Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

Kryptid wrote:

What other production aircraft can take off under its own power, cruise at over Mach 3.2 at over 80,000 feet without killing the engines, and land in one piece?

The A-12.

Geez, I'm such a wise@$$ sometimes... Mr. Green

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That_Engine_Guy wrote:

the M-21/D-21 combination that was abandoned? Shrug

It was a great concept, but it just never worked properly. As if the Blackbird itself wasn't amazing enough, this was almost too much. And the D-21 was worth resurrecting, I mean there was Senior Bowl after all. But in the end, not quite developed enough to work properly.

TC wrote:

Kryptid wrote:

What other production aircraft can take off under its own power, cruise at over Mach 3.2 at over 80,000 feet without killing the engines, and land in one piece?

The A-12.

Geez, I'm such a wise@$$ sometimes... Mr. Green

You guys forget to mention that it cruises at 3.2M for an hour at less than full throttle. lol. Concidering its age, it is the end all be all of fast.

TEG -

Don't know if you're familiar with the stories, but the A-12 was considered for reinstatement alongside the SR-71 as it has one big "Q-bay" and the SR has four smaller ones.

Oh yeah - we considered selling A-12s to Iran before the fall of the Shah, too Wink

wow, that would have sucked

Somehow, I believe Carter would've been stupid enough to sell them to the Iranians too. Mr. Peanut, the President of Mayberry.

"...we got this new guy who does't take crap from any litle countries. That's why the call him Ronnie Ray-gun!"

Excellent usage of an Iron Eagle quote. Point awarded to Habu! Laughing

Hehe, I knew you'd probably get it, TC. Wink

I love that movie in all its cheesy goodness

sprstdlyscottsmn wrote:

wow, that would have sucked

Don't think so: just like the F-14, they wouldn't have been able to make it work effectively.

Agree. The Blackbird was a logistical nightmare even at Beale, where everything necessary to operate it was in place. Even if we had simply denied them the ability to maintain their PSD equipment, their crews would have been severely limited.

Even denying them things as simple as tires and JP-7 would have been all she wrote.

Huggy, I'd like to hear more of your insight on this sir, but I'd venture to say that it would be much easier to put a Blackbird out of commission with a parts embargo than even the Tomcat. Too much on the Blackbird was single aircraft specific, that Iranian jury-rigging would have been impossible.

TC: I agree with you 100%.
Plus, even if they could get the aircraft flying (which is a pipe dream), what would they do with it? Where would the film come from? Who would process it? Who would exploit it? Who could provide air refueling?

And would the SR-71 Blackbird have fallen victim that easily to a MiG-25 Foxbat?

skyhigh wrote:

And would the SR-71 Blackbird have fallen victim that easily to a MiG-25 Foxbat?

No...

By the time you realized a Blackbird was screaming over your homeland, it would be too late to send anything to shoot it down.

Even if aircraft were airborne it would be unlikely for them to intercept and position on a Blackbird for launch.

Now IF a MiG-25 was in the exact right place, at the exact right time, and the Blackbird pilot were not paying attention.... Shrug

Remember the numbers we're quoting here are the "unclassified/public" figures. Wink

Keep 'em flyin' Thumb

TEG