Disagree. The SR-71 represented a pinacle of engineering, not because it did everything right but because it made appropriate tradeoffs. Leaking fuel on the gro

Disagree. The SR-71 represented a pinacle of engineering, not because it did everything right but because it made appropriate tradeoffs. Leaking fuel on the ground was an appropriate tradeoffs for dealing with the constraints of materials science. It traded efficiency for speed. It traded nearly all else for speed because that's what the mission profile called for, and it did it dang well.