A 1:10 scale model of an SR-71, also known as the Blackbird, now hangs in the west third floor stairwell in Talbot Laboratory. The model was acquired to teach undergraduate aerospace students about vibration testing but was too large for the available testing space. Professor Ioannis Chasiotis was able to get a smaller model for testing and display the larger model in the primary home of the Department of Aerospace Engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The model is an all-carbon fiber composite, made lightweight but strong to achieve superior flight performance. It originally had a landing gear and engines and was flown in remote control airplane competitions. It achieved second place in an international competition of remote control airplanes before being acquired by the department. Chasiotis recruited two aerospace seniors, Konstantinos Goros and Morgan Scott, to assemble it.
“It was in six pieces: front fuselage, back fuselage, left wing, right wing, left vertical tail and right vertical tail,” Scott said. “Nicole Orloff also helped us with the plane. She laser cut some wooden pieces to help us mount aluminum rods inside the plane. We wanted to add extra support so that the front part of the plane would be sturdier.”
Orloff said the pieces were traced and hand drawn then modeled in Siemens NX CAD and laser cut the OPEL lab on campus.
“After we cut the pieces, Morgan and Kon secured them in the plane with epoxy,” Orloff said. “The aluminum rods slid into the previous openings as well as the holes on those pieces so we could fit the fuselage together.”
Scott estimated it took about 25 hours for the three of them to assemble the plane.
“The real plane was first flown in 1964,” Chasiotis said. “Originally, it was actually called the RS71, which makes sense because it is a reconnaissance aircraft, but when President Lyndon Johnson introduced it, rumor has it that he accidentally called it the SR-71.”
The original plane was made of titanium to withstand the high temperatures when traveling at speeds exceeding Mach 3. It was good for reconnaissance because it was difficult to intercept flying at 80,000 feet. It flew both higher and faster than the anti-aircraft missile of the time.”
Chasiotis said he had the opportunity to meet the plane’s first test pilot, Robert Gilliland, in Los Angeles in 1998. Later, Gilliland gifted him with an autographed desktop model of the Blackbird.
“The SR-71 was retired in 1990, so now you can only see it in a museum like the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio,” Chasiotis said. “I think the large model hanging in Talbot is inspirational for our aerospace students and something unique for visitors to the department to see.”