O/T: From Another List

[Lew Hodgett]

Enjoy

Lew

............................................................

[Tim W]

Tim w

[J. Clarke]

The SR-71's only weapon was a camera and its only defense was speed, so who exactly is it supposed to have killed?

[Robatoy]

balm? That Yanni/KennyG/Tesh crap turns my stomach. Doing that to a mini doc on a magnificent piece of war machinery is a bit too 'propaganda-ish' for my tastes. How about some on-board camera stuff? Some REAL sound? Eddie Van Halen's pounding in the background?

Anyway, as my old friends will tell you, I had a virtual shrine of SR-71 stuff. I almost wet my shorts when I saw it for real. That SR-71 moniker spelled Might and Tech... just awesome. This presentation of it? Not so much. Some people should not be allowed to play with Adobe Flash, wear Crocs or have those Bluetooth cellphone ear-pieces. That crap has no business being anywhere near a Blackbird.

Only 93 pilots, eh? What I wouldn't do to come back in time and be one of them...

But thank you anyway, Lew. I hadn't thought about that bird for a while.

r

[Zz Yzx]

My Dad built those planes.

-Zz

[David G. Nagel]

Tim you are an idiot.

The only thing the SR-71 killed were a lot of dinosaurs....

Dave

[CC]

CC

[LRod]

I don't see how that can possibly be right. The writer had a four year billet. That would seem to me to be about right for any pilot. The a/c was in service for 24 years. Had to have been more pilots than that.

I worked several of them over the years. Had one and a U2 on the frequency at the same time once. They always reported their altitude as "above FL600" (Flight Level 600 or 60,000 feet). They were going to be close, and it was almost impossible to turn an SR71, even if they would take the turn (because of their mission). The U2 was more normal in that regard, but I asked each their specific altitude (which they would give as an encoded phrase). I could have gone to the watch supervisor and gotten the actual altitude from a decoder ring we had, but I just asked them if that was sufficient separation for them, and they agreed it was.

[Doug Miller]

I'm pretty sure they weren't all in service, all the time, for the whole 24 years.

[Mark & Juanita]

A magnificent airplane. Have read Ben Johnson's book (he was Kelly Johnson's successor) -- he designed the engine inlets for the SR-71. The dedication and effort of the engineers and designers was inspired and inspirational -- they knew the security of the nation was at stake and they gave it their all.

[joe]

Your idiocy knows no bounds.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I wonder how many lives it saved.

[Tim W]

Okay I will explain it to you.

Click on the link and you will see an account of involvement in the bombing of Tripoli. The text says "Terrorist camps in Libya" but that is a lie.The USAF bombed targets in the centre of the city of Tripoli with the inevitable innocent civilian casualties. The refuelling had to be done out by Gibralter because no civilised country would allow the USAF to fly over their territory. The US government perceived that The Libyan Government had committed a crime and therefore that gave them the right to bomb a city. It was a shameful incident and shameful that such lies should be posted here.

Tim W

[LRod]

[blah, blah, blah snipped]

Still waiting for the explanation of how the SR-71 (which both the clip and the OP was about) killed anyone anywhere.

[joe]

If you believe that, then why shame on Lew? Post more details the first time around and you'll have fewer people calling you an idiot. I won't be one of the fewer, however. I don't believe terrorists will stop their actions because we ask them nicely. I stand by my previous assessment. jc

[DGDevin]

No you won't, you'll just spout propaganda you happen to believe.

Because you say so. Still, it's strange that the UN would impose sanctions on Libya for sponsoring terrorism for no reason isn't it? It's also odd that Libya eventually coughed up a billion and a half dollars in reperations for the families of those who died in Libyan sponsored terror attacks though, isn't it? And it's very bizarre that Libya eventually accepted responsibility for the actions of its officials in relation to the bombing of Pan Am 103, isn't it?

So by your logic when the allies bombed railyards, factories, military bases etc. in or near cities in Germany and Japan in WWII, that should not have been done because of the risk to civilians.

Blatantly false, the USAF aircraft involved in the attack flew from Britain.

Your one-sided outrage is predictable.

[J. Clarke]

Which bombs did the SR-71 drop?

[-MIKE-]

They had to empty the latrine at some point.

[Robatoy]

At those speeds, the emptying of the latrine could have looked like a shooting star to someone on the ground. To make a wish to that.. would be something very special.

[-MIKE-]

They could slow down to almost a stall, say..... 400mph. :-)