Need Help Identifying Wreckage Debris from #970 SR-71

These pieces were given to me as a gift and I'd really like to try and identify them if possible.

There's no stamping on them or any identifiable markings. The cloth actually came double in size, but had less of the orange transparent plastic attached to it. Also looks like there was some type of foil or metallic paper that attached itself to the cloth. Any help identifying would be greatly appreciated!

Mark

Heck, it has to be either from the interior fuselage, or one of the engine cowling things.
I only guess that by way of the rest of the plane looks to be painted a dark hue.
The rivets I assume would have to do with structural rigidity, so it looks like three different skins are/were attached at one point.
Sorry, I hadn't heard recent news of any crashes like this. When and where?

Pretty cool piece of scrap!

a reply to: STANDARD

looks like a brain bandage

Fabric could be wiring covering as it goes against the structure.Metal bit looks like structure.

a reply to: STANDARD

Note the lack of paint on the metal. Clearly not from the exterior. The only way you would know this came from a SR-71 crash is because someone swiped the debris.

I'm of the opinion for old crashes, just take photos and leave the debris for the next person to find. For modern crashes, I would gather the debris since the USAF cleans up the site. I haven't done this myself, but I've gone back to visit crash sites I photographed and nothing is there. The F-22 crash near Edwards is prime example of extreme cleanup.

www.lazygranch.com...

The part with the "1933" on it is a part I took home because I couldn't get a decent photo in the field. I then returned on my next trip to dump the part. I really like people to be able to find debris.

a reply to: STANDARD

Surely Dectective Zaphod would have an answer, but looking at the second image it appears to be some kind of insulation, perhaps towards the mid or rear end of the plane

a reply to: STANDARD

Without any markings, it is pretty much hopeless. The cloth material is clearly some kind insulation of a type found widely throughout the airframe. The titanium alloy fragment is some interior structure. There is a lot of it that looks similar in different sections of the aircraft. If you had a part number, I could tell you exactly which subassembly it belonged to.

Very thin aluminum. I'd say it is probably from inside and not subjected to any kind of structural stresses. The fabric is probably just insulation common throughout.

originally posted by: gariac
a reply to: STANDARD

Note the lack of paint on the metal. Clearly not from the exterior. The only way you would know this came from a SR-71 crash is because someone swiped the debris.

I'm of the opinion for old crashes, just take photos and leave the debris for the next person to find. For modern crashes, I would gather the debris since the USAF cleans up the site. I haven't done this myself, but I've gone back to visit crash sites I photographed and nothing is there. The F-22 crash near Edwards is prime example of extreme cleanup.

www.lazygranch.com...

The part with the "1933" on it is a part I took home because I couldn't get a decent photo in the field. I then returned on my next trip to dump the part. I really like people to be able to find debris.

Wasn't me personally, but the people who did collected all of these. My pieces are from this collection. I'm assuming they had to have all been found together in the same area. It looks like the fabric could be a wire loom of some sort. The bottom right piece I'm told is of a fiberglass material. Agree on the metal possibly coming from inside the cockpit.

a reply to: STANDARD

Nothing identifiable, but it isn't like you can swing a dead cat in the desert and it will land on a crash site. Someone had the crash report and tracked down the site. I would assume if you trust the source, then the parts are real.

www.lazygranch.com...

This is a crash site where the USAF cleaned it up, but the bins of larger parts have not been hauled away. (It was a matter of waiting for the USAF investigation trailer to leave the scene.) They left all sorts of small pieces to eventually be dozed over. You would probably need a metal detector to find anything now, and even then, is there anything worth keeping. Still I left all the parts there in the event someone else wandered by before the dozer arrived and wanted to take some photos.

The BLM makes the DoD clean up fresh crashes, but I guess there is no budget for cleaning up historic crashes.

There are items from crashes that the USAF knows are out there but never recovered. If the plane is coming apart in the air, the debris field can be huge. The Walt Ray crash is a good example. There are cameras still lost in the desert, and not for the lack of trying. The searched on horseback.

I've seen pieces of aircraft caught in trees. At some point they throw in the towel.

a reply to: STANDARD

Definitely Blackbird wreckage but hard to get much information at this image resolution. One piece at center right looks like it might actually be fiberglass, which would not be surprising. The larger fragment at lower right looks like a piece of the composite "plastic" (asbestos-silicone laminate) that was extensively used in the chines, tails, inlet spikes, and parts of the wing edges. The orange material on the insulation cloth is probably aluminized Kapton.

The SR-71A (see. no. 61-7970) crash site near El Paso is easy to get to, if not always easy to find. It has been visited by many people over the last decade or so.