Posted on 07/29/2016 8:16:36 AM PDT by DFG
For 40 years it has been the fastest plane ever built, and now the crew who flew the record-breaking, speed-shattering mission have been reunited with the aircraft they once commanded, and climbed back into the cockpit. It was 1976 when U.S. Air Force pilot Maj. Gen. Eldon 'Al' Joersz and Lt. Col. George 'GT' Morgan flew a jet faster than a speeding bullet. They flew faster than anyone had done before, or since. On July 28, 1976, the two men flew a SR-71 Blackbird spy plane for more than a thousand kilometers at 2,193 miles per hour, covering one mile every 1.64 seconds, a record that still stands today.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
She’s lovely.
Nice lookin’ airplane, too.
Yeah, and there’s something nice about the bad guys knowing that you’re there and that they can’t do anything about it.
The shock waves can disrupt the airflow and "un-start" the engines, which was a rather violent event from reading Brian Schul's book.
M: One of the shuttle missions had a problem with damaged tiles.
When I was undergrad in the late 1970's early 1980's at VCU my independent research in Organic Chemistry during my Senior year was done under contract my research mentor had secured with NASA to develop the heat resistive polymers which affixed the tiles to the Space Shuttle.
FReegards!
I have laid hands on this same plane when touring the museum near Macon. To reach up and touch the fastest jet was significant and a once in a lifetime event. “2200 mph while red hot at one time and I’m touching it” – Awesome!
It was the A-12 that came first.
71s were always two seater. Recon officer behind the pilot. For the trainers, they raised the rear cockpit to give it a forward view.
I’ve read that there was some minor reshaping on the leading edges/Chines due to the extreme heating of those surfaces. Every aircraft was unique, and slightly different after each flight.
Apparently very subtle differences that only an experienced sled driver would notice.
I can’t speak to the accuracy of such, just that I’ve read it.
3500kts is ~4028mph. Is Mach a set number or does it vary with altitude, temp, and other variables?
I would imagine they save full military power for outrunning SAMs and MiG-31s.
HT, great site.
Love to see the days of American know how and can do-ism.
Not surprising, because in a couple of the pilot accounts he said he had the throttle pushed forward the entire time he entered enemy airspace. He said he saw mach numbers he never thought were possible.
Mach does vary with air temperature, but the standard definition is...
At standard sea level conditions (corresponding to a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius), the speed of sound is 340.3 m/s[4] (1225 km/h, 761.2 mph, 661.5 knots, or 1116 ft/s) in the Earth’s atmosphere. The speed represented by Mach 1 is not a constant; for example, it is mostly dependent on temperature.
Since the speed of sound increases as the ambient temperature increases, the actual speed of an object traveling at Mach 1 will depend on the temperature of the fluid through which the object is passing. Mach number is useful because the fluid behaves in a similar manner at a given Mach number, regardless of other variables. So, an aircraft traveling at Mach 1 at 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level will experience shock waves just like an aircraft traveling at Mach 1 at 11,000 m (36,000 ft) altitude at -50 °C (-58 °F), even though the second aircraft is only traveling 86% as fast as the first.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_number
Have you never seen one up close? They’re HUGE! for a 2-seat aircraft.”””
Agreed-—Don’t know what poster #3 is referring to.
I used to live in N Calif. The
SR-71 was at Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville. I used to ride my horses at Spenceville Wildlife Preserve, directly adjacent to Beale-—in those days, just a barbed wire cattle fence on the border between them.
There is an area in the northeast part of Spenceville that is elevated—called Poppy Hill by locals as the wild poppies bloom there heavily in the springtime.
A group of were riding one spring & we saw the SR-71 doing ‘touch & goes’. Fantastic example of AMERICAN engineering & ability. Purely magnificent!!! Not sure today’s college graduates could top it. It definately isn’t SMALL!!! It is also damn fast on take off.
Have you never seen one up close? They’re HUGE! for a 2-seat aircraft.”””
Agreed-—Don’t know what poster #3 is referring to.
I used to live in N Calif. The
SR-71 was at Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville. I used to ride my horses at Spenceville Wildlife Preserve, directly adjacent to Beale-—in those days, just a barbed wire cattle fence on the border between them.
There is an area in the northeast part of Spenceville that is elevated—called Poppy Hill by locals as the wild poppies bloom there heavily in the springtime.
A group of us were riding one spring & we saw the SR-71 doing ‘touch & goes’. Fantastic example of AMERICAN engineering & ability. Purely magnificent!!! Not sure today’s college graduates could top it. It definately isn’t SMALL!!! It is also damn fast on take off.
ping
Kelly Johnson, there is no substitute.
Have you never seen one up close? They’re HUGE! for a 2-seat aircraft.”””
Agreed-—Don’t know what poster #3 is referring to.
I used to live in N Calif. The
SR-71 was at Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville. I used to ride my horses at Spenceville Wildlife Preserve, directly adjacent to Beale-—in those days, just a barbed wire cattle fence on the border between them.
There is an area in the northeast part of Spenceville that is elevated—called Poppy Hill by locals as the wild poppies bloom there heavily in the springtime.
A group of us were riding one spring & we saw the SR-71 doing ‘touch & goes’. Fantastic example of AMERICAN engineering & ability. Purely magnificent!!! Not sure today’s college graduates could top it. It definately isn’t SMALL!!! It is also damn fast on take off.
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