Ftrooppilot

It liked crashing into the aircraft (A-12) during release. They eventually launched them from underwing pylons on B-52s. It was used for recon in high threat areas.

xjsaab

Originally it was the RS-71, but Prez Johnson screwed up the order and so someone had to change it.

Ftrooppilot

TRUE. The original designation ( "R****** "like all USAF Recon aircraft) was RS-71. When Johnson made the annnouncement he screwed it up and said SR-71. Who is going to tell the Pres. he is wrong? They had to change all the manuals and checklists.

FPG120

Is it true that the A-12 was equipped with guns and almost shot itself down because the plane was flying faster than its bullets? I heard that years ago and was wondering if that was just 'beer call' chatter.

skycowboy

Actually - I dunno about the guns part but hypothetically assuming it did - that would be a big time no... because the bullets would be exiting the gun at the same speed the airplane was flying. So speed over the ground of the bullet would have essentially been:

The Normal Speed of Bullet when gun is at rest + The speed of the Airplane = Speed of bullet shot from the aircraft.

Wouldn't work - when sky divers jump they are moving initially the same speed as the airplane in the horizontal direction - although they rapidly deccelerate horizontally shortly there after (mucho parasite drag)... they do however accelerate vertically in the negative direction to terminal velocity for a falling human - about 120 mph...

In theory assuming things didn't break down at the speed of light if you were at travelling the speed of light and then turned a light on from your vessel those photons would then be travelling twice the speed of light...

John

PS - I would find it ridiculous to put guns on a recon aircraft that flys at FL700+ - You can't dog fight... they have turn radius that can be great than 100 miles. And they are for all practical purposes untouchable from all fighter aircraft up there.

jungle

Not true, but:

The F-11 Tiger is notorious for being the first jet aircraft to shoot itself down. On 21 September 1956, during a test-firing of its 20 mm cannons, pilot Tom Attridge fired two bursts mid-way through a shallow dive. As the velocity and trajectory of the cannon rounds decayed, they ultimately crossed paths with the Tiger as it continued its descent, disabling it and forcing Attridge to crash-land the aircraft. The pilot survived. (wiki)

Cannon projectiles start to decellerate as soon as they leave the barrel.

tomgoodman

The original designation, RS-71, stood for Recon/Strike. Don't know if the plan was for the Blackbird itself to "strike", like a B-58 Hustler, or just inspect targets after somebody else struck. There was also a planned interceptor version, the YF-12, for which the Phoenix missile was originally developed.

FPG120

I thought the A-12 was originally designed to be an interceptor aircraft therefore necessitating some defensive weaponry. Not sure if dog fighting was ever in the matrix. Regardless, obviously it would not have happend at 700+...

Also I wasn't clear enough in my question. By 'shot down' I had heard that the rounds coming out of the gun, while initially faster, slowed down very quickly and were subsequently ingested by the engines. So though it wasn't technically shot down, it could have been pretty serious at the very least.

Anyway, the guns were removed. Or so I'm told....

Thanks for the responses!

skycowboy

Ok I can probably buy that after reconsidering the physics... After-all going back to my analogy of the sky divers - I have heard of a pilot down around MEM from a friend, who used to put skydivers out in a King Air and then chases and passes the divers back to mother earth and would be waiting for them on the ground... same principle as the bullet... Initial velocity or "Vo" would be the same as the airplane, however due to drag and lack of furthur propulsion the bullet for rapidly decelerate as the airplanes velocity remained the same or hypothetically increased, causing the airplane to inhale the bullets... Just as that King Air could have inhaled those skydivers in theory...

kdoner

i see how it COULD POSSIBLY shoot itself down, but when the airplane did catch up to the bullets, would the airplane be going fast enough to cause damage.... ?? i would think it would catch up obviously since the bullets aren't producing any thrust, but unless they get ingested into the engines, i think the bullets would just bounce off...

i.e. a car going 70mph on the highway rear ends a car going 65mph... OMG the car rear ended another car at 70mph!!! yea but... there was only 5mph worth of damage... **unless the car lost control and slammed into a rail guard over the bridge and 50ft down into the river**

so how could it really shoot itself down?? unless the airplane gets going fast enough to come up behind the bullet fast enough to penetrate its surface.