[QUOTE]Originally posted by dispader
The A-10's have a different mission than fighter jets.

 

YF-22
YF-23 GreyGhost

 

Several of you have mentioned that the SR-71 impressed you at an early age. When I was a kid, this is the plane that I fell in love with .



Check out these records. The SR-71 is a pig in comparison.

Mach 4.43 on March 7, 1961
Mach 5.27 on June 23, 1961
Mach 6.04 on November 9, 1961
Mach 6.7 on October 3, 1967. (Over twice as fast as the official top speed of the SR-71).

It also set an altitude record of 354,200 feet (67 miles) on August 22, 1963.
That would be the first man in space, except for the fact that the X-15 had already been there before this date. Makes the 85,000 feet the SR-71 can (officially) reach seem rather trivial, does it not?

You may not want to count the X-15, because it isn't a jet, but it is an airplane; the fastest and highest flying airplane EVER.

How bout them apples?

RED

 

The X-15 was great, but the SR-71 didn't require a "mother" plane to take it up to altitude.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RED MX5
Several of you have mentioned that the SR-71 impressed you at an early age.

 

New technology is amazing, and the stuff you don't know about is even more incredible, but technology is advancing faster than the fleet can adapt to it or the government can finance. That's why our nation still flies aircraft that in comparison are outdated. They all still perform their missions, and well at that. I'm talking about the P-3's, S-3's, C-141's, C-5's, UH-1's, H-3's, E-2C's, C-2's, C-130's and A-10's. Some aircraft have been fully updated, like the C-130J and the F-16, while others can only be updated so much. The mission requirements have changed since many of these aircraft were put into service, so new technology is adapted to an old airframe. The aircraft that succeed have long life-spans, like the Hercules. Other aircraft fade away, like the Starlifter. As the state of the world changes, so will the means of defending and monitoring it. Whatever the means, I'm sure this nation will be at the forefront of discovery, and moving forward with the most technologically advanced defenders available.


Anyone seen this yet???

 

I wish I had some...

 

I could show you videos...then I would have to kill you...

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rworne

 

Gotta give the X-15 its props! I had a model of it hanging over my bed as a kid. ('Course, we didn't know about the 71 back then)

The X-15 was the culmination of our attempt to conquer speed that started with the greatest hero of American aviation, Chuck Yeager and Glamorous Glennis, the X-1. They weren