Quote Originally Posted by jerry clayton View Post
yep, an a/c that I would have liked to flown, along with the SR71, which I know was faster and think it was considerably higher ceiling, brought about partially by Powers? getting shot down over russia when he had a flame out and had to descent for a re lite---He later was killed in a traffic copter flying for some LA news station--
Jerry, you're right about the Blackbird. It was the world's fastest and highest-flying operational manned aircraft throughout its career, setting an "absolute altitude record" of 85,069 feet (25,929 m) (several aircraft exceeded this altitude in zoom climbs but not in sustained flight). That same day the Blackbird set an absolute speed record of 1,905.81 knots (2,193.2 mph; 3,529.6 km/h). The last official flight of the SR71's was in 1997, I believe. What makes the U2 special is that the base 50's design is still in operation today, and it would be amazing to score a back seat ride in one, but not much chance of that.