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It's a shame that the book that this story came from - Sled Driver by Brian Shul - is out of print. The SR-71 speed check story is another good read: https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blac...
Still worth it to get Skunk Works by Ben Rich. One of the best books I've ever read.
Is Mach 3.5 the highest reported speed? Is it "official" in some way?
It is very possible that for a short period of time, they sustained over mach 3.5 or 3.6, what affect that would have/had on the airframe and engines is unknown.
An interesting story is that once, during the cold war, a Mig-25 was supposedly tracked over Israel at over Mach 3.2 in what is best described as "GTFO" mode. It basically was an attempt to do what the US was doing with the SR-71s. At that speed, the engines are assumed to have been scraped after each flight.
One could make assumptions that the ram-jet elements of an SR-71's J-58s could allow for a few minutes, in the right airframe, with a lucky bin of build quality and weather, far beyond that.
I would also note that this story buries the lede. The title states mach 3.5 but the pilot implies numbers beyond. I'm not sure how factual it is or if it is dramatized, but the pilot absolutely is who they say they are and wrote a book about it.
It's a shame that the book that this story came from - Sled Driver by Brian Shul - is out of print. The SR-71 speed check story is another good read: https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blac...
Is Mach 3.5 the highest reported speed? Is it "official" in some way?
I believe it's the upper limit to the SR-71's engine style based on air intake. If you watched Top Gun: Maverick since it came out they (spoiler) had him flying a prototype plane called the Darkstar to hit Mach 10 in order to maintain a military contract. During the flight, he switches engines to SCRAM Jet once he reaches Mach 3.5 because in order for those types of engines to have enough air intake to function, you…
It's a shame that the book that this story came from - Sled Driver by Brian Shul - is out of print. The SR-71 speed check story is another good read: https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blac...
Still worth it to get Skunk Works by Ben Rich. One of the best books I've ever read.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Once you've finished re-reading, here's the reverse version: > There were a lot of things we couldn't do in a Cessna 172, but we were some of the slowest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the 172. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Mundane, maybe. Even boring at times. But th…
Now do this story - but some person flying a Kitty Hawk replica 30 feet off the ground chimes in after the Cessna person.
It's a shame that the book that this story came from - Sled Driver by Brian Shul - is out of print. The SR-71 speed check story is another good read: https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blac...
I bought a copy sometime in the 90s, found in the remaindered section of a bookstore, cheap.
Fast forward a decade or so, a couple of house moves, and I can't find the book. So I order a copy from Amazon, still available new at that time.
Another decade or so later, I find my first copy. Then I discover they're worth like $300+ each!
Amazing what engineers were able to do (build aircraft like the SR-71) before computers came along and made them less productive.
http://www.enginehistory.org/Convention/2014/SR-71Inlts/SR-7....