I never realised the XB-70 got to Mach 3 - esteemed company to the SR-71A.
A beautiful plane ( the Mig in Firefox had a passing resemblance )
We had a Pilot and RSO from Detachment 4 of the 9th SRW at RAF Mildenhall give a talk to our aviation society at Leeds Bradford Airport. The amazing thing was that at top speed they were almost idling the engines as it was due to moving the inlet cones forward and the engine behaviour changed to ramjet (there is a wonderful video on YouTube explaining all this ).
I asked "What is the top speed you have done?" He admitted seeing Mach 3.3 but said anything the Russians can do we have beaten!
I believe that I read somewhere that the aircraft reached Mach 3.5 at one stage, but the rumours abound regarding higher speeds than that. I gather it is generally accepted that the top speed of a conventional turbo jet engine would be around 2,200 MPH, but I could understand that Lockheed would be a little coy about anything past this!
The crew said the limiting factor on top speed of the SR71 was fuel and having enough to get back to the tanker! Makes me sad that these wonderful machines are consigned to museums!
Hi ZinZan
I never realised the XB-70 got to Mach 3 - esteemed company to the SR-71A.
A beautiful plane ( the Mig in Firefox had a passing resemblance )
We had a Pilot and RSO from Detachment 4 of the 9th SRW at RAF Mildenhall give a talk to our aviation society at Leeds Bradford Airport. The amazing thing was that at top speed they were almost idling the engines as it was due to moving the inlet cones forward and the engine behaviour changed to ramjet (there is a wonderful video on YouTube explaining all this ).
I asked "What is the top speed you have done?" He admitted seeing Mach 3.3 but said anything the Russians can do we have beaten!
Love your Substack posts - keep them up.
Neil
Dear Neil,
I believe that I read somewhere that the aircraft reached Mach 3.5 at one stage, but the rumours abound regarding higher speeds than that. I gather it is generally accepted that the top speed of a conventional turbo jet engine would be around 2,200 MPH, but I could understand that Lockheed would be a little coy about anything past this!
Regards,
Z
The crew said the limiting factor on top speed of the SR71 was fuel and having enough to get back to the tanker! Makes me sad that these wonderful machines are consigned to museums!