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Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 11:17 pm
by Wolfman
Cool. Saw one at the Air and Space Museum outside DC in October. My older son, ex Air Force man who took us there, mentioned that we were still using the U-2 for spy missions.
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:27 am
by Shlomart Ben Yisrael
"Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border."
BULLSHIT!@!!!
Sincerely, Flat-tart
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:02 am
by Left Seater
Good story.
Love that he used pilot terms as well, i.e. Bug squashers.
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:50 pm
by Screw_Michigan
If the SR-71 is so bad ass, why is it retired?
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:55 pm
by Left Seater
Screw_Michigan wrote:If the SR-71 is so bad ass, why is it retired?
You would likely know the answer better than the rest of us. They generally don't ask the general public our thoughts on specific platforms.
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:36 pm
by smackaholic
I suspect they are not used because there is no longer a need for them. Satellite cameras are so fukking good now we don't need them as a surveillance platform. Also, we have pretty damn good drones now that can fill that role. Also, they gotta be awfully expensive to keep in the air.
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:54 pm
by Wolfman
The new X ?? or whatever is doing the trick. Also, as I mentioned, the U-2 is still in use.
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:02 pm
by smackaholic
The U-2 is still practical in that it is likely fairly cheap to keep in the air and the people we use it against have no way of touching anything at 80K ft. Hell, they don't have anything to reach higher than RPG range.
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:34 pm
by mvscal
Screw_Michigan wrote:If the SR-71 is so bad ass, why is it retired?
Air Farce politics mostly.
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:27 pm
by Imus
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:33 pm
by Wolfman
Ah, Telstar. I remember how excited the TV folks would get when that satellite flew over so they could broadcast from England for a brief time. I recall the ground station being built at Andover Maine shortly before I graduated from the U of Maine. Good thing geosynchronous orbits were not far off.
Re: Trolling in a Blackbird.
Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2016 7:52 pm
by Dinsdale
I'm not sure what the rules of the contest were, or even what the contest was, but I'm fairly certain that posting a Dave Matthews video means you lose.