How slow can an SR 71 fly ?... A short story

a reply to: HarryJoy

SR-71 and A-12 losses

a reply to: Zaphod58

Damb! Thats pretty wild.

.ever venture into boston on leave? Id imagine outside of work new hampshire runs out of entertaining things to do on the days off

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Many times. In fact we left from Logan when we headed back to Hickam. There was a World Airways DC-10 sitting across the tarmac that had the cockpit sitting on the ground in front of it when we left.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Grrrrrr logan. They made me layover overnight and stay in some place called the microtel in Pittsburgh everytime a milimeter of snow landed in the runway.

Another time im waitimg to disembark my flight. Im in the back so im still on the plane for a while so i look out the window and watch the luggage crew take my case holding my 5000 dollar bass. The one with all the fragile stickers on it and toss it from the hatch to the ground. Didnt even bother putting it on the belt that unloades it.

But damn i liked the north end and the italian food.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thanks for posting that info....the one that surprised me the most was the one that was lost due to not being able to maintain speed during it's climb....apparently they carry so much fuel that they are actually almost overloaded until they burn some off....knowing that makes the slow speed pass even more remarkable because they had just finished fueling before making their flyby.

a reply to: HarryJoy

She was a bitch at slow speed. IIRC they found the best way to plug into the boom was with one engine in the lowest stage of afterburner.

a reply to: iTruthSeeker

we may not have anything now, they may be relying on secret satellites for their spying needs instead of fast high flying aircraft.
when the shuttles were still flying it seemed like every other flight was a secret military payload.

a reply to: Tardacus

I hear there is a nice gal who glows a certain color who likes to come out sometimes at night. Don't blink though, she moves fast.

a reply to: HarryJoy

That was such an awesome story.

Thank you kindly for posting it.

I always love hearing blackbird pilots talk about the plane. my favorite part is when they are asked what the top speed was and occasionally youll see them have to check themselves and say the declassified top speed, but u can tell those guys have gone far faster then that

a reply to: Tardacus

Negative.

Satellites can't be everywhere. And most times people know when they are overhead so they just hide stuff they don't want us to see.

A spy plane is necessary.

a reply to: Tardacus

There may not be a high speed aircraft flying that we know about, but the U-2, RQ-4, RQ-170, RC-135 and others do a pretty good job at picking up most of the slack.

My old man was with the RCAF in the 80's and early 90's as a Nav. He'll occasionally mention that there's been talk of closer to Mach 4. Whether that's just airforce scuttlebutt, who knows.

That reminds me of a story my aunt from Calgary tells. Her and her husband were in Hawaii on vacation and were talking to a group of people around dinner. The was a couple and a gentlemen who had mentioned he was USAF, but didn't specify anymore. The man in the couple was telling my aunt and uncle that he had his private pilot's license and all the harrowing adventures that had happened. After a while this same guy asked what the airforce guy did, and may aunt said, "he just says likes it's nothing 'I just got off a tour with the SR-71, you may have heard of it.'".

a reply to: HarryJoy

I love that story...I have that and the "Speed check" story saved in my bookmarks. I love to read them again and again.

I love hearing stories about the SR-71, thanks for sharing.

I remember being told a story by a family friend who was a BA Captain. He said that they were in a holding pattern and coming into land at LHR from a long haul flight from the US back in the 80s. Very brief chatter over the radio went something along the lines that an SR-71 was supposed to have landed or been landing somewhere for an air show in the UK but in a few brief seconds had over shot the UK and were told they were over the North Sea so had to go out over Denmark, turn round and try again.

MR

Trying to find the article.
But it goes on to say the SR-71 is so fast that on recon over Siberia the pilots would do laps around the North Pole and would see the sun raise and set multiple times a day. Not sure the accuracy of the story but with speeds like this it sounds likely.

If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outfly the missile.

I so thoroughly enjoyed this thread I did......

I had never heard the slow speed aspect of it that is a truly awesome story

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Tardacus

There may not be a high speed aircraft flying that we know about, but the U-2, RQ-4, RQ-170, RC-135 and others do a pretty good job at picking up most of the slack.

Apparently nobody will confirm or deny the RQ-180? If it exists it's supposed to have better capabilities than the RQ-170.

My favorite sr71 story is the one where the pilots were returning to the uk from an overflight of Iran. They without permission overflew france without clearance.

Suddenly a pair of french intercept jets show up on the 71s wing demanding their
Authorization clearance to be flyng over france.

While the copilot was fumbling looking for an excuse hes slammed into the back of his seat as the 71 hits full afterburner and leaves the french jets in its wake with the pilot saying "dont worry i just gave them our authorization"

Turns out he had given them the middle finger and then hit afterburner on them.

Fitting too especially with the history of the origens of giving the middle finger. being it origionally was a uk longbowsmans insult to the french soldiers when they were waring..

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Lol... when I used to play D&D we initiated combat the same way.

"I give them the finger and roll initiative."