Speed Is Life: The "question I'm most often asked is 'How fast would that SR-71 fly?'"

Plane & Pilot Magazine ^ | Brian Shul, former U.S. Air Force SR-71 "Blackbird" pilot

[EnjoyingLife]

So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, "What was the slowest you ever flew in the Blackbird?" This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following.

[Ro_Thunder]

I saw this picture back in Nov '09 here at FR. /sniff, sniff

[Western Phil]

You might find this interesting: http://www.hmhfp.info/SG_09E.html

[chaosagent]

Mach 3 plus.The exact speed was classified.

---

I remember reading a quote from one SR-71 pilot that they really didn’t know how fast it would fly.

Whenever they wanted to set a new record, they just flew a little faster.

But at full power, with the engines in “ramjet” mode, the plane would just go faster and faster until the engine blew up.

So they never flew full throttle for very long.

[doorgunner69]

But at full power, with the engines in “ramjet” mode, the plane would just go faster and faster until the engine blew up.

I read anything and everything about aircraft as a kid. Was always fascinated by ramjets and the "faster they go, the faster they go" aspect.

Of course, as a kid, was not concerned about heat, getting the thing up to the minimum operating speed, etc.

Some day I'll try to root out a good description of how the SR-71 engines worked. Never seen it yet.

[chaosagent]

But at full power, with the engines in “ramjet” mode, the plane would just go faster and faster until the engine blew up.

---

I read anything and everything about aircraft as a kid. Was always fascinated by ramjets and the “faster they go, the faster they go” aspect.

Of course, as a kid, was not concerned about heat, getting the thing up to the minimum operating speed, etc.

Some day I’ll try to root out a good description of how the SR-71 engines worked. Never seen it yet.

---

Wikipedia has a pretty good article on the SR-71 and its engines here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR-71_Blackbird#Engines

[pasodave]

Not very good crew coordination. As a former F4 GIB I made sure I kept a good cross check of alt and air speed when the AC was fixated on finding something outside the cockpit. They both let the situation get away from them.

[OneWingedShark]

Awesome story; thank you for posting it.

[commish]

I was assigned to the 9th SRW as an SR-71 premission programmer and had the pleasure of knowing Brian Shue. I don’t remember Walt, but Brian was probably the least pretentious pilot I ever met during my entire career in the AF. Maybe having survived that crash in Vietnam is what made him appreciate every day and every person in his life.

I was deployed to Kadena when the SR-71 stationed there crashed off the Phillipines. Was part of the recovery crew. We salvaged over 80% of the data collected on that flight. I worked for almost 40 hours pulling data from the mission tapes one bit at a time. This was after the technicians had spent almost 3 days drying and preserving the tapes after they were brought up from the bottom of the Pacific.

[FourPeas]

Great story.

[PLMerite]

“They both let the situation get away from them.”

True, but like they say - It’s not an adventure until something goes wrong.

[doorgunner69]

Thanks for the link. Smithsonian Air & Space magazine’s web site supposedly had a good video animation showing the shock cone movement and internals, but I never found it.