You should watch “the L.A. Speed Check” story… It is told by a former SR71 pilot… It is hysterical.

Hi guys! I am a retired Air Force, Electronic Intelligence Analyst, ELINT. I was assigned to Det 4, 9th SRW at RAF Mildenhall UK, from 1982 - 86. It was my job to process, analyze, and report ELINT data collected during the mission. I was also responsible for providing pre - post mission briefings to the aircrew. Including Brian Shulz, mentioned in this video. There were so many interesting events during that time period. Although it was probably one of the most demanding of my assignments, It was one of my favorites.

The most insane thing to me was that in 1945, jets were BARELY making it off the ground. We still had many planes made of wood for God's sake... Cut to 7 years later, and the US is developing the U2, to fly at the edge of space... Cut to a few years later, they started designing and building this thing. The speed at which advancements came was actually incredible.

The SR-71 was a flying gas tank; so much of it was the fuel it needed.

The math involved to use the stars along with the rest of the navigation system is incredibly for that time. They were using slide rulers.

In the late 70's one of my neighbors was a retired Blackbird pilot. He held one of the transcontinental speed records.

Was able to see the SR71 at Beale AFB years ago. Incredible plane. At the time, my friend had a Cessna. We were flying out of Truckee, CA. one day. The air traffic controller contacted us and instructed us to clear the airspace immediately. We were over Donner Pass. Found out later the SR71 was over Missouri at the same time. If you get the chance, watch the videos of Brian Shul (SR71 pilot). Amazing man, amazing plane. RIP Brian Shul.

Kelly Johnson - head of LockHeeds Advanced Projects Division ( The Skunk Works ) was probably one of the greatest engeineers of modern times. The Skunk Works were responsible for a large number of planes and other technological developements. The SR-71's did use very early { Stealth } technologies that were capable for the time. The overall design was a part of the [ Stealth ] that was a part of the BlackBirds - in the paint that was applied to the SR-71's contained millions of tiny iron-balls. The purpose of the iron-balls were to absorb radar engergy that was used to detect the SR-71's. So the amount of radar waves that were rerurned to the radar that was emmiting it was less then that was sent out. The design also deflected radar waves upward in various directions to also reduce the amount of radar returned to the source.

The SR-71 Blackbird IS IN SCIENCE-FICTION MOVIES LOL. It is the signature jet used by the X-Men in the X-MEN and DEADPOOL movies, or a modified version of it. It is also referenced by Tony Stark in the first IRON MAN movie on his test flight with the Mk. 2 suit before he paints the suit red and yellow. You can see the HUD display a computerized silhouette of it. "Hey Jarvis. Pull up the SR-71." "Sir, the record for winged altitude flight is 85,000 feet." " Records were meant to be broken."

The LA Speed Story is about a 71, and the pilot that flew it rolls the story. Fantastic

I think the thing that I find the most mind boggling is that if the government admits the speed and heights that we hear about, then what is it truly capable of that we don’t know about?

so cool think it was originally called RS-71 but president lyndon johnson called it SR-71 and it stuck⚛

I was obsessed with this plane as a kid for a time. Slick model on a stand (actual metal parts, not plastic), posters everywhere, books. Annoyed the shit out of other kids in school talking about it incessantly.

Mach 3.2 is roughly 2'193 mph. The heat generated at that speed was very high , so about 97% of each SR-71 was made of Titanium to offset the heat. Ironically all that Titanium came from one supllier - Russia.

Went to the air museum at Hill AFB in Utah. There they had the infamous SR-71 on display, with some info

The SR-71 was designed and built in the 1960's with sliderules before the computers became popular. It has speed records still not matched today. 🇺🇲

I just finished reading a book about this aircraft. On some missions the crews would watch the sun rise in the west or set in the east, sometimes multiple times. It flew faster than the Earth’s rotation so would outrun the sunset or sunrise until it reduced speed and altitude for refuelling, then catch up to or race away from the sun again.The fuselage heating from friction required cockpit air conditioning as well as for some other systems. On one mission the air conditioning failed in the rear cockpit. It got so hot that the plastic covers on the manuals began to curl and melt. The crewman was protected by the pressure suit.

Judging by the thumbnail pic, OB Mike got REALLY EXCITED by watching this one. 😉 It must have been really enjoyable for him. 😉

Loved watching these taxi out from there hangers and takeoff at Mildenhall where they parked our C-130s across from the hangers while we were TDY there in the 80s.

Speaking of James May, he did a program for the BBC titled "James May at the edge of space", where he flew to the top of the atmosphere on a U2, courtesy of the American military. There are 10 min. cuts of this on KZread (for example, "James May rides in a U2 spy plane [HQ]"), that you may like reacting to.