haha, yeah...metric and aviation should not be mixed, IMHO.

And built without the metric system!

I’ll just leave this signed copy of the record coast-coast 68min 17s run of the Blackbird

Thanks to you and Total Crush for the education...I have fired rounds - 9mm, .45, .223 and 7.62 but was very one dimensional in my consideration of their trajectory, only caring about the end result.

• About 16 “starts” per engine worth of Triethylborane (TEB) were carried on an SR-71 mission as the Blackbird’s engines could not be restarted in the air without the TEB accelerant.

Just finished Ben Rich’s Skunk Works. It is a great book with a lot of insight into the design and production of what even today seems like it would be nearly impossible to build. Also, goes over the years at Skunk Works when the U2 and Have Blue/nighthawk programs were running. You really should go get it.

Agreed, love the Blackbird, but if anything has run its course and been overplayed......

Sounds 100% right... No reason to build these for High G’s. Its a manouvering limitation on the airframe. Anything higher and it will need a pretty rigourous inspection... Your not turning and burning in one of these.

IIRC, the 2.5g limit was because the engines would stall out if you pulled higher g’s. It would push the boundary of the shock layer out of position and cause an unstart.

The Blackbird was ultimate expression of the Buck Rogers, Jet Age, era, where the future was faster better more fantastic vehicles and mechanical things. After that the future became digital/informational. Back then the future was a flying car and trips to Mars, not how much processing power you could hold in your…

Oh gawd, that thing is in the feed again....

Of course it had a computer designer it; the greatest of all. The human mind...

Another factoid:

The a-12 oxcart was retired in 68 and flew just a little higher and faster and was presumably retired due to its inability to no longer out run soviet SAM’s. Makes you wonder what else they came up with, or what the SR-71 was actually capable of.

A-4s are tough little birds. Heinemann designed it smartly...it’s even capable of a wheels-up landing on its drop tanks with essentially no damage.

Great info!

I never had much awareness of the A-4 until I saw one at the Chicago air show this year.

I’ll be honest, I actually really like the Fox-Bodied Ford LTD and Mercury Marquis. Option II would not be a problem for me, because then I can accomplish my goal of putting column gear selectors and bench seats back in sedans. And maybe blue velour, wood trim, and horizontal speedometers while we’re at it.

Think the Jeep MB deserves a mention.