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Help me with my math...

1 mile every 1.6 seconds is 37.5 miles in a minute. (60 sec / 1.6)

2250 miles an hour (37.5 * 60 min)

Mach 1 is 767 mph

2250/767 = 2.933507171

2.933507171 < 3.2

Is the difference due to altitude and fluid dynamics? I know that the speed of sound is fluid so.... ???

Missed this post the first time around. Sorry HugA but I'm not into math this a.m.

My first encounter with the SR-71 was at Kadena AB, 1978-81. They would normally launch at night or just before sunrise to maintain secrecy. Locals would line the perimeter fence all day long with their Nikon cameras with 3 foot lenses to try to get a snap of the 'Habu'. Needless to say they rarely got a glimpse of the SR-71. My best encounter was at dawn on one particularly foggy morning, standing on the 10th tee of the Kadena golf course which was just across the road from the run-up area. We were waiting for the fog to clear and we heard it long before we saw it. It came into view just across the road from us and locked the brakes. A small blue flame came from each of the two scamjet engines. As the pilot applied throttle that blue flame reached over a hundred feet behind the aircraft, from around 6 feet in diameter at the source to a needle point at the terminous. The entire length of blue flame was punctuated with yellow shock rings every 20 feet which would travel the length of the flame to the terminous. The roar and rumble was better than any rock concert was or ever would be. I sat there in awe, humbled by the sheer magnitude of the experience. With the run-up complete, he backed off the throttle, let off the brakes and headed to the active runway. Once on the runway we could only see the flame which went to length when the throttles were pushed forward. Half way down the runway they went vertical and quickly disappeared into the morning mist, but the rumble persisted for about a minute, then silence. That was 35 years ago and the memory is as vivid today as it was then.

My next and last encounter with the SR-71 was at Beale AFB, 1988-90. This experience was totally opposite of the first. We had to retire the SR-71 when I was there and my last act was to organize a squadron photo in front of the six assigned SR's before they were cut up and packaged for disposal or transferred to Lockheed.

Over 25 years in the Air Force and seeing every aircraft in the inventory then and now ... there's not another that comes close.

I just copied & pasted the article, didn't do the math, preferring to trust the guy who flew the plane

IIRC the speed of sound in a gas (air) goes down with density, so at high altitudes the speed of sound is less. For a given ground speed, the Mach number goes up with altitude.

At RAF Mildenhall Habu was launched in broad daylight. Everyone in the local area knew of the launches, a public road that parallels the runway turned into a parking lot about the time the Blackbird taxied into position for takeoff.

I drive past RAF Lakenheath and Mildenhall several times a year, as I belong to a hunting club that leases ground near Brandon.

Many times I am passing late evening or early hours of the morning and a couple of times the road around the base has been closed to traffic, while "something" has taken off or landed...

I know bud

I'm sorry if that came across as being aggressive towards your post. It wasn't meant to be.

I'm grateful that you shared that with us. I'm in awe of that bird and the men who were able to fly it.

When I was a kid, there was a little known Disney movie called D.A.R.Y.L. in which a kid had a microchip put in his brain. He ended up stealing a Blackbird in the movie. That was mindblowing for me.

Loved that stupid movie...

When he said 1.6 miles per second, I was floored! I wanted to know just how fast that was! So, I started down the math trail and was confused with the results so I figured I'd ask for people to help correct my understanding.

I'm thinking what you're thinking. It must be due to altitude and air density.

Might well be "Combat Sent" (RC-135U) aircraft Pete. Back in the day we had a C-141 inbound from CONUS which would land just after dark. The 141 would get offloaded and then depart Mildenhall around 2:30am. We'd send up an RC on a covert launch at the same time that would be directly in the exhaust of the 141, you'd think only one aircraft took off.

Wife and I lived in Brandon for a year, moved to Anglo housing which was in the village of Lakenheath. Nice places!

Pete, this might be the reason.




Raw footage, not Mildenhall but same...

Could very well have been..we were stopped far enough away not to be able to see anything in any detail..

On a slightly different note, I was out stalking not too far from Brandon and I came across two batches of small "grave makers". These were only quite small, and laid out in rows and IIRC were of mostly US and Canadian service personnel from North Eastern and North Western States, and the parts of Canada from WW2..

The area where the makers are is over grown and some of the markers are missing or broken, and is obviously not an official grave site of any sort.

I've asked around the local area and hardly anybody knew they were there, let alone their origin..

I would love to know the history behind the markers, but so far have not had any luck..

Below are a few pics I took from one group at the time..







Regards,

Peter

WOW !

.....Pete, that just DEFINES the term "intriguing".

A story as yet untold, begging to be written / spoken.

GTC

Yes, it certainly is..Next time in the area I might try to get a few more pics..At a guess, (from a not very good memory) I would say there was about 40 or 50 markers in two groups. IIRC, the other group had the small plastic info markers on small stakes akin to large wooden tent pegs..

One guess was that these markers were placed by a group of relatives while on a trip of remembrance of some sort?

Regards,

Peter

Was surfing the web reading up the SR 71 and came across this interview type of thing with a former pilot. I found it pretty interesting. The pilot's responses are the username highlighted in blue.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2k06jn/iama_former_sr71_pilot_and_squadron_commander_ama/

Yup!

Sucks to see the condition the site has become. Aircrew members who perished in crash landings?

It is very sad to see them like that, but having been to various War Cemeteries/Memorials around the UK, I don�t think this is site is in anyway �official� which is why it is not being maintained.

Not too far away there is a known crash site for a Lancaster with a mixed commonwealth crew, and this has a small low key memorial and information plaque next to it, and flowers and/or poppies appear periodically during the year..

In the pics I posted, I think �Ladysmith� actually refers to the town in Vancour Island rather than a person, but the other markers mostly have the names of people with ranks ect..

There seem to be too many markers to refer to any one crash, which is why we think it might be an unofficial �group memorial� set up by visiting relatives.

I am down in the area again this week end and will try to get some better pics and perhaps some additional details from some of the other markers..

It's a small, small world. Rich Graham was the Wing Commander of the 9th SRW at Beale AFB during my tenure there ... a true leader and gentleman. Unfortunately he lost his job when the second U-2 was blown off the runway in a period of two months due to severe crosswinds. He was the sacrificial lamb as Strategic Air Command (SAC) had to blame someone for these. Crosswinds would come and go there and both of these were "out of the blue". The U-2 is extremely unstable during landing and taxi and are restricted from landing attempts if crosswinds exceed 30 kts.

Saw that happen once at Moldyhole. Ran off the side of the runway trying to keep the wings level after touchdown. Didn't seem like people made a big deal about it.

Timing is everything. At the time Col Graham was heading the 9th SRW, there was a monumental A-hole occupying the four-star billet at HQ SAC ... Gen John T. Chain. The Bombers, Tankers and Missile Men were prioritized above the Reconnaissance folks.

The speed of sound is in a gas = sqrt(Gamma*R*T), where Gamma is the ratio of the specific heats (approximately constant at 1.4 for air), R is the gas constant, and T is the absolute temperature (degrees K or R depending up system of measure). So yes, the speed of sound varies with altitude because temperature varies with altitude. An atmospheric standard day table will give you value for any given altitude.