Posted on 03/07/2008 4:27:01 AM PST by MNJohnnie
So I've been told, but *usually* by folks, including one or two my cousins, who by their own actions are dumber than posts. Of course a couple of those cousins are smarter than they act, and maybe even than they know, they're just ignorant.
Current company not included of course. :)
3600 seconds in one hour divided by 1.6 seconds per mile = 2250 mph
...
I was home that day (lived maybe 40 miles from the coast in Kalifornia) and heard the sonic boom. IIRC, it took off from Edwards, flew out over the coast around Ventura, then turned back east and put the hammer down.
I remember reading another account written by a Blackbird pilot where he describes the almost God-like feeling he got from being able to make the sun rise and set by just nudging the throttle.
I was privileged enough to work as a pre-mission programmer for the SR-71 for 5 years in the mid-late 80’s stationed at Beale. The sleds would sit it the burn-off pad after returning from missions and run out remaining fuel — the entire base would shake as that magnificent bird lit up the California night sky with blue flames. I loved to sit on my porch up in housing and watch the burn offs.
This is great. I had a professor who had clearance and was the worlds leading expert on hyperspace travel. He accidentally let it out in class that the Blackbird had crossed over Mach 6...before he told us to forget he just said that.
hypersonic not hyperspace...
We lived in a small town in the high Sierra just East of Beale and would hear the Blackbirds coming in on approach to land.
I called it rolling thunder as you would never actually see the plane, just the deep rumble as it made it’s way home.
Many years later, after the Blackbird was retired, my father ended up working at the Pima air museum near Tucson. After visiting hours were over he took me on a private tour and I was able to get an up close look at this magnificent plane.
It is and always will be one of the highlights of my life and one of my fondest memories of time spent with Dad before he died.
Cheers,
knewshound
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