For everybody in the NYC area there is a Blackbird at the INTREPID museum. The thing takes up most of the forward catapult area. Itis a amazing plane looking more like a spaceship than a plane designed in the 1950's. It is also very stealthy with a very small radar cross section. It is too bad that they are not still flying them. As far as speed goes the B-70 was supposed to do mach 3.2 as well and carry bombs! It was supposed to be protected by a new fighter the F108. It could also cruise at M3.2! Too bad it was never built!

My favorite plane on the INTREPID has got to be the A6 prototype. I always had a soft spot for the Intruder...

Driving by on 9A a few months back I was amazed at just how big an F-15 really is.

Isn't that the plane with the leaky fuel tanks? It was designed that way because when it flies and gets hot, the tanks seal up?

Yes.

I will never forget how loud the RAF Avro Vulcan bomber was when it flew over us at a Toronto air show many years ago. I think it was the low altitude combined with the gigantic delta wing to reflect the noise back down to the ground. It was deafening. And really, really cool.

The first announcement of the A-11, which later became the SR-71.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWZ5iITPAi0&feature=related

At Dulles Airport Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in VA
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t.../Blackbird.jpg
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71, the world's fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War.

This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its last flight, March 6, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight's conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Longer history of the SR-71 here
http://collections.nasm.si.edu/code/emuseum.asp?style=single&currentrecord=175&page=collection&profile=objects&searchdesc=Aeronautics:%2 0Aircraft&newvalues=1&newstyle=expanded&newcurrentrecord=175

I wonder if they discard them before they have something better.

Can you say "Aurora"? Wait, did I say that out loud??? :eek:

That thing looks like a plecostamus (sp?). Butt ugly, sorry!

Every time I go by Grissom its with my autocrosser on the trailer!

ONe of my old fart lunch buddies is a plane nut. He says they still fly one sr70. CIA, he says. He also says it will go faster than what they said.

Quick, go look outcher winder......!

Speaking of large and in charge:cool:

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9567/mig314if6.jpg

I had an uncle who was an Air Traffic Controller at Albuquerque Center in the 60's / 70's. I remember that he used to tell stories of tracking military aircraft on radar as they crossed Colorado in 10 minutes. That was the SR-71, before it's existance was publicly known.

Larger and in charger?
http://www.wallpaper.net.au/wallpape...r-1024x768.jpg