John Malcolm Brown

Planes That Changed History - Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird John Malcolm Brown

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is an extraordinary airplane. It did things few other airplanes could. The SR-71 flew faster than 2,000 mph at the dark blue fringes of space. Its pilots were geared up for their high-altitude missions in full pressure suits and helmets. This book about the SR-71 is made for young readers. It's 20 pages in length, with text and an image on each page. It is geared for children who would enjoy learning about the SR-71's unique attributes. The book is more detailed and plane-specific than picture books about airplanes in general. But it is easy-to-follow in terms of the level of science needed to understand the text. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and its family of Mach 3 cousins are a complex lot. The planes have features that would be too difficult for grade schoolers, such as the maintaining of shock waves within engine inlets or the modulation of air flows using forward and aft by-passes within the engine nacelles. Such difficult aspects of the SR-71 are left out here. However, the book covers aspects of the plane that young readers would find interesting, such as its massive Pratt & Whitney J58 engines, unique titanium construction, 61-star celestial navigation system, and how its unusual shape contributed to its stealth qualities. Everything about this plane was mysterious, from its black ferrite paint to its specially blended JP-7 jet fuel made to withstand high temperatures. It's also noteworthy that SR-71s were never caught by fighters or shot down by missiles as they flew over denied airspace. Children who see the plane are usually fascinated by its appearance and physical characteristics, such as the plane's 2,000 mph speeds, 80,000-foot cruising altitudes, or 500-degree skin temperatures. This book presents the incredible SR-71 to young readers in a way meant to stimulate their interest for the plane's unique features, but without losing them in difficult engineering theory.