 2. SpaceX Falcon 9 3. SpaceX Starship 4. SpaceX Starship 5. Oh, and by the way, have I said SpaceX Starship yet? 6. Lunar Gateway 7. Starlink Edit: 8. Wait, you don't have one on the Space Shuttle yet? 9. And if you like doing soviet equivlents, maybe the buran space shuttle!