Re: Re: DML SR-71 Aircraft

From: raymond.irons@gm.com
Date: Tue Jun 11 2002 - 08:38:28 EDT


>Methinks you misunderstand. It was designed to fly at that altitude and
>higher. In fact on that website they say it was capable of altitudes of
100k
>ft.
>the F-15 Streak Eagle (not Strike)holds the time to climb to 100k ft-The
SR can fly higher than the F-15.

Well, lemme see, It's been a few years since I retired from active duty and
I had to go dig out some of my books on aircraft and my old promotion study
guides (for jet engines) and look up some of the facts and figures on both
aircraft. I'm not saying the SR-71 wasn't capable of flying to 100K ft, I'm
saying that the normal operating limit was 85K ft unless they were
authorized to go higher. I am still looking on the web site (www.sr-71.org)
were it says that they were capable of altitudes of 100K ft. What I did
find was the record for horizontal flight listed at 85,068.997 ft. The
single-seat F15A, niccknamed "Streak Eagle," broke eight time-to-climb
world records between Jan. 16 and Feb. 1, 1975. In setting the last of the
eight records, it reached an altitude of 98,425 ft. just 3 minutes 27.8
seconds from brake release at takeoff and "coasted" to nearly 103,000 ft.
before descending. It was flown in its natural metal finish to reduce
weight for the record-setting flights. The Streak Eagle was a specially
prepared flight test aircraft and was never a service aircraft and was
donated to the USAF mueseum in Dec 1980. The standard F-15 Eagle has a
service ceiling of 65Kft. The standard aircraft configuration and engines
can't sustain flight at the same high altitudes and speeds as the SR-71.



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