Quote:
Originally Posted by BatRay
The SR-71 could take accurate pictures of a license plate from 80,000 feet.
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I don't know about license plates, but on low level runs in North Vietnam I got photos of guys feeding the guns that were shooting at me, and even a couple of smoke rings at the end of barrels sticking out of bushes.
Of course I couldn't see that until I looked at the photos later- I was too busy trying to stay on my flight line and keep from running into the ground.
The SR-71 had speed and altitude, but all we had going for us was speed. We weren't exactly out of range, but we hoped to go by so fast that they didn't have time to react. The standard tactic for other aircraft is to jinx, but a photo aircraft can't jinx because it has to hold the camera steady, which means keeping wings level at least while over the target run.
Another reason we needed to go at least a bit fast is that the F-4 had a bad habit of leaving a trail of black smoke that was visible for miles, even when you couldn't see the aircraft that was leaving the trail. But if you went into minimum afterburner, that did away with the smoke so that they couldn't see you coming so easily.
