SkyPup Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 >From Brian Shul, Retired SR-71 Pilot As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn't one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual high speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Lets just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn't previously seen. So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, "What was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?" Quote
MadTrooper Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 HI SkyPup, Thanks for sharing that story. Its a great one Quote
Kimosabi Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 Great story mate. How fast the SR-71 can go is a neverending discussion isn't it. I don't think it can reach more than Mach 5 personally but then again, that's pretty fast. Quote
GreyKnight Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 A great story indeed... now wait for Rattler to come along and de-bunk it as nonsense. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.