SR-71 Blackbird Pilot Trolls Arrogant Fighter Pilot with Ground Speed Check.

Tribunist ^ | July 15, 2016 | Tribunist Staff

[60Gunner]

Gawd, what an awesome story. Thanks for sharing it!

[60Gunner]

Yeah, but the space shuttle was really nothing more than a big, fat, expensive UPS truck. And not nearly as dependable.

[torqemada]

Oh man - I could listen to/read about Blackbird all night long; and I have. I never had the chance to see one in flight, but saw one at an Edwards AFB air show in 1984 (IIRC). I was awestruck and I probably will never get the chance (in what’s left of my lifetime) to see anything to match it. It was sitting inside a hangar with drip pans all around it catching the gelatin-like fuel that was seeping out of every seam of the fuselage. A serious WTF sight until one hears the reason for it. Seeing it straight on, I instantly recognized a plausible explanation for some of those frequently reported UFO sightings out in the desert back in the day.

[Gene Eric]

>> We attack submariners have many good stories, too,

“SubMareener, I show you at 17.5 knots, at sea level.”

[docman57]

I’ve had my run-ins with Naval Aviators over the years, but I do love them and it was my job to keep them airborne.....But damn it...You just can’t argue with a 71 jock! This story is awesome, and my sides now ache!!

[WMarshal]

There is an SR 71 blackbird on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson Arizona, next to the boneyard:

http://aztecpressonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Pg-14-Boneyard.jpg

[jamaksin]

Mach 3+ you say.

Of course, lest we forget, there was this North American thingy called the X-15 ...

[PIF]

So a plane with a top speed of 1,190 mph could catch a plane idling at 1900mph and capable of doing well over 2,283 mph? A plane able to outrun SAMs over Libya?

[Squantos]

That needs to be shared often ....:o)

[odawg]

Tom Clancy said that when SR-71 was revealed to the public, it only meant they had something faster.

[sjm_888]

bfl

[Gaffer]

I was stationed at Kadena 69-early 71 and they ran missions west from there with what locals called the “Habu.” SR-71s named for the island snake species.

I’d watch them take off and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, they were off west climbing and out of sight. When they landed, they came in from the west up high and did a deep slope 360 to land. Amazing plane.

[Right Wing Assault]

I saw an SR-71 in flight twice in one day in 1972. Once as it flew low and slow to do a fly-by at a nearby air show and again as it flew back home a few minutes later.

It reminded me of a dragster someone was trying to drive legal speed through a school zone.

[mad_as_he$$]

One of the things that never gets reported is that there is a network of radio monitors manned by civilians that monitors many frequencies around Area 51. I have heard recordings of stuff they have captured and it is interesting to say the least. A few communications along the lines of this story.

I visit NAS Fallon on a regular basis, home of the Navy Top Gun school. I always have a scanner on and recording when we go out there. Record some strange stuff.

I tend to believe the OP. The speed the Blackbird was going was not close to the classified speed and is the declassified max speed of an F-15. Altitude - different story.

[urbanpovertylawcenter]

Spoke to a retired U2 pilot at the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola Fl, said after one mission from Asia to America, he ran out of fuel over Michigan and when I asked where he landed he calmly replied, “Texas.”

Cool.

[Bryanw92]

>>We attack submariners have many good stories, too, and someday they might even declassify our missions so we can tell them.

Yeah, but no one ever believes us. Unless they have their own set of dolphins.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Thanks. Somewhat cheaper than $700.

[bIlluminati]

Cool. I made it as far as the LBJ Ranch (not the one in Texas) one Christmas (winter of love), but was west of Tri Province area in time for Chinese New Year. (No, I’m not John F’n Kerry.)

[Gargantua]

You squid have a fish that’ll do over 1,800 knots across the ground? Impressive...

[bIlluminati]

I dunno. I heard the shuttle had the aerodynamic quality of Iraq. Or an ICED - Inter Continental Exploding Device.