[Red Badger]

They retired it.
What do they have now that is faster?......................................

[Kickass Conservative]

Is that the same Plane that Papa Bush flew to Paris? LOL

[Lurkinanloomin]

The pinnacle of aviation, designed with slide rules.

[SkyDancer]

I read where (D) president Johnson gave away that secret plane; he let it be known we had it.

[OftheOhio]

I like to think we still have an edge. There is still hope we do. Hypersonic sled travels at 6,599 mph (Mach 8.6) at Holloman Air Force Base https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuYIbYVLF4k

[technically right]

Get a copy of Ben Rich’s, “Skunkworks: A memoir of my years at Lockheed”

Absolutely the most informative and interesting treatise on the development of the SR71 and the later the F-117 stealth fighter.

[DuncanWaring]

“How Slow Can An SR-71 Fly?”

https://fortunascorner.com/2013/12/15/retired-sr-71-blackbird-pilot-how-slow-can-sr71-fly/

[CrazyIvan]

https://partsolutions.com/supersonic-speed-check-tales-from-the-sr-71-blackbird/

[Vlad0]

We really need a picture of this exquisite bird:

Altitude record: 85,069 ft-in sustained flight.
Captain Robert Helt,July 1976

Fastest speed: 2,193.2 mph (Mach 3.3) (rumored to go as fast as Mach 3.5)

The rival to the SR-71 is the X-15, which flew from 1959 until 1968.

Altitude Record: 102,100 feet
William J. Knight, Oct. 1967

Speed Record: 4,520 mph (Mach 6.7)
(same date and pilot)

The X-15 was rocket powered, the SR-71 used jet engines. The SR-17 completed point-to-point flights, which is why many people consider it a true airplane and X-15 more of a rocket.

The X-15

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Held the record for a long time, but I’m certain there is something faster now.

Pinnacle of the Engineering Art by Kelly Johnson, well yes.

[HereInTheHeartland]

This airplane was designed just over 50 years after the Wright Brothers first flew.
That to me is astounding !
And it’s been now over 60 years since the SR 71, scary to think what is out there that we don’t know about .

[Paal Gulli]

The Lockheed SR-71 spy plane was – and still is – the fastest plane on the planet.

Horse hockey. The North American X-15 was TWICE AS FAST in powered flight as the SR-71, Mach 6.70.

Not only that, the STS (Space Shuttle) typically re-entered the atmosphere at ~17,500 mph, which is not quite Mach 25.

Which makes the shuttle the fastest manned "airplane" ever flown by a factor of about 3.7.

Not too shabby for a glider.

[Ancesthntr]

The SR-71 (and all variants related to it) is quite simply the coolest plane ever designed. that it was designed and built in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s is about the closest thing to a miracle imaginable - it was so far ahead of its time that you could almost swear that it came out of a time machine or was made with the help of aliens...almost. Truth is that Kelly Johnson and the guys in the Skunk Works were an incredibly talented and hard-working group of people who were nothing less than a national treasure.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

If you haven’t seen “LA Speed Check”, watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg73GKm7GgI&list=LL&index=35

[allblues]

I was based at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, ‘70-‘71. We used to see them occasionally, flying out of Kadena Air Force Base. Actually saw one take off as we were on the tarmac getting ready for the flight back to the US. An unforgettable experience.

[mabarker1]

https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/

[Darth Mall]

for later

[Hot Tabasco]

A-12 ARCHANGEL CIA PROJECT OXCART