SR-71 doing it right

[02stu]

"One day, high above Arizona , we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. 'Ninety knots,' ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. 'One-twenty on the ground,' was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was 'Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,' ATC responded. The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walter's mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, ' Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.' We did not hear another transmis sion on that frequency all the way to the coast."

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

[M-technik-3]

For the record the last day the SR-71 flew for the USAF it broke the transcontinental record that it had previous officially set. Kinda funny breaking the record on the day it's retiring huh?

To expensive of a plane to continue to maintain was it's demise and the increased reliance on satellites. Awesome aircraft to watch. NASA was flying one for a short period but has since transitioned to the TR-1.

[Huff]

Ahhh.. The hay days of the cold war. I worked with a guy that did technical drawings for repair manuals on the SR-71. Man, the stories he had. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be around the skunk works crew in those days (with their unlimited budget).

[abepark]

That was a good read, incredible machine.

[Nic01101011]

an awesome pic

[FreedS4]

an awesome pic

I would have to agree!

[yberther]

Oh the shenanigans you could pull in the 80's :D

I highly recommend Skunk Works to anyone who likes reading about the funny things they did back then.

Sweet picture by the way.

[Midnight Sun]

When I was a little tyke I had a chance to sit in one of those. And I was soooo afraid of the ejection seat handle that I refused. My dad made me do it saying I would regret it later. Happy I sat my little ass down in it.

[mrsleeve]

I have read that entire story several times its a good read every time.

Yeah one of the finest aircraft ever built, and all with out CAD, and with slide rule.