A successful platform. Lots of fun to see one fly over.
A part of American history when the country’s hairy-chested power was on display.
Replaced by satellites.
If the SR-71 was “replaced by satellites” (and I’m not disputing that), explain why the U-2s are still flying, and why is there a Global Hawk program, etc?
Three years ago, at an air show in Mothan-Davis, both an SR-71 and a U-2 did fly overs. You could hear the SR-71 from about three time zones over and it was epic.
I did not even realize the U-2 was there till the shadow passed over the crowd and it whispered over, so quite you could hear the intake of breath from the whole airfield. I had never seen a U-2 and was totally agog by its performance.
Sound and fury have their place, but so does cunning and stealth.
Here you go:
The SR-71 Blackbird's Air Show Demo Was Both Sinister And Awkward
That plane was ahead of its time, and interesting it was built without any computers just old fashioned engineering, just amazing.