It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
The fact that it was never risked in a direct overflight of the USSR ( unlike the U-2 ), could be taken to mean that it couldn't outrun the Soviet missiles of the time.
The development of the A-12 OXCART spyplane in the late 1950s created another problem for aircraft and engine designers. The high speeds reached by the A-12 would cause the skin of the aircraft to get hot. Temperatures on the OXCART ranged from 462 to 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit (239 to 566 degrees C). The wings, where the fuel was stored, had external temperatures of more than 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees C). Even with the lower flashpoint, fuel stored in the wings could explode. As a result, the engine designers at Pratt & Whitney sought a fuel with an extremely high flashpoint. Working with the Ashland Shell and Monsanto companies, the engine designers added fluorocarbons to increase lubricity (or slipperiness), and other chemicals to raise the flashpoint. The resulting fuel was originally known as PF-1 but later renamed JP-7. It was used only by the A-12 OXCART (and its sister YF-12 interceptor) and later the SR-71 Blackbird. JP-7 has such a high flashpoint that a burning match dropped into a bucket of it will not cause it to ignite.
You are correct.
If the SR-71 Blackbird can fly at an average speed of Mach 3. I'm quite surtain it could push to 4 or maybe 5. It was designed to do 9 after all.
Originally posted by Zion Mainframe
You are correct.
That you for pointing that out...
And I was fully aware of all the facts about the SR-71, I run a military aircraft website myself. But thanks for the info anyway.
But I have to disagree on your last statement:
If the SR-71 Blackbird can fly at an average speed of Mach 3. I'm quite surtain it could push to 4 or maybe 5. It was designed to do 9 after all.
That's kind of a weird statement. There have been many articles about the temeratures of the wigs leading edges and the nose of the plane. They get superhot, if the SR could fly at around mach 9, think about the massive increase in temperature. The airframe woud get SO incredibly hot, it would most certainly change shape permentantly, and electronics inside the plane would get damaged by the heath.
Because the aircraft can cruise at mach 3+, that doesn't mean in can fly any faster...
[Edited on 9-5-2003 by Zion Mainframe]
Originally posted by barba007
Developed for the USAF as reconnaissance aircraft more than 30 years ago, SR-71s are still the world's fastest and highest-flying production aircraft.
-
If the SR-71 Blackbird can fly at an average speed of Mach 3. I'm quite surtain it could push to 4 or maybe 5.
It was designed to do 9 after all.
[Edited on 9-5-2003 by barba007]