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If I remember correctly, the fuel, JP-7, was specifically designed just for the "Lead Sled" and had a flash point around 700 F.... the fuel was pumped through the leading edge of the wings, cooling the edge and preheating the fuel.

The funny corrigated look of the aircrafts skin was from the contraction of the frame when cooled....When the plane actually was in the air, the expansion stretched the frame and the skin smoothed out......plus, the Ti alloy was constantly being heat treated every flight and thus never suffered fatigue.

The early planes had bad fits of compressor failure when the spike in the engine intakes were not possitioned in the correct place....the problem was solved through use of electronic sensors that automatically positioned the spike.

When the plane was at cruise and altitude, the spike was positioned in such a way that the pilots could trottle back as much as 70% and still maintain cruise....the spike added so much compression to the engine that they basically had an overdrive......One of the weird little things that contributed to its awesome range....

Another tidbit, on the XB-70, the outer tips of the mains could be lower as much as 60 degrees, allowing the tips to ride on the shock wave genereated by the nose....it generated a tremendous amount of lift without adding any drag.....

Us Americans are really sneaky and bright fellows....

I see you read SiFi.....

My brother was a brain; I'm just smart enough to realize how dumb I am and how little I know.....

on the XB-70, the outer tips of the mains could be lower as much as 60 degrees, allowing the tips to ride on the shock wave genereated by the nose....it generated a tremendous amount of lift without adding any drag

I was torn up when the XB-70 went down. I was 11 and remember the dramatic photos of the accident (google pulls them up immediately). To this day it still sticks with me as a great tragedy, both for the people involved and for aviation in general. The XB-70 was quite a bird.

As to riding shock waves, I believe the tales that say the SR-71 was allowed to retire, not because satellites were a sufficient replacement, but because the Skunkworks had several other craft already in the air (or above it). The one that sounds the most plausible to me is the Aurora pulse engine driven shock wave rider. They even featured that one on JAG, which gets lots of DOD cooperation, so I bet it's close to being revealed. I wouldn't be surprised if that episode was done at the instigation of the DOD to spook Kim Jung Il, whether Aurora is real or not.

Kelly Johnson always had at least one more design hidden in the wings, waiting to go.