"BUFDRVR" wrote in message
...
Why can't a B-1 go straight up (for however short a time)?...if
it can do a 60 deg attitude then are you telling us that it
cannot go another 30 deg?....why not?...

I'm sure it could, but how long they could do it, I don't know. Personally
I
think a 60-degree climb to "out-of-sight" flight level is more impressive
than
a 90-degree climb to a few thousand feet above where you started the
climb.


I'm still impressed years later after watching a U-2-R2 take off from
Moffett and disappear directly overhead at the Mt. View Baylands
where I stood. That's about 3 miles for the ground leg and if I knew
the altitude where it would disappear on a perfectly clear summer day
it would be a very simple trig. problem. Sure looked like straight up to me.


JK