4 ms·

It's most awesome plane ever built. Make sure you see one in person (I saw the one at the Hazy Museum in Washington DC). It looks fast even sitting in a hanger.

mxuribe 11y ago
I actually touched the one that is/was sitting on the USS Intrepid (in NYC)! Granted to most its just an airplane, a hunk of old metal...but too me it was totally awesome; I touched something that - besides actual rockets - was the fastest thing that humans have ever built! (Yes, my wife loves me but totally called me a nerd that day! :-)
- mikeash 11y ago
  Rockets, and one manhole cover: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Brownlee.html http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Brownlee.html
  - mirimir 11y ago
    > Later we were to see that if the hole is deep enough and the yield is high enough, an empty hole will close completely, allowing nothing whatsoever out except the initial light, which is not radioactive of course. That is very cool. But I wonder. The "light" does include neutrons, I suspect. So neutron activation?
    - mikeash 11y ago
      Neutrons are absorbed by air, so at some sufficient depth they'll all be stopped before they escape. I don't know what that sufficient depth would be. People working on nuclear testing in the 1950s may not have been so strict about their idea of perfect containment, though.
- stcredzero 11y ago
  I actually touched the one I touched the end of one of the shock cones in front of the air inlets at Wright-Patterson. Literally sharp enough to kill a person who walks into it by accident.
RUG3Y 11y ago
I've seen the one at Edwards AFB. I used to go to that museum often when I was a kid. Since then I've always thought that it was the most beautiful aircraft ever.
dboreham 11y ago
Finally a benefit to being old: I've stood as near as the guards would allow while one was started up, and seen it take off and do a flyby. This was in the narrow window of time between the cold war hardware being super-classified, and it being withdrawn due to budget constraints.
- acveilleux 11y ago
  Budget constraint and obsolescence. By the time it was withdrawn, the Russians had finally managed to get the capability to shoot it down. The MiG-31 with the R-33/AA-9 missile could engage a blackbird. It interdicted soviet union overflights in the mid 80s. Modern Russian SAMs is probably also able to intercept it. If the ability to penetrate the targeted air defences is taken away, you're better off just flying a jetliner crammed full of sensors around the target country or use satellite. Or drones (since they're disposable-ish when they get shot down.) The Open Skies Treaty also allows mutual airborne surveillance. The SR-71 however, wins hands down on sexiness.

mxuribe 11y ago

I actually touched the one that is/was sitting on the USS Intrepid (in NYC)! Granted to most its just an airplane, a hunk of old metal...but too me it was totally awesome; I touched something that - besides actual rockets - was the fastest thing that humans have ever built! (Yes, my wife loves me but totally called me a nerd that day! :-)

mikeash 11y ago
Rockets, and one manhole cover: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Brownlee.html http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Brownlee.html
- mirimir 11y ago
  > Later we were to see that if the hole is deep enough and the yield is high enough, an empty hole will close completely, allowing nothing whatsoever out except the initial light, which is not radioactive of course. That is very cool. But I wonder. The "light" does include neutrons, I suspect. So neutron activation?
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Neutrons are absorbed by air, so at some sufficient depth they'll all be stopped before they escape. I don't know what that sufficient depth would be. People working on nuclear testing in the 1950s may not have been so strict about their idea of perfect containment, though.
stcredzero 11y ago
I actually touched the one I touched the end of one of the shock cones in front of the air inlets at Wright-Patterson. Literally sharp enough to kill a person who walks into it by accident.

RUG3Y 11y ago

I've seen the one at Edwards AFB. I used to go to that museum often when I was a kid. Since then I've always thought that it was the most beautiful aircraft ever.

dboreham 11y ago

Finally a benefit to being old: I've stood as near as the guards would allow while one was started up, and seen it take off and do a flyby. This was in the narrow window of time between the cold war hardware being super-classified, and it being withdrawn due to budget constraints.

acveilleux 11y ago
Budget constraint and obsolescence. By the time it was withdrawn, the Russians had finally managed to get the capability to shoot it down. The MiG-31 with the R-33/AA-9 missile could engage a blackbird. It interdicted soviet union overflights in the mid 80s. Modern Russian SAMs is probably also able to intercept it. If the ability to penetrate the targeted air defences is taken away, you're better off just flying a jetliner crammed full of sensors around the target country or use satellite. Or drones (since they're disposable-ish when they get shot down.) The Open Skies Treaty also allows mutual airborne surveillance. The SR-71 however, wins hands down on sexiness.