SR71 Max speed?
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unless the earth is flat..............
Owen Lucas
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So at what point will the top-secret max speed and technical specification become available?
Supposedly military documents are declassified automatically after 75 years, but I'm sure there are exemptions.
When can we expect, if ever, to learn the secrets of the SR-71? Top speed, secret missions, and other interesting tech details.
2050, 2080, 2100 or beyond?
Supposedly military documents are declassified automatically after 75 years, but I'm sure there are exemptions.
When can we expect, if ever, to learn the secrets of the SR-71? Top speed, secret missions, and other interesting tech details.
2050, 2080, 2100 or beyond?
There have already been pieces that have been declassified. This was from 2002.
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB74/
Sharp commited engineers used their onboard computers.
Many have said at 6000 MPH it was close to half throttle. So I've heard 13,000 mph for the space shuttle in re entry, that is very likely below the max 300k plus altitude that the SR would be in. I'd be guessing in the Mesosphere (plus), 12,000 mph would be attainable.
What is the real max altitude and speed for an F14? Yeah secret.
What is the real max altitude and speed for an F14? Yeah secret.
Computers existed then, but yes many things done with slide rules and the Marchants and Fridens. Those were the days of the best of the best of engineers. The ones now? With out all the info from those old timers the ones now would be lost.
Every pilot on the planet has the same thought processes.
I have been told by people in the know that loose lips sink ships. There are lots of things I would like to know but it better than I don't.
From many reliable sources the SR-71 was speed limited to mach 3.25 the A-12 3.35. I had the chance to see a presentation and meet an SR-71 pilot years ago. He lives in Colorado Springs. This is what he confirmed as well.
I seen it land when I was in Okinawa . Didnt know what it was at the time
Loose lips? Its research and logic. Must be fairly true since the topic stopped.
When I was at Butler there were a few times driving past the end of the runway at Kadena when you’d see one takeoff. No slow, gradual climbs from them.
What makes you think it is capable of 6,000 MPH at, "half throttle"? That is ridiculous. Pete Knight still holds the ultimate aircraft speed record in the X-15 at a bit over 4,500 MPH.
And that aircraft was powered by the LR-99 rocket engine that burned a ton of fuel in 11 seconds. So to say the SR-71 could achieve 1,500 MPH faster is preposterous. Let alone fly at 300,000 feet doing it.
Just research what the fat bulky space shuttle would do in a glide back to earth.
Thats what your suppose to believe, that it is ridiculous. In the high atmosphere things can go much faster due to less
air resistance, and along with that less friction and heating.
The Space Shuttle was a rocket powered glider that reentered the atmosphere from low Earth orbit.
No jet engine is capable of operating at 300,000 ft. There is all but zero air available to sustain combustion. It could not happen.
No jet engine is capable of operating at 300,000 ft. There is all but zero air available to sustain combustion. It could not happen.
A bit of the specific SR-71 topic, but I would argue that the greatest advancements came before "computers" were a thing. Today, rocket science is not even rocket science.....
What I mean by that is.......:
Once it is figured out, it is figured out. Hydrogen (in its many forms) is the fuel of rockets. It is known, to lift weight "X" you need fuel amount "Y". All this was figured out long ago, proven by 1000000's of successful launches from earth into orbit, or from surface to surface, or from air to surface......you get the point.
Can you imagine if the boys of the past had the help of computers these days? Without computers, if all computers were erased from existence, could the boys of today do what was done back then? Not sure, but what is for sure is that in many ways computers have made us stupid, or at least lazy.
I saw the SR71 at an airshow years ago, and wow, what a machine.
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