SR-71

On Oct 29, 6:09 pm, "Gatt" wrote:
"Matt Barrow" wrote in message

news
The line item veto was declared unconstitutional soon afterwards,
Congress
offered to re-authorized the money, but the Air Force declined because
they wanted to spent the money on Predator and Global Hawk. And let's
not
forget that try as you might, you can't blame the first SR-71 retirement
on Clinton.

Why not?

It was first deactivated in the '80s, before the Clinton administration.

-c

I think it's pretty likely they deactivated it because they had a
replacement that was even better. They don't generally give up
capabilities unless they can be replaced by something just as good or
better. Why stick with 60s technology when you can bring it up 20
years and take advantage of newer technology? They just haven't
decided to publicize it yet.

Phil wrote:
I think it's pretty likely they deactivated it because they had a
replacement that was even better.

I was under the impression that improvements in recon by satellite made use
of the SR-71 obsolete.

"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
.. .
Phil wrote:
I think it's pretty likely they deactivated it because they had a
replacement that was even better.

I was under the impression that improvements in recon by satellite made
use
of the SR-71 obsolete.

That's what they say.

I'm not saying he is right, or is wrong, but what he says does make sense.
How long did the SR-71 exist, before anyone knew about it?

What he is hinting at is probably the Aurora. You know, the one that leaves
donut shaped con trails?
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in message
...
I'm not saying he is right, or is wrong, but what he says does make sense.
How long did the SR-71 exist, before anyone knew about it?


Not very long. I remember reading an article about it in about 1970, and it
wasn't news then.

IIRC, the SR-71 was "outed" early as a peace keeping effort.

On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:42:31 -0500, "Maxwell" wrote:


"Morgans" wrote in message
...
I'm not saying he is right, or is wrong, but what he says does make sense.
How long did the SR-71 exist, before anyone knew about it?


Not very long. I remember reading an article about it in about 1970, and it
wasn't news then.

IIRC, the SR-71 was "outed" early as a peace keeping effort.

An article I read a while back indicated that "outing" the Blackbird was a
political move by Johnson; he was under increasing pressure about Vietnam, and
unveiled the RS-71 as a distraction.

Yes, *RS*-71. Johnson transposed the letters, and the Air Force had to call it
"SR" forever after....

(RS: Reconnaissance Strike)

Ron Wanttaja

Ron Wanttaja wrote:
On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:42:31 -0500, "Maxwell" wrote:


"Morgans" wrote in message
...
I'm not saying he is right, or is wrong, but what he says does make sense.
How long did the SR-71 exist, before anyone knew about it?


Not very long. I remember reading an article about it in about 1970, and it
wasn't news then.

IIRC, the SR-71 was "outed" early as a peace keeping effort.

An article I read a while back indicated that "outing" the Blackbird was a
political move by Johnson; he was under increasing pressure about Vietnam, and
unveiled the RS-71 as a distraction.

Yes, *RS*-71. Johnson transposed the letters, and the Air Force had to call it
"SR" forever after....

(RS: Reconnaissance Strike)

Ron Wanttaja

In the late 60's I was in air defense in Korea.

Every once in a while we would track (well, not really, it was going too
fast for a track lock) something that was going at "impossible" speeds for
the time, almost always either coming in from the Pacific and up
across North Korea or leaving North Korea and heading out to the
Pacific.

While on mid tour leave, I was standing by the runway at Kadena AFB
killing time until my ride to the States watching airplanes when the
ground started shaking and there was this hellacious noise.

I looked down at the end of the runway (I was about midfield) and
saw this little black spec getting bigger and bigger until it
was almost in front of me, at which point it basically stood on it's
tail and disappeared in the sky within a few seconds.

There was a guy standing behind me; I turned to him and said "Did
you see that!".

I then noticed he was an AP and he said "Did I see what?"

I got the drift real quick and changed the subject.

A few years later the existence of the SR-71 was acknowledged and I
put two and two together.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

Ron Wanttaja wrote:


Yes, *RS*-71. Johnson transposed the letters, and the Air Force had
to call it "SR" forever after....

(RS: Reconnaissance Strike)

Ron Wanttaja

Interesting, I always thought the SR was short for strategic reconnaissance.

What he is hinting at is probably the Aurora. You know, the one that leaves
donut shaped con trails?

Bill Fox, the man who donated everything for our awesome "Blackbird
Suite", has confirmed that there was, indeed, an Aurora. He won't say
anything more about it. (He worked at the Skunkworks for over 30
years, and ran the famous "Area 51" for a couple of years.)

BTW: Bill says we lost nearly half of the SR-71s ever built, none to
enemy fire. It was a VERY dangerous bird to fly.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:09:55 -0700, Jay Honeck wrote:

has confirmed that there was, indeed, an Aurora.

Must be true... it's on the internet.

:-)

http://wave.prohosting.com/aurora85/images/montana.html


--
Dallas

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

What he is hinting at is probably the Aurora. You know, the one that
leaves donut shaped con trails?

That's no longer with us, is it?

Anybody ever hear about Pumpkinseed? I -think- that was the external
combustion (for lack of better term) project.


-c