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From: jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Jonathan A Bishop)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: SR-71 Blackbird question
Message-ID: <1990Oct4.012507.11787@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 4 Oct 90 01:25:07 GMT
References: <1990Sep27.031756.7889@cbnews.att.com> <1990Sep29.155328.7880@cbnews.att.com> <1990Oct2.235500.24130@cbnews.att.com>
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From: jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Jonathan A Bishop)
jumper@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Michael Lanham) writes:

>Using Popular Science as a source (not the most technical source around but...)

>The most incredible thing to remember about the Blackbird is that is was
>designed and built by Johnson at Lockheed's sSkunkwork back in the 1970s.
>The plane's design is twenty years old, still state of the art, and still
>the fastest plane made.

     Actually, the first A-12 (predecessor to the YF-12, which was predecessor
to the SR-71) was delivered around 1962!  As to Johnson's role in the design
effort, he certainly spearheaded the development but, as one of my professors
says (and he is an acquaintance of Johnson) that "Kelly Johnson likes
to promote his own image."  He has done incredible things, though.
-- 
jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu

"Ground Control to Major Tom: Your circuit's dead; there's something wrong.
Can you hear me, Major Tom?" -- David Bowie