pseudobio Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 IMHO, Area 51 is just a testing facility for new tech, primarily new aircraft, and nothing more. The secrecy is needed to keep other nations from gleaning any info until the new tech is made operational. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyYou Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Russia shot down a U2. (Gary Powers I do believe.) So far as I know, we have never lost a Blackbird to anything other than mechanical failure.Lol..,,,Age getting the better of your memory? We have lost 20 SR 71's due to malfunctions of various sorts but none to enemy fire. :whistling: Isn't that what I said? :DThe SR 71 is in IMO the most esthetically pleasing aircraft ever built, even though it leaked like sieve when on the deck but in flight was an aerial work of art.It was the only aircraft that I ever envied of that other ( slightly less skilled, which is why they needed a Navy aviator to be the first test pilot ) service's repertoire. :whistling: http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7240/sr71a04.jpg Oh hell yeah. It still is one of the most gorgeous aircraft I have ever seen. I got a chance to get 'up close and personal' with one for several hours. (We had one make an emergency landing at the base I was stationed at, so, of course, it had to be guarded..... I volunteered. :D) and yep, they don't fuel them until shortly before take off, simply because it looks like a damn rainstorm underneath it when they do. (no smoking on that post.......) In flight though, when the skin heats up, and things expand appropriately..... it kinda seals itself up. I loved that aircraft. I wanted to fly it. But, as I wore glasses, no military pilot training for me. Damn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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