Friday, May 06, 2011

Black Bird of Happiness . . .

Something creative to ponder. Check out the radio-controlled SR-71. It's a real jet, and sounds glorious in the air. It also flies really, really well, and you can see why the US Army and the USAF are diving into developing a host of pilotless aircraft. Small, quick and really hard to shoot down.


4 comments:

ThinkingManNeil said...

The SR is one of those rare, astonishing airplanes that makes nearly everybody gasp when they first see it, hardly imagining that such a machine could really exist. Despite being nearly as old as I am (I'm going on 53 and the Blackbird was designed in the early 1960's, it still looks as though it were from some far distant future> It's unfortunate that the rare, remaining airworthy example of the real aircraft isn't seen more often at airshows as it should be kept flying just for the sheer, magnificent posterity of it. Thanks for the vid.

N.

Purple library guy said...

The one thing I always wonder about all those things is, what happens if they're ever up against an opponent with tech of their own?
You don't have to shoot it down if you can jam the radio signal controlling it, or hack the thing.

hettygreen said...

And they have solved the famous 'leaking' fuel tanks although this 'version' won't see 85,000 feet or Mach 3.2 to be sure.

Mark, Ottawa said...

Here's the latest, the Northrup Grumman OPV:

"Will Firebird Hit The Market Suite Spot?"

Remember the North American OV-10 Bronco?

Mark
Ottawa