Watch an SR-71 Blackbird Teardown, Transport, and Rebuild in 5 Minutes
Disassembling a speed demon in the name of science.
Ever have to move a big piece of furniture into your house? One so big, the only way to get it inside was to tear the bastard apart and rebuild it indoors? Now imagine doing that with a 107-foot long piece of Cold War Era aviation history. Because that's exactly what the Science Museum of Virginia had to do in order to get an SR-71 Blackbird into the building. And luckily for us, the museum captured the entire endeavor on a time-lapse.
Watching them split apart the SR-71 at the Virginia Aviation Museum, cart the pieces across town on flat bed trucks, then rebuild it and hang it from the ceiling at the science museum is basically the raddest five minutes of video you're going to watch today. (Aside: We didn't think the SR-71 could look any more cool, but something about it having its engines canted upwards like the nacelles on the starship Enterprise manages to do just that.)
So hop on Google Maps, chart a course for the museum, and go see this bad boy in the metal. We'll meet you there.
Virginia Aviation Museum
5701 Huntsman Rd, Richmond, VA 23250
804.236.3622
Exhibiting Tues-Sat from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun noon to 5 p.m.
