Cool story... SR-71 Blackbird

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I'll read the story, but that is the fastest, highest flying aircraft that takes off and lands under its own power. And there isn't anything that beats it, that we know of.
 
Great story.
Outstanding aircraft still...
I was fortunate to see one do several flybys at a Navy airshow at Pt. Mugu in SoCal years ago. The announcer said there was an SR-71 in the area (which probably meant he was somewhere over Wyoming at the time) that was going to come by and do a couple of unscheduled flybys. He showed up a few minutes later and did a "slow" flyby, went out over the ocean to turn around and come back. Then did another flyby with the nose pitched up so it was probably as slow as he could fly it. Then turned around, came back, pointed the nose up about 45-degrees, lit the candles and DISAPPEARED!
After reading the story, I bet the "demo" was just a little inter-service rivalry: "Let's go show those Navy guys what a REAL aircraft can do!" LOL
 
Louie70Dart said:
I'll read the story, but that is the fastest, highest flying aircraft that takes off and lands under its own power. And there isn't anything that beats it, that we know of.
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...........And it was designed and built a hell of a long time ago, with slide rules

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LMFAO............

"Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne.

Better to die than sound bad on the radios.
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67Dart273 said:
...........And it was designed and built a hell of a long time ago, with slide rules

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LMFAO............

Which makes it even more amazing!
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Sadly, none have been flying for many years now (since 1998). There are 20 SR-71s left, most of them are in museums.
 
typical fighter jocks, thats funny though
 
69_340_GTS said:
Sadly, none have been flying for many years now (since 1998). There are 20 SR-71s left, most of them are in museums.
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Actually no, NASA and the NWS both have a few flying, nasa has 2 and the NWS has 1. At least according to the Huntsville, AL space center display back in April. Which had just been updated this past spring.
 
Some more possibly of interest

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/fascinating-photos-reveal-how-they-built-the-sr-71-blac-1683754944

"478 total people have flown the Blackbirds. More people have climbed to the top of Mount Everest than has flown this aircraft. Although a few Lockheed crewmembers were killed during the testing stages of the Blackbird, the U.S. Air Force never lost a man in the entire 25 years of active service. The SR-71 flew for 17 straight years (1972-1989) without a loss of plane or crew. Considering the environment the Blackbirds flew in, that is an enviable safety record."

.............And transporting the birds......

http://www.roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.html

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Kelly Johnson genius. He had a design for a jet fighter ready to go in 1941. Policy at the time would not allow one company to design both airframe and engines.
 
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