Earlier today business partner Jim Bennett passed this SR-71 story along to me.
Mach 3.5 at 80,000 MSL… It just makes me go all quivery inside.
Not a single SR-71 was scrapped: every last one has been given an honoured and well-cared for retirement.
Photo: copyright Dale Amon, All Rights Reserved
It is a crying shame that these beautiful creatures should be grounded (if indeed they all are, are there any still flying?). They belong in the air, on the ground they just look ungainly and out of place.
Of course those carrier landings at high Mach numbers were murder…
Sorry to get all pedantic on you, but if that in the plane that’s on the Intrepid in New York, then its an A-12 and not an SR-71.
BTW do you know if the story is true about LBJ getting the designation backwards. It was supposed to be the RS-71 but after the President refered to it as the SR-71 they were stuck with that?
If you read the linked story they scotch that myth!
Beautiful indeed. I especially liked the comment “I pulled the throttles to idle just south of Sicily, but we still overran the refueling tanker awaiting us over Gibraltar”.
Didn’t realise that the one on display in Duxford is the only one outside the US. Yeah! I went to the airsho there and spent most of my time inside gazing at this instead.
My brother LtColTom Smith was one of the elite 153 persons who ever flew the Blackbird. One story I recall is him leaving Florida and arriving at Palmdale 2 hours before he left.Seemed strange but with the time differance the actual flying time was appx 61 minutes. Trust me friends that is quick.