ManLife - SR-71 Blackbird: The Fastest Plane Ever Built | FerrariChat

ManLife SR-71 Blackbird: The Fastest Plane Ever Built

Discussion in 'Social Media' started by rob lay, Feb 6, 2021.

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  1. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
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    Southlake, TX
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    Rob Lay
  2. BMW.SauberF1Team

    BMW.SauberF1Team F1 World Champ

    Dec 4, 2004
    14,244
    I love that Sled Driver story in the article with the speed check...my favorite plane by far. I've been fortunate to see about 1/3 of the ones remaining in existence and oddly enough most of them have been A12s.

    Last year I finally was able to buy that book after searching for the right one and it even has the original box it was shipped with. Awesome read.

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  3. Gary Sandberg

    Gary Sandberg Formula Junior

    For an in-depth review by a former pilot of the SR-71 and Squadron Commander, read Col. Richard H. Graham's book: ":The complete book of the SR-71 Blackbird".

    Many cars have been patterned in that motif - most notably the Pontiac Trans Am GTA.
     
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  4. plastique999

    plastique999 F1 Veteran
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    Nov 9, 2008
    8,539
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    Edward
    I remember building the model as a kid...amazing design!


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  5. Hocakes

    Hocakes Formula Junior

    Apr 24, 2010
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    FL
  6. vrooom

    vrooom Formula Junior

    Jan 29, 2007
    448
    museum of flight here in seattle has a blackbird . ( enclosed picture of my murray super sonic jet pedal car done as the blackbird. murray made them from mid 50's to mid 60's as "jet age " pedal cars. ) Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
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  7. jimpo1

    jimpo1 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 30, 2001
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    Jim E
    I love the Sled Driver story of them flying over Libya. Sometime in the mid-80’s I saw one at an air show in Oklahoma City. I met a friend at the airport early the next morning to watch it take off. Right after the wheels were off the ground, the pilot hit the throttle and basically went straight up. I’ll never forget it.
     
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  8. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    May 27, 2004
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    Sean
    Im curious. The a12 was not around very long, where as the follow on SR71 lasted a long time why was that. Was the A12 defcient somehow.
     
  9. Gary Sandberg

    Gary Sandberg Formula Junior

    My understanding is that the A12 was slightly better performance wise, but the SR71 had a greater crusing range as well as better intelligence gathering capability.

    There may also have been some "jealousy" in that the A12 pilots were all CIA and not Air Force. A bit of a thorn-in-the side perhaps that the ultimate performance aircraft was not Air Force. That changed with the SR71.
     
  10. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    Feb 15, 2008
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    wallace wyss
    They used to have a Blackbird Day at various bases. I went to the one at March AFB in Riverside a few years ago twice. They had several of the former pilots, including one old man in a wheelchair. I think he was the first pilot. Each pilot would speak for about half an hour and you had to pay extra to go to a lunch. I enjoyed the stories bout bailing out at 90,000 ft. the aborted take off, and the one where over Hanoi, five pilots arranged to cross over the same point at the same time from different directions. I imagine they broke a few windows...What book has these kinds of anecdotes? One of my favorites was from a short guy (5 ft.?) who said he was at a cocktail party of all kinds of military pilots and each one, as they went around the room , would name the plane he flew and when they got to him and he said "SR71" there was a silence as everybody took that in and then some tall pilot boomed out "No way--you're too short and too ugly to have flown a Blackbird,"
     
  11. manta22

    manta22 Karting

    Jun 6, 2011
    52
    Tucson, AZ
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    Neil P. Albaugh
    For the record, the SR-71 is NOT the fastest plane ever built. The X-15 flew higher and faster than any airplane ever built.
     
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  12. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 19, 2008
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    Terry H Phillips
    The X-15 was dropped from a B-52, was rocket powered, and had no main landing gear. Quite a bit different from an SR-71, which took off and landed under its own power on a runway. Just depends on your definition of an airplane. The Shuttle Orbiter was quite a bit faster than the X-15, around 20 Mach numbers faster, and has some features that more qualify it as an airplane than the X-15.
     
  13. manta22

    manta22 Karting

    Jun 6, 2011
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    Tucson, AZ
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    Neil P. Albaugh
  14. italia16

    italia16 Formula Junior
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    Jan 28, 2004
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    The Shuttle Orbiter is considered a spacecraft (went to orbit) while the X-15 is considered an aircraft (did not orbit but did go into the lower reaches of space, and used its nose, wing, etc thrusters to maneuver for very short periods, as well as its control surfaces, if they still had any effectiveness). Given that, the SR-71 was the fastest operational aircraft.
     
