Posted on 06/21/2005 9:40:49 PM PDT by kristinn
WASHINGTON, June 21 - A U-2 spy plane crashed Tuesday night in Southwest Asia, the Defense Department announced, specifying an area where American aircraft support missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The crash is the first of a U-2 in that region. Military officials who have been briefed on the crash said early indications were that the plane crashed on landing at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, its home base. The were no indications of hostile fire, they said.
The cause of the crash and status of the pilot are not known, the Pentagon said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
What pterional said. With modern optics and digital imaging, the SR-71 has become obsolete and with each flight costing well over $1.5 million, it was and easy decision to make. The U-2 however, flies much slower, uses much less fuel, can use standard JP-4 or JP-5 for fuel, and requires much less maintenance.
Also, the Aurora or X-47 as I think it is called, is an unmanned jet that will fly even faster than the Blackbird.
I don't know, and probably couldn't say!
I was at the Reno Air Races, maybe 15 years ago, when the SR-71 was known about, but virtually no one had seen one in person, or had seen one fly.
The air show was going on between races, and the SR arrived in the airspace, perhaps 10k feet agl, directly over the airport. The whole crowd of thousands jumped to their feet and started craning their eyes straight up and pointing at the Blackbird. The poor aerobatic guy doing his act was completely ignored as everyone followed the SR as it orbited the field waiting for the airspace to clear.
He did a nice pass and lit the burners. I've never seen an airshow crowd so jazzed up by an airplane in my life. It was like seeing a legend for the first time.
I'm going to put this message on the back window of my truck.
"Tax Paying Legal United States Citizen"
Either that or;
"Gomez"
Which do you like best?
How about: "Gomez Was Not A Tax Paying Legal United States Citizen, So I Shot Him"
I like that!
Actually the one at SMoF in Birmingham is an A12. That is the single seat forerunner to the SR71. I didn't mean to mislead.
as long as she's slower than me...:)
Here is one on display at the Strategic Air and Space Museum, about 5 miles from my house.
http://www.sr-71.org/photogallery/blackbird/17964/
Anybody have a confirmation of the previous post that the pilot was killed?
I may have been at that year's races.
I try to go every year but I did miss a few when I was stationed overseas.
I was stationed at Beale in 81-84 and got to see the SR-71 in action. Very cool airplane. Seemed like it always left at 4AM and you could watch the plane, on a clear night, until the afterburner glow disappeared over the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Thanks - with that said - why not use sats? My thinking is that our spies in the skies are not always orbiting where we want them when we want them. Sad to hear this brave pilot died.
My recollection is that the SR-71 max landing weight is pretty close to empty weight plus some fumes, and it flies right about in the coffin corner where stall speed meets transonic buffet.
"My thinking is that our spies in the skies are not always orbiting where we want them when we want them."
Right. And satellites have only a finite amount of fuel that they would rather reserve for staying in orbit rather than changing their orbit. Also, satellites have a known orbit time and flight path. The smart terrorist knows these schedules and knows when to move and when to stay hidden. On the other hand, a U-2 can show up at any time and be so high that you can't see or hear them.
I was at the Rose Bowl in 2003 and we had a B2, F117 and the F/A-22 Raptor perform a low pass after the National Anthem....
Same effect on the crowd.... Totally JAZZED!!!
Yes. It has been reported that the pilot was killed.
He was from the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing.
Our high school had a "Miss Poplarity" in honor of the girl who gave the most wood.
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