John Szalay added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

"HEMI-Powered" wrote in
Interesting. I would've thought that the flight manual was
still classified but this makes most interesting reading. I
suppose you knew it was already there or it'd be a daunting
task to find it in what I would think is a thick book.


Long story on the manual, but a "sanitised" version is
available on CD or printed copy can be ordered if you want.
its also available on-line IF you have a broadband connection.
PDF version 108Meg download..

http://www.netwrx1.com/skunk-works/sr71flt.pdf


IIRC: long version, guy "Borrowed" copy of NASA's DASH1
with a story, and managed to make a copy of it, now hes
selling copies at . (last time I checked anyway) $95.00
apiece. I didn,t want a hardcopy , takes to long to search for
info so I got a copy offline couples of years ago, for
reference. computer version makes for quick access to facts..

I'll just take your word for this neat story, John! Like I
suspected, the size of the manual is formidable so either you
already knew where to look or they have a damn good index.

I've seen a couple of SR-71's, I'm going way out on a limb here but
I think one was at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Pat and the other
is in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Either/both may be off-
base but I do recall seeing a couple of these very interesting
aircraft that still hold the record for both speed and ceiling for
an air-breathing aircraft, at least what has been de-classified.

You'd know, I imagine, but I've heard that a few of these can be
put back into service reasonably quickly if neither satellites nor
UAV can do a special job. I remember an interesting statistic that
dates back to, I think, the 1980s that claimed that it cost over
$55,000 per hour to fly these beasts.

--
HP, aka Jerry