To this day, it holds the records for the highest altitude in horizontal flight and the fastest speed for a non-rocket powered aircraft.
It was part of a family of spy planes built to venture into enemy territory, without being shot down or even detected, in a time before satellites and drones.
The black paint job, designed to dissipate heat, earned it the nickname Blackbird, and paired with the sleek lines of the long fuselage, made the plane look unlike anything that had come before -- a design that hasn't lost any of its brilliance. An SR ''Blackbird'' during a training mission in Most conventional airplanes look like someone built them -- this one almost looks like it was grown. A CIA spy. In May , an American U-2 spy plane was shot duown in Soviet airspace while taking aerial photographs.
Initially, the US government said it was a stray weather research aircraft, but the story fell apart once the Soviet government released photos of the captured pilot and the plane's surveillance equipment. The incident had immediate diplomatic repercussions for the Cold War and reinforced the need for a new type of reconnaissance plane that could fly faster and higher, safe from anti-aircraft fire.
The task of designing such an ambitious machine fell on Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, one of the world's greatest aircraft designers, and his secret division of engineers at Lockheed, called Skunk Works. Everything," recalled Johnson, who died in , the same year the Blackbirds were first retired from service.
The original plane in the Blackbird family was called the A and made its maiden flight on April 30, In total, 13 As were produced, and the plane was a top secret, special access program operated by the CIA. Following the end of the Farnborough Air Show, where the SR was on display outside the United States for the first time, it set another record on the way home.
This time the spy plane flew from London to Los Angeles, a distance of 5, That flight required two refueling slowdowns, as well as other speed zones, when flying over major U. Blackbird accrued about 2, hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U. Air Force. For anyone living in Oregon or southern Washington state, it is worth a trip to Evergreen to see this breath-taking airplane. I highly recommend reading any biography of "Kelly" Johnson, the design genius behind this awesome plane, as well as several other famous airframes such as the U-2, F Starfighter, P and others.
Alternately, read a history of Lockheed's "Skunk Works" to learn how these planes were designed and built in record time and usually under budget. I have read that when it was operational, it set the speed record, but if it was beaten then they would take it up again. Sam Black Welder even though the aircraft was retired in the top speed and altitude are still classified as Top Secret.
We probably will never know the true capabilities of the aircraft. I mean I know this thing is fast, but I'm pretty sure it isn't the fastest: I believe that honor goes to the x, the first space plane It's top recorded speed was about 6. But it could only fly for about a minute You should watch real engineering's video on it, it's pretty incredible Nvm, I'm not sure of the authenticity of my source for the x, and the x might not be in the same category as the sr, as it's not an air-breathing vessel, using rocket propulsion The sr is the fastest air-breathing plane Over all I think I probably shouldn't have commented on this, but I thought there'd be a way to delete my posts Hello Sam Blackwelder I think I can help you with your question.
I think your problem is that you are using the speed of sound at sea level - about mph - to try and calculate the speed in mph at high altitude for 3. The speed of sound in air is not a constant. The speed of sound in air at sea level is a lot faster than the speed of sound at 80, ft.
Actually the speed of sound is a function of the temperature of the air, not the altitude, and the air temperature is a lot colder at 80, ft than it is at sea level. At 80, ft the speed of sound is mph, mph less than the speed of sound at sea level. So at 80, ft the speed of an SR in mph that corresponds to 3. These records are speeds certified by official world record timing agencies. The fastest speed I have ever seen claimed by an SR pilot is 3. The pilot was Brian Shul who has written books about his experiences flying the SR and has appeared at the Evergreen Museum.
Because the aircraft was designed to reflect light, using a flash head on will result in a photograph that lacks detail. No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR, the world's fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War. This Blackbird accrued about 2, hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U.
Air Force. On its last flight, March 6, , Lt. Ed Yielding and Lt. At the flight's conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a full-blown crisis in the mids. Air Force recognized that this relatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors.
They also understood that the rapid development of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-2 pilots at grave risk. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile over the Soviet Union in Lockheed's first proposal for a new high speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a design propelled by liquid hydrogen.
This proved to be impracticable because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design for conventional fuels. Lockheed's clandestine 'Skunk Works' division headed by the gifted design engineer Clarence L. To meet these challenging requirements, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges.
The design team chose to make the jet's external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two conventional, but very powerful, afterburning turbine engines propelled this remarkable aircraft.
These power plants had to operate across a huge speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of kph mph to more than 3, kph 2, mph. To prevent supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson's team had to design a complex air intake and bypass system for the engines. Skunk Works engineers also optimized the A cross-section design to exhibit a low radar profile.
Lockheed hoped to achieve this by carefully shaping the airframe to reflect as little transmitted radar energy radio waves as possible, and by application of special paint designed to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves.
This treatment became one of the first applications of stealth technology, but it never completely met the design goals.
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