SR71 History and Photos.

[RealNeil]

The SR71 was one of the most advanced Air Frames ever built.

Here is a page devoted to it with a lot of rare Pics.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/rare-phot...ts-amazing-his-1670184930/+kcampbelldollaghan

 

[v12dock]

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/5511236/the-thrill-of-flying-the-sr-71-blackbird

"The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit."

 

[W1zzard]

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/favorite-sr-71-story-1079127041

 

[Solaris17]

nuts. have you read some of the comments? imagine outrunning a missile. Jesus.

 

[Batou1986]

must be SR71 time of the year
http://www.codeonemagazine.com/article.html?item_id=153

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I've seen two: One at SAC and one in New Mexico. I think it still holds the record for fastest jet powered manned aircraft (2,193.16 mph).

 

[v12dock]

http://www.vfp62.com/SR-71_flyby.html

Another good story

 

[RealNeil]

nuts. have you read some of the comments? imagine outrunning a missile. Jesus.

During the late nineties, a group that I was associated with devised a new way to propel missiles. The design eliminated the fuel pump, thus making it lighter, and allowing for more fuel to be added to it.
The result was almost twice the range and 1.5 times the speed. This newer design was still not as fast as the Blackbird.

 

[RealNeil]

The Driver's Seat

 

[FordGT90Concept]

It's not only the speed, it's the altitude. It takes a lot of fuel for a rocket to reach 80,000 feet and to catch up to an aircraft moving a mile every 2 seconds. A big enough rocket can do it but bigger means more expensive and anti-air missiles are one-use only. The SR-71 was cost-prohibitive to engage.

 

[twilyth]

In theory you could probably use a ballistic missile, assuming that the bird would fly over all 13 Russian time zones (or however many there are). But even then, my guess is that during the time it was in service, the Russians didn't have the ability to aim them precisely enough. I'd always heard that's why they tended to have nukes with a larger yield than US nukes - because their targeting wasn't nearly as accurate.

 

[rooivalk]

In theory you could probably use a ballistic missile, assuming that the bird would fly over all 13 Russian time zones (or however many there are). But even then, my guess is that during the time it was in service, the Russians didn't have the ability to aim them precisely enough. I'd always heard that's why they tended to have nukes with a larger yield than US nukes - because their targeting wasn't nearly as accurate.

Basically every russian doctrine ever, be it small arms, missile, tank, ship, or anything. No need to be accurate, just spam it.

Development of missile such as R33 in later years made SR71 life difficult though.

 

[qubit]

Wow those are some awesome photos.

 

[HammerON]

The Driver's Seat

View attachment 60986

WOW!!!
Not much else I can say

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Development of missile such as R33 in later years made SR71 life difficult though.

Which is why I still suspect the Aurora is real and it replaced the SR-71 in the 90s. The Aurora had stealth features from the Nighthawk making it more difficult for self-guiding RADAR missiles to track and it operates somewhere around mach 6 compared to the R33's mach 4.5. It is even more costly to engage than the SR-71. I suspect the Aurora is in danger of being obsoleted by drones.