These guys were ahead of their time.... 
Posted on 03/06/2006 5:59:51 AM PST by DesScorp
These guys were ahead of their time....
Yeah, I also thought they could be fixed.
I was looking over the Blackbird here in DC and tried to explain to my son McNamara's decision to destroy the manufacturing tooling. The words "Petulant A55" came to mind.
Regards.
I dont really get why we haven't yet mastered the "2-stage to orbit" technique and aren't doing it regularly by now.
There must be more to it that I don't know. Seems like it would be the next most logical step to space. Take off like an airplane, fly as high as you can and rocket-boost into orbit.
Why aren't see seeing this happen? I'm just curious.
I could be wrong but I would not consider the SR-71 as a comprise aircraft.
"I could be wrong but I would not consider the SR-71 as a comprise aircraft."
Nor do I..the Blackbird was of the same ear as the XB-70, so that's not what I meant. I meant the B-1, F-16, F-14...all excellent planes in their own way, but all built with reduced expectations. The B-1 was a third slower, the Falcon was built to be an El Cheapo "produced in large numbers" plane, the Tomcat was a big compromise with an analog radar and crappy tf-30 engines. Let's not even get into the F-111 program...
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