Who else likes SR-71?

I feel like such a poser listening to them, but I find their music to be so catchy.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pjgBAG6Qk6k

 

One of my favorite roads:  http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q =SR-71,+Florida,+United+States&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&am p;sspn=33.29802,59.238281&ie=UTF8&cd=1&ll=30.356 286,-85.168762&spn=1.132859,1.851196&z=9&iwloc=a ddr&om=1

 

Total crap.

DeTrevni wrote: Gotta be my favorite plane.

Looks like the bat-mobile.

Well, sure. The plane was basically one large experiment. The plane came out in 1968. The technology used was very sophisticated for the era. It simply was beyond it's time. If I'm not mistaken, this was one of the first to use radar absorbing materials. Had they improved upon the plane before the advent of spy satellites, it would have been a staple in operatios now days. I mean, mach 3 in 1968? It was only recently stripped of its air speed record.

Edited by DeTrevni - 28 June 2007 at 10:45pm

DeTrevni wrote: Well, sure. The plane was basically one large experiment. The plane came out in 1968. The technology used was very sophisticated for the era. It simply was beyond it's time. If I'm not mistaken, this was one of the first to use radar absorbing materials. Had they improved upon the plane before the advent of spy satellites, it would have been a staple in operatios now days. I mean, mach 3 in 1968? It was only recently stripped of its air speed record.

Mach 3.4 was simply the number they put out in the official de-classified reports.  Everyone I've talked to in the airforce, since it's "official retirement" said that they believe the real top speed was closer to Mach 4. 

There are still some Black Birds in use, and the A-12(I think?) is used by nasa as a training tool.

Well, not quite the same plane, but basically.  The SR seated one or two, depending on the model, in the standard jetfighter layout.

The A-12 was more like a rocket, in the semi circle/airbus layout.  

Avro Arrow = Me crying (probably would have been faster than the sr-71 anyways)

It was stripped of it's record long ago (x-15)

But that's only if you count the x-15 (as it was more of a manned rocket than a plane anyways)

Now that we're talking x planes, the x-43 is my god.

I disagree with the statement that it would be used today. There is no need to spend the money and manpower to upkeep and fly a plane like a sr-17 in iraq. Now we have aircraft like the predator that are flown out of a trailer and are extremely cost effective for the mission.

usafpilot07 wrote: carl_the_sniper wrote: Avro Arrow = Me crying (probably would have been faster than the sr-71 anyways) It was stripped of it's record long ago (x-15) But that's only if you count the x-15 (as it was more of a manned rocket than a plane anyways) Now that we're talking x planes, the x-43 is my god. I disagree with the statement that it would be used today. There is no need to spend the money and manpower to upkeep and fly a plane like a sr-17 in iraq. Now we have aircraft like the predator that are flown out of a trailer and are extremely cost effective for the mission. The entire x-series were used by the USAF to help NASA(or it's outer boundaries) in testing rocket thrust.  Plus, the main rockets used to power the planes were closer to the booster rockets on the space shuttle than anything.The real advance is things like the F22/JSF flying at above the sound barrier without afterburners.

Um... no, the X series is very general.

Funny you should mention it because the F-35 JSF was once an x-plane.