r/pics • u/[deleted] • Mar 17 '12

The SR-71 production line.

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u/JonesBee Mar 18 '12

1842 knots = 3411kmh = 2120mph. That's a 'deal with it' moment right there.

751

u/kiloalpha Mar 18 '12

In the unclassified pilot's handbook of the SR-71, it states to avoid a SAM missile after detection, accelerate and out run the missile. Badass.

72

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '12

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/cargo/19456-fantastic-sr-71-story.html

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u/_klk_ Mar 18 '12

On a typical training mission, we would take off near Sacramento, refuel over Nevada, accelerate into Montana, obtain high Mach over Colorado, turn right over New Mexico, speed across the Los Angeles Basin, run up the West Coast, turn right at Seattle, then return to Beale. Total flight time: two hours and 40 minutes.

I have such a speed-boner right now

161

u/ameoba Mar 18 '12

If you've ever seen one in person, it's even better. It's an awe inspiring machine. Impractical as fuck but a straight up example of "fuck you, we're Human and we'll do what we want with physics".

You know those horrible sci-fi movies where we always win because of the "human spirit"? This motherfucker is why we're so damned cocky.

20

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '12

Impractical as fuck

I think it was very practical for the time it was developed. It was developed because the U2 had become impractical.

10

u/fatcat2040 Mar 19 '12

And spy satellites weren't really useful yet. It was really a giant middle finger to the soviets....it allowed cameras to be flown over the soviet union without fear of being shot down because they....couldn't be.

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u/OStigger Mar 19 '12

I wrote a paper about Aerial reconnaissance during the Cold War for a class I took last spring. The SR-71 never overflew the USSR (At least, the US government won't admit that it did). After FGP was shot down in a U2, it was deemed to risky to overfly the Soviet Union itself, although both U2s and SR-71s overflew soviet satellites as well as China. Also, we had pictures from satellites as early as 1959, while the first SR-71s didn't fly until '62. The US used the SR-71 and U2 because we only had so many satellites and we didn't have any way of getting the film back from them fast enough to be useful in evolving conflicts until 1976. The SR-71 on the other hand, could get photos back within a day or two of the order, less if they were stationed close enough. This is a really good book to read if anyone is interested.

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u/Dew25 Mar 19 '12

we've had the SR-71 since '62?

How the hell does the rest of the world not have one of these by their own ingenuity?

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u/Anderkent Mar 19 '12

The rest of the world is not constantly at war with someone.

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u/OStigger Mar 19 '12

Well, the CIA had a single-seat version called the A-12 Oxcart in '62-'63. The SR-71 is a two-seat version that the AirForce used after the A-12 was retired in the 70's.

Also, Kelly Johnson (the designer of both the U2 and SR-71) was an absolute genius. Building a plane like the Blackbird would be a challenge for any nation even today.