The coolest spy plane ever built, SR-71.

Various ^ | 2-5-05

[Indy Pendance]

The coolest spy plane ever built, SR-71. I was watching Modern Marvels on the History channel last night. This aircraft broke all kinds of international speed and altitude records which still have not been beaten today. It was nothing for them to fly at 80,000 feet and it was a piece of cake to fly at about mach 3, or about 2100 mph. For those of you old enough, remember the sonic boom days? About 750 miles would create a sonic boom, or a doppler effect.

Here's the question, this plane was so fast, it was faster than the earth's rotation. What would happen with time over a long sustainable period of flying time? If it goes faster than the earth's rotation long enough, will it be ahead of time when it lands, or likewise in the opposite direction, will it go back in time. Do you think Einstein has an answer? Saturday night ponderings.

[injin]

my Daddy helped design and build this aircraft .
he is still proud of it and I'm proud of him....

[Prophet in the wilderness]

I heard they had to use very close tolerances on that plane.
I have many magazines, and a video of that plane.
Kelly Johnson was one talented cookie.

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

The late Kelly Johnson is still a genius...

[ThomasPaine2000]

1. They way I heard it(in the 60's) was, It was a U-2 over Alaska and the ATC was Christmas Island in the Pacific.
2. I also saw the program, what interested me was the Lockheed D-21 drone that the SR-71 launched on recon missions over China. This was new..

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

Yeah, right!:-)

[PAR35]

I believe the original designation when they looked at it as an interceptor was YF-14.

No, YF-12. See also the earlier A-12 (and even earlier A-11) version (not to be confused with the naval program with the same A-=12 designation three decades later).
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/YF-12/HTML/
http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/sr-71.htm

[Connie Cardullo]

Directing a question, yes. I only want to be sure nobody is stressing themselves over where a FR thread goes.

Life's too short, and FR is too free for that. :)

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

The Lorentz Transformation...

[Fred Hayek]

Top speed of the Blackbird is still officially "Mach 3+". Actual top speed is still classified - and that's with the plane now out of service!

[Prophet in the wilderness]

They had many problems with the " common " manufacturing process using titanium, and they had to basically come up with new production methods and processes to build that plane.
Still, its incredible, that the USA, had even that kind of tech back in the late 50s early 60's.

[ErnBatavia]

will it be ahead of time when it lands, or likewise in the opposite direction, will it go back in time

Does this count?: A half dozen years ago, I departed Perth for Sydney at 11:40 pm Thursday on the redeye...landed in Sydney around 6 am Friday, and spent about five hours in the airport,then departing for Honolulu. Ever so slowly, it rolled back to Thursday during that nine hour segment and I landed in Hono at 11:00 pm Thursday - by the clock,I got there before I left Perth!

[Tommyjo]

CIA pilot Dennis Sullivan flying a Blackbird (A-12) on 30 Oct 1967 was targetted by SA-2s over North Vietnam. A piece of missile fragment was found in the wing fillet area on post flight inspection. The Blackbirds weren't immune to SAMs. The latter Soviet SAMs (S-300 family) had the performance and parameters to intercept targets such as the SR-71.

[rs79bm]

What would happen with time over a long sustainable period of flying time? If it goes faster than the earth's rotation long enough, will it be ahead of time when it lands, or likewise in the opposite direction, will it go back in time. Do you think Einstein has an answer? Saturday night ponderings.

I was hoping to spend a relaxing evening but now you really got me burning calories.

[djf]

I admit, I'm not in the mood to take my camping gear and .22 rifle and try to cross the fence...

[Prophet in the wilderness]

The US got most of the titanium metals for those planes from the Russians, but, the Russians didn't know what we were using it for, kind of like, right from under their noses.

[xjcsa]

Astronauts don't sustainably go forward or backward in time. They maintain the earth's rotation speed.

What are you talking about? The shuttle circles the earth in ninety minutes; that's 16 times the speed of the earth's rotation.

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

Well, for starters, you couldn't see anything, because the reflected or generated light from an object could never get to your eye to be interpreted as seeing something 'out there'.

[Fred Hayek]

"Before they let Spaceworks put it in thier museum The Pentagon wanted to be sure they could get it out of the Museum if they had to."

Most of the birds in the museum become museum property by way of donation from the armed services. Except for the Blackbirds. Legally they are still the property of DoD/USAF, and DO NOT THINK OF TOUCHING THE BIRD!

[Indy Pendance]

I couldn't imagine another feeling. Those pilots they interviewed, wow. Can you imagine flying at 2000 mph at 80,000 feet?

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

Time is an intellectual construct of man.