James May/Top Gear rides a U2 spyplane

[Dr Mordrid]

I don't think breathtaking even begins to cover his experience....imagine what's in store for SpaceShip Two riders.

YouTube video.....

[Fat Tone]

I don't think breathtaking even begins to cover his experience....imagine what's in store for SpaceShip Two riders.

YouTube video.....

He's a jammy git

I remember when watching that he said something like 'we were flying at 70,000 feet, well we have to say 70,000 feet because anything more would be classified'. I wonder what it really is, not that 70,000 isn't impressive enough!

[Dr Mordrid]

I've heard numbers from 85,000 feet and up to 100,000 feet as its theoretical maximum altitude.

What ever it is most don't know that its flight window is very narrow with its stall speed being only 5 mph lower than its top speed at cruising altitude. U2 pilots call it the "coffin corner".

[Technoid]

Sadly the coolest of spyplanes doesent fly anymore

SR71 - that be a wild ride

[Jammrock]

Sadly the coolest of spyplanes doesent fly anymore

SR71 - that be a wild ride

As someone in the Air Force once told me, "Uncle Same never retires a plane until they have something better."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(aircraft)

That video rocks! I need to become rich and famous so I can do stuff like that.

[Dr Mordrid]

That something else would likely use a scramjet and be a waverider, neither of which is really new.

This fall the US tests a "new" tech in the X-51a testbed: a scramjet waverider. The scramjet uses normal fuels vs. LH2 in some designs and the 'waverider' part means a hypersonic aircraft that surfs on its own shockwave.

The first waverider ever seen by the public was the US's hypersonic B-70 Valkyrie bomber - in the 1960's (!!).

Officially listed as at least Mach 3 many believe that it could go at least Mach 5 because that's where waveriding really comes into play for a larger aircraft. Note the wing tips droop at speed, trapping air under the craft and increasing the supersonic lift/drag ratio.

Canceled when solid fuel ICBM's came out - cheaper, far less maintenance and (then) immune to aiti-aircraft missiles.

Today hypersonic waveriders get another look for use as rapid strike cruise missiles and hypersonic drones.





X-51a Waverider (booster rocket to the rear, X-51a is the white 'wedge').

[jms]

Fantastic vid. That May is one lucky bastard!

Saw this video under related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-39f7...137&feature=iv

That bird is beautiful!

[Dr Mordrid]

Have a relative who flew the SR-71, but we didn't know it at the time of course. Some wild stories years later.

They've always admitted to Mach 3, but most people think the real top end was well north of that.

The engine, a Pratt & Whitney J58-P4, was actually a dual hybrid; a turbojet inside of a ramjet. She's get up to speed using the turbojet then switch for high speed operation. It does this by throttling back the turbojet then bypassing air around it to the oversize afterburner which then acts as the ramjet. Even in turbojet mode it uses the afterburner continuously, the only military jet to do so. Neat design.

Cool pic of a J-58 running outside the aircraft, and yes - the afterburner is red hot during flight....

[Jammrock]

The rumor I heard from an old Air Force buddy was the real speed at max altitude was between mach 6 and 9. Though I doubt it's really that high, the rumor in the Air Force is that when the Blackbird made its record breaking run at mach 3.5 it ran a recon sortie between the time it took off and the time it landed, and that sortie was never added to the distance traveled, thus the record speed was skewed.

[Dr Mordrid]

With that engine and a plane that was 80% titanium I'd guess at Mach 5+. That not only because of the ramjets but because of the special fuel which contained an oxidizer and other additives. One was fluorocarbons to increase its lubricity, which could have contributed to its grounding.