Cool place. When we lived up in the great Northwest, that was one of the places we would take out of town visitors. I particularly like the blackbird? that was designed to leak fuel on the ground so that it wouldn't leak fuel at high altitude.

Yeah. I distinctly remember that part too. Whole damn plane is made from titanium. Heats up and expands and seals itself. Reminds me of something my brother-in-law in the aerospace industy said once, "It's less like flying a plane, than it is a collection of 250,000 parts all flying in close formation". He wasn't talking about the SR-71, but it still fits. It is a prodigious feat of engineering. And it looks like a Star Wars prop from the reject pile--"Naw, they'll never believe it." Then they go and make the Princess' ship from Naboo (whatever NOT a starwars geek, merely an admiring amateur) ggrr. this one http://www.starwars.jp/machine/image/royal_starship.jpg Is that a blatant SR-71 ripoff or what? Maybe "homage" is the right word.

And there is an SR-71 parked outside a building at Richmond Int'l Airport. I bet you no engines or avionics but if the need should arise, I'll bet my bottom dollar they can be produced and installed and the plane flying within a month. Particularly the ones sitting inside a museum, protected from the elements.

Brian

Form follows function when you have to deal with atmosphere but space shit can look like a model-T. :)

By "in space" you obviously mean the space between my eyes and my brain, right? It's a cg model, a lovely one to be certain, but the vehicle designers for star wars operate in an exempt-from-the-laws-of-physics zone. And yet it still looks like a chrome blackbird. I think this is a textbook example of the sincerest form of flattery.

No, I mean space as in not in air. Out there streamlining is completely unnecessary. Look at the solar sails or the space station.
I agree the Star Wars designers are into the zoomie, phalic looking creations. ;)

Outside of a couple of Chesley Bonestell drawings, I think that Princess Amidala's cruiser is one of the coolest looking spaceships ever.