  15. JC Andruet

    JC Andruet Karting

    Jan 16, 2013
    192
    Reminds me of this :



     
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  16. Akajak1

    Akajak1 Karting

    Jun 24, 2020
    82
    UK
    I live near RAF Mildenhall/Lakenheath in Uk.
    Pre-terror days there used to be an annual air show and was always great to see the Blackbird, shame those days prob gone forever.
    Really good atmosphere, ice cold buds, burgers, friendly crowd, bril.
     
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  17. Rick Weston

    Rick Weston Karting

    Mar 6, 2019
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    Richard Weston
    When I was a kid learning how to play golf near Castle AFB in Merced, CA, the SR-71’s from Beale AFB in Marysville, CA used to do touch and go’s all the time. The SR made a vastly different sound than the other jets. My father was stationed there (93rd Air Refueling Squadron). He told me the cameras on the SR could film from as high as 80,000 feet and could identify the brand of your golf ball. Many of the pilots stationed there were car guys too.
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  18. Rick Weston

    Rick Weston Karting

    Mar 6, 2019
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    Richard Weston
    This is the Hazy air museum at Dulles airport. SR 71 with a shuttle behind it.
     
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  19. PACINO

    PACINO Karting
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    Oct 14, 2007
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    My father led the technical design development team and in 1960 gave me a scale model of this amazing aircraft, which I still have today. At that time the original classified version was actually the YF-12A, designed as an experimental interceptor to stop incoming ICBMs. He also pioneered the Sidewinder missile in 1955 at China Lake Naval Ordinance Test Station (where I was born), this air-to-air weapon is still used today on our fighter aircraft obviously with more sophisticated guidance. You can see the original A-12 at a static display at Edwards AFB.
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  20. manta22

    manta22 Karting

    Jun 6, 2011
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    Neil P. Albaugh
    Not to take anything away from the SR-71, it was a remarkable airplane. As far as the space shuttle is concerned, on launch it was a piggyback on a rocket; on re-entry it was a glider. A spacecraft, not an airplane. Both the X-15 and SR-71 could perform maneuvers such as climb, dive, roll, accelerate, etc. The X-15 was almost TWICE as fast as an SR-71 and the SR-71 was damned fast. The X-15 first flew in the summer of 1959, before the era of computer simulations, FEA (Finite Element Analysis), or (Computer Aided Design) - just a bunch of guys with slide rules and log tables. Great engineers! North American Aircraft and Lockheed turned out incredible airplanes.
     
  21. PACINO

    PACINO Karting
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    Oct 14, 2007
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    Still have my dad’s slide rule he used at work!
     
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  22. BMW.SauberF1Team

    BMW.SauberF1Team F1 World Champ

    Dec 4, 2004
    14,244
    I think they just call it the fastest "air breathing" aircraft in the world. X15 is rocket powered. Shuttle is assisted on launch (3 main engines on it + 2 SRBs). etc
     
  23. manta22

    manta22 Karting

    Jun 6, 2011
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    Tucson, AZ
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    Neil P. Albaugh
    An ME163 was also rocket powered. Does this make it not an airplane. Propulsion technology is not a criteria for being an airplane.
     
  24. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 19, 2008
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    Terry H Phillips
    Pilots on some X-15 flights qualified for astronaut wings, so apparently really high altitude is not a qualification for an airplane either. We are just getting into semantics here. If you think the Shuttle Orbiter was just gliding stably during reentry, you have some research to do. The ME-163 took off and landed under its own power, even if it did jettison its MLG, so easily qualifies as an airplane. No RCS, either.

    Just dawned on me why I never read the general forums. FChat posts of the week fooled me into thinking this was in the aviation forum. Should have known better.
     
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  25. bigblock427

    bigblock427 Rookie

    Sep 26, 2015
    47
    Edmond, OK
    Full Name:
    Brent
    What an engineering marvel that plan was. Both when it was designed and in the present day.

    Long story short. I had the opportunity to meet an SR-71 pilot and see the plane up close and personal in 1998.

    If you are interested in the SR-71, I highly recommend the below book
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