Funny, only took me 7 mins to download it…..that’s with streaming video news in one window and a file sharing program also hogging bandwidth…….i suggest you get cable or DSL.

Considering how long it took to preflight either of the airframes of that type eg: A-12/SR-71, i doubt it would have made an effective interceptor when the crunch time came. It just didn’t have the flexibility to just fire it up and go, had to prewarm the engine oil methodically for instance. The infrastructure needed to get the things off the ground was prohibitive to TDY basing unless that all that equipment was already there and you had several hours to go through postflight and preflight ops. The start carts were just the tip of the iceberg.

Paraphrasing somewhat, i had these filed someplace but here’s a Blackbird joke.

On Mach 3 cruise over the Pacific a Sled driver requested an altitude of 60 thousand feet on his decel-decend routine to prepare for landing. The incredulous ATC asked how the hell he was going to get up to 60 thousand…..the pilot replied, “I’m not asking for clearance to get UP to 60 thousand, i’m trying to get DOWN to FL600!”

Here’s another

In his book SLED DRIVER, SR-71/Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes: I’ll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt and I were screaming across southern California 13 miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft as we enter Los Angeles Center’s airspace. Though they didn’t really control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope. I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its groundspeed. “90 knots”, Center replied. Moments later a Twin Beech required the same. “120 knots”, Center answered. We weren’t the only one proud of our speed that day as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, “Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests groundspeed readout”. There was a slight pause. “525 knots on the ground, Dusty”. Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard the familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my back-seater. It was that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison. “Center, Aspen 20, you got a groundspeed readout for us?”. There was a longer than normal pause. “Aspen, I show 1742 knots”. No further inquiries were heard on that frequency.

——

Woman Captain

As the airliner pushed back from the gate, the flight attendant gave the passengers the usual information regarding seat belts, etc. Finally, she said, “Now sit back and enjoy your trip while your captain, Judith Campbell, and crew take you safely to your destination.”

Joe, sitting in the eighth row thought to himself, “Did I hear her right? Is the captain a woman?”

When the attendants came by with the drink cart, he said, “Did I understand you right? Is the captain a woman?”

“Yes,” said the attendant, “in fact, this entire crew is female.”

“My God,” said Joe, “I’d better have two scotch and sodas. I don’t know what to think of all those women up there in the cockpit.”

“That’s another thing,” said the attendant, “We no longer call it the cockpit. Now it’s the box office.”

—–

Yea though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ..I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing!
(Sign over the entrance to the old SR-71 operating base Kadena, Japan).

Not a whole lot, it was just basically a continuation of the basic HAVE Blue design philosophy also seen in the F-117 and the cancelled Senior Prom stealth cruise missile that was cancelled…..apparently Aviation Week also have pictures of that…..i’m really keen on seeing it.

New photos of failed stealth missile

This link is brand new today.

Although not strictly part of this thread, there have been reports of a 100ft long low level supersonic aircraft that was seen late last year in the desert test range complex of Nevada. Triagle shaped, wasn’t using afterburners but was conventionally powered. The low light levels made it difficult to see much but eyewitnesses say it resembled the F-117 but much larger, and much faster.

That precision milling machine that the Russians used to quiet their sub screws was made by Toshiba, it made a big stink in the State Department and for awhile there was an official boycott of Toshiba consumer electronics from entering the US in retaliation.

The US does it all the time, they’ve bought SA-10 SAM’s to see how they can improve Patriot, they’ve borrowed and bought Russian aircraft for 60 years to examine their strength and weaknesses as weapons systems and flying platforms. As fantastic as it sounds, even if a bit exaggerated, the movie Firefox is what the US does, they don’t outright steal, but they don’t have a technological edge in every field. Any rational military complex would do the same, if there’s something that your neighbor does better than you and you have no idea how they do it…..aquire one. The US has flown Yak-23 Flora, MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-21, Su-22 Fitter, MiG-29, and even Su-27 secretly. It’s not much of a secret, you can in fact buy the film the Navy produced for pilots going to Vietnam on how to fight the MiG-21 based on their tests. It was called Throw a Nickel on the Grass.

In a way they’re very similar actually. In military jet engines which use afterburner the nozzle is shaped such that there’s a converging section, and a diverging section to expand the gases out which increases its velocity. Just in a rocket engine the expansion ratio is so much higher, and by necessity is fixed compared to the articulated nozzle of the fighter.