The 12 year old in all of us

[scotty]

i had a black bird fly jjust under and to the right of me at manston when i was in a chipmunk.the pilot did a big wing over and said there is nothing to our right but aint it beautifull lol

[Nash]

Thanks Neil, I enjoyed that

I heard a story about the SR71 a few years ago from someone who ought to have known.

When the SR71 was new & still very VERY secret, they were flying missions over Russia so high & so fast that they couldn't be intercepted. To do it they flew east - over Britain - which was a violation of sovereign airspace. They had been tracked by radar & after a while a pattern of flights emerged, so the RAF stripped a Lightning of absolutely everything it didn't need to fly & at the appointed time, with clear weather the aircraft took off & went vertical with both engines screaming on full re-heat.

Sooner or later the engines would run out of puff & as the lightning nosed over & pointed itself at the ground again, the pilot was ready with a hand-held camera.

A little later, there was a meeting of Nato's top brass & while they were all sitting round the table, the UK representative walked round, leaned over the shoulder of the US man & placed in front of him a photo of an SR71 silhouetted against the south east of England & said "we'd rather you asked us before you do this again old chap", then went & sat down.

I do hope that is true

I please let that be true!!

[bigstuff]

For those who have a further interest this is a really good read, quite an insight in to what a palaver it was to fly one of those things.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flying-SR-71-B ... g+the+sr71

[andyf]

Good one "the navy pilot got flamed" loved it