SR71 Blackbird: The Fastest Plane On Earth

[feltspanky]

15 Fascinating Facts About The SR-71 Blackbird, The Fastest Plane On Earth | HistoryInOrbit.com | Page 13

[apipeguy]

There is an SR71B at the Air Zoo in my town, quite something to stand next to and look at.

[BobH]

Yea, she's quite the bird especially considering when she was built.

Bob

[rhensley]

I got to see them take off and land when I was in Okinawa in 1971 or 72 can't really remember the year. I was in the air force at the time. beautiful bird.

[Orville]

I remember when one came to the CNE Air Show. I was delivering newspapers at the time, so it would have been between 75 and 81, likely closer to the end of that period. Just remember hearing the noise and seeing that great triangular shape come screaming low over the houses. AWESOME sight.

[prodigy]

I just love the fact is was designed and built using U.S. Customery Units, not S.I. I wish I could have seen them in action, the technology is mind boggling!

[BobH]

I remember reading a book on Victor Belenko who defected to the west in a Mig 25 Foxbat. I recall him saying that if they were lucky enough to get in a stern chase on an SR71, both going flat out, even firing air to air missiles at the SR71 they could not tag it. The Mig 25 is no speed slouch in it's own right Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . I believe he also mentioned that the radar on the Mig 25 was powerful enough that if they radiated it on the ground it would kill wild life on/near the runway they were using to take off from. Interesting man and story.

Bob

[JDM61]

The REALISTIC top speed of a Mig 25 loaded for combat was not faster than Mach 2.8 and it could not sustain that speed for very long. When Belenko defected, we also discovered that the Mig 25 was a tad primitive and a real pig that used a lot of steel in its construction when most planes were aluminum or titanium. They supposedly also had to rebuild the engines after a run like that. His experience in trying to tail chase an SR-71 is probably a pretty good indicator that they plane would not have been successful in its intended mission of change and shooting down a B-70.

The trick with the SR-71, aside from being an unintentional stealth plane, was that it used exotic JP-7 fuel and borane igniter but not crazy high energy fuel like the boron based "zip" fuel used by the XB-70 in it afterburners AND that the turbojet engines functioned as ramjets above a certain speed. .

I remember reading a book on Victor Belenko who defected to the west in a Mig 25 Foxbat. I recall him saying that if they were lucky enough to get in a stern chase on an SR71, both going flat out, even firing air to air missiles at the SR71 they could not tag it. The Mig 25 is no speed slouch in it's own right Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . I believe he also mentioned that the radar on the Mig 25 was powerful enough that if they radiated it on the ground it would kill wild life on/near the runway they were using to take off from. Interesting man and story.

Bob

[BobH]

The REALISTIC top speed of a Mig 25 loaded for combat was not faster than Mach 2.8 and it could not sustain that speed for very long. When Belenko defected, we also discovered that the Mig 25 was a tad primitive and a real pig that used a lot of steel in its construction when most planes were aluminum or titanium. They supposedly also had to rebuild the engines after a run like that. His experience in trying to tail chase an SR-71 is probably a pretty good indicator that they plane would not have been successful in its intended mission of change and shooting down a B-70.

The trick with the SR-71, aside from being an unintentional stealth plane, was that it used exotic JP-7 fuel and borane igniter but not crazy high energy fuel like the boron based "zip" fuel used by the XB-70 in it afterburners AND that the turbojet engines functioned as ramjets above a certain speed. .

Not disputing the Migs short comings but still it was at the time the second fastest plane in the world and it illustrates just how fast the SR71 was. Oth the SR71 was never intended as an interceptor, was never in operattional service in multiple squadron strength and could not be maintained by a Siberian draftee. I don't think the USSR did that badly at all considering that.

Bob

[Orville]

Russians ALWAYS favoured brute force over finesse, anyway.