I'm sure there's lots of very impressive data regarding the SR-71 Blackbirds, but I've never taken the time to learn about them.
I just stumbled across this site:
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/srindex.html
It's over a hundred pages of SR-71 facts, photos, recollections, and trivia.
Wow, what an aircraft. Even by today's measures. (They're coming up on FOURTY YEARS old!)
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/srqt~1.htm
Some excerpts:
How fast does it really fly? Well, it exceeds Mach 3 or three times the speed of sound . Mach 1 is 330 m/s or 741.4 mph, the speed of sound. Mach 2 is twice this; Mach 3 is three times this. It out-flies the sun. You can have breakfast in New York; fly to Los Angeles (in a Blackbird), have another breakfast (time wise) before you left New York. The SR-71's fly at 33 miles per minute or 3,000 feet per second.
It flies faster than a 30-06 bullet.
Isn't the X-15 the fastest airplane, not the SR-71? The X-15 is the fastest airplane and was rocket powered. The SR-71 is the Fastest air-breathing jet in the world.
How high does it fly? The SR-71 flies in excess of 85,000 feet (16 miles up). The curvature of the Earth has been said to be visible.
How hot does the aircraft get flying at Mach 3+? From 600 to 900+ degrees Fahrenheit on the airframe. Temperatures on the J-58 engine exhaust reach 3200 degrees.
How good are the cameras on the aircraft? They can photograph a golf ball on the green from 80,000 feet. The cameras can survey 110,000 square miles of the Earth's surface per hour.
How many aircraft were shot down by unfriendly forces? None. In 1981 Kelly Johnson announced that the SR-71 has had over 1,000 missiles launches against it, but none successful.
If I was the pilot of an SR-71 would I lose weight after the mission? Yes, Pilots in a pressure suit can lose up to 5 pounds in a four hour flight.
I have heard that the nickname of the SR-71 is "HABU", what does that mean? Habu is the name of a Cobra snake in Okinawa, Japan. Because of the sleek "hooded" appearance of the Blackbird, the Okinawan's claimed it looked like a Habu snake. Thus the nickname. Additionally, SR-71 Crewmembers are called Habu's.
Was the SR-71 designed by a computer? No, every aspect of the aircraft was designed with a Slide Rule!
Any other facts or stories from Pelicans?