The SR-71 Spy Plane Was So Fast, It Outran Every Missile Fired at It

War is Boring ^ | December 5, 2013 | Dario Leone and David Cenciotti

[C19fan]

Until Lockheed Martin finally builds the SR-72 Mach-6 spy plane it announced in November, the iconic SR-71 Blackbird, capable of flying three times the speed of sound, remains the fastest warplane ever flown operationally.

So fast that no missiles fired at it had a chance of hitting.

When the U-2 spy plane was built in the 1950s, its designer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson already knew that it would be vulnerable to enemy defenses.

[ken5050]

Alternatively..you can could attend a Georgia Tech football game

This flyover cost the two pilots ( Tech alums) their wings..

[ken5050]

Well said. And well even before the SR, we produced the X-15.

[IYAS9YAS]

Nice list, especially considering that I had always heard an F4 was designed to turn jet fuel into noise with flight as a mere side effect.

The F-4 is proof positive that you can make anything fly with a big enough engine.

[xone]

Better to die than sound bad on the radios.

This is true.

[Dan(9698)]

There is a misconception on anti-aircraft missiles.

They do not chase the target, they go to where the target
will be when they get there.

A Nike Hercules intercepted another Hercules and both were over 3000 MPH.

[Despot of the Delta]

The operation capacity J-58’s couldn’t be reached without the SR flying apart.

[uncommonsense]

I’ve been wanting to go there for years. You just sealed the deal!

[sarge83]

Think Saturn V. Saw Apollo 14 on the pad two days before launch God I wish I could have been there for the launch, friends said it was awesome who live near the Cape.

[bobby.223]

Great stuff!!

[backwoods-engineer]

That was a great story from Sled Driver. Thanks for posting that. I’m going to have to go back and read that book again, and remember when I was proud to be an American.

[PIF]

Maybe it didn’t fly at mach 5, but then it must not have done 3,500kts either. Just going by what others claimed it’s speed was.

Predictions are just that. Not a certainty. Maybe it will catch up at the right intersection, maybe not, Pilots have a funny way of being unpredictable in such a situation.

[PLMerite]

kts = nautical miles per hour.

[PLMerite]

“I know a retired flight traffic controller who clocked it at 3500kts. Go figure.”

3500kts is way past Mach 3. Is he sure it was an SR-71 ?

[PLMerite]

No 3500 kph (kilometers per hour) is about 2175 mph. That might be what he meant.

[PLMerite]

No = now,

[SampleMan]

We call those sea stories. A bit of exageration improves the telling.

I used to teach SAM avoidance. The inability to fly over SAM sites is what ended the B-58, the B-70, and ultimately changed the B-1A into the B-1B.

[Fast Moving Angel]

With the exception of the radio equipment that I didn’t have, you just described word for word the flyby at Edwards AFB, I think in the late 1980s. Great memory ... thanks!

[Jack Hydrazine]

Nope. He specifically said 3500 knots per hour.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Yes, it was the SR-71 he tracked on his radar.

[tomkat]

Outstanding .. thanks !    d:^)