The SR-71 Blackbird is still the fastest acknowledged crewed air-breathing jet aircraft

[freeradical]

https://twitter.com/LockheedMartin/statu...wcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Flockheed-hints-heavily-again-at-existence-of-secret-high-speed-jet

[TheCaber]

SR-71 speed check

[TheCaber]

Celebrating Top Gun: Maverick’s six Oscar nominations, Lockheed Martin once again alluded to the existence of a jet faster than the SR-71 Blackbird

[cbelt3]

The Aurora project is still muttered about 35 years later. I recall a coworker talking about watching a hypersonic vehicle that maneuvered from one end of the sky to the other and back over the pacific missile range (kwajalein atoll) one afternoon.

[ztirffritz]

The book 'Skunk Works' covers as much of the SR-71 details as they're allowed to discuss. I highly recommend it. Great book. It also covers the origins of the various Stealth programs.

[Harbourmaster]

Love visiting the SR-71 at the California Science Center in LA!


https://californiasciencecenter.org/exhi...and-garden



Oh yeah there's a Space Shuttle there too!!

[ztirffritz]

That's cool. Never saw one without the paint.

[SKYLANE]

I love visiting that A-12 aircraft at the California Science Center along with the Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour. The SR-71 and Space Shuttle Orbiter were a big part of my life. My dad spent most of his career programming, updating and maintaining software for the Nav System on the SR-71 until it retired. During much of my childhood, I never knew that since he couldn’t talk about it. Most of my career was working on Space Shuttle Orbiter until priogram retired, so I do enjoy visiting Endeavour from time to time.

The aircraft at California Science Center by USC is an A-12 Trainer, elevated cockpit behind the forward cockpit allowed for the training. Can read about it here: https://californiasciencecenter.org/exhi...-blackbird

Some timeline and relationship information between A-12 and the SR-71 found here: https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/a-12/

I would be hard pressed to remember the year, but I recall the SR-71 flying to Pt Mugu Airshow, not to land though. The SR-71 arrived to perform two or three flybys over the runway. The crowd was thrilled, I will never forget it! A quick google came up with this, must have been one of those years that I was there (I probably have pics hiding somewhere): https://archive.vcstar.com/news/by-1980s...5991.html/

My dad got me a SR-71 photograph that was autographed by the crew that set the speed record in 1974 from New York to London: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/from-new...on-flight/ Reminds me, I need to see where I put that photograph, not seen since one of my previous moves.

[JoeH]

Harbourmaster wrote:
Love visiting the SR-71 at the California Science Center in LA!


https://californiasciencecenter.org/exhi...and-garden



Oh yeah there's a Space Shuttle there too!!

That is actually an A-12 trainer, the SR-71 was based on the A-12 design.

[Buzz]

ztirffritz wrote:
That's cool. Never saw one without the paint.

Yeah, that's the biggest hunk of titanium I've ever seen. That California Science Center is a hoot.
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