this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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They made an interceptor version of the SR-71 called the YF-12. I don't know if it ever entered service though.
The also made one with ... a parasite, mini me version of itself.
https://www.museumofflight.org/Exhibits-and-Events/Aircraft/lockheed-m-21-blackbird
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_D-21
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_A-12#M-21
Two, actually.
They made two pairs of the M-21 and D-21.
And yes, that's D for Drone, in 1963.
A nearly hypersonic drone, launched from a Mach 3+ capable mothership, in 1963.
That is possibly the most sci Fi ass looking thing I've seen outside of an 80s b-movie. You know some hyper nerd designer was extremely proud of that
It is quite literally fantastic.
The... the thing is constantly leaking, when it is on the runway, prior to take off.
Because its cruise speed and altitude are such that the surface of it is so heated, that it expands the metal, and stops the leaking.
That is how fucking extreme this thing is.
Now if you want might vote for even more scifi than that?
Behold, the SSTO we could have been building for the last 20 years, if we'd just used the construction method for the fuel tanks that the engineers argued should be used, but couldn't be, because we needed to do all the experimental processes on a single craft, and if they didn't all work, Dick Cheney will cancel the program...
The VentureStar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VentureStar