The King of Speed: SR-71 Blackbird

On Sat, 13 Jan 2007 10:38:04 -0500, Jose wrote:

For those of you who would worry that this thread is moving away from
aviation, remember they both hit fly balls.

Yes, but are the balls actually "flying" or are they just "riding"?

And are they actually *flying*, or is it just a simulation running somewhere?

Ron Wanttaja

("Ron Wanttaja" wrote)
For those of you who would worry that this thread is moving away from
aviation, remember they both hit fly balls.

Yes, but are the balls actually "flying" or are they just "riding"?

And are they actually *flying*, or is it just a simulation running
somewhere?


And Tony Gwynn is heading to Cooperstown, despite his total rejection of
anything relating to treadmills.


Montback-back-way-back ...Touch 'em all Kirby Puckett!
My niece was born Nov 4, 1987 ...."Kirby"

The guy must have wanted to pass me up
'cause he kept on tooting his horn
Al


"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
I've read Brian Shul's book, and all of it is excellent. And the
quoted passage is one of my favorite parts.

It reminds me a little of that old novelty song (from the 1950s?)
about the Little Nash Rambler.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Paul Elliot wrote:
There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the
fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of
this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun
to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to
describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. [..]

One of my jobs in the distant past, was to help task where an SR-71
went each day. We used it for purposes that are still not yet released
to the public. I used to wonder if the pilots got bored if we sent
them to the same place. I can see now, probably not ;-)

Kev

You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3.

Danny Deger

Kev writes:

One of my jobs in the distant past, was to help task where an SR-71
went each day. We used it for purposes that are still not yet released
to the public. I used to wonder if the pilots got bored if we sent
them to the same place. I can see now, probably not ;-)

At their altitude, they could barely see anything below, anyway. My
guess is that they simply enjoyed the flying experience and really
didn't care if they were going to the same place or not.

--
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Mxsmanic wrote:
Kev writes:

One of my jobs in the distant past, was to help task where an SR-71
went each day. We used it for purposes that are still not yet released
to the public. I used to wonder if the pilots got bored if we sent
them to the same place. I can see now, probably not ;-)

At their altitude, they could barely see anything below, anyway. My
guess is that they simply enjoyed the flying experience and really
didn't care if they were going to the same place or not.

That's like saying the astronauts in the ISS or shuttle are too high to
see anything :-)

Remember, it was often used for photos, which means they flew on severe
clear days for that task.

And before the star-sensing navigation in the SR-71, they used a huge
visual drift sight to make sure they were on track. It was a periscope
centered at the top of the instrument panel, that showed the ground.

Kev

Kev writes:

That's like saying the astronauts in the ISS or shuttle are too high to
see anything :-)

They aren't too high to see anything, but a lot of the planet looks
the same as you go higher and higher, and often there are clouds as
well.

Remember, it was often used for photos, which means they flew on severe
clear days for that task.

If they could. But cameras see things a lot better than people do.

And before the star-sensing navigation in the SR-71, they used a huge
visual drift sight to make sure they were on track. It was a periscope
centered at the top of the instrument panel, that showed the ground.

I didn't know that the SR-71s had ever flown without their ANS stuff,
although I recall reading about the periscope.

Anyway, my point was that SR-71 pilots probably flew the aircraft just
for the sake of flying the aircraft, and not for the view.

--
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Mxsmanic wrote:

Anyway, my point was that SR-71 pilots probably flew the aircraft just
for the sake of flying the aircraft, and not for the view.


And usual you would be wrong. Read any book on the subject.

Danny Deger wrote:

You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3.

mixed mania gets lost at 0 knots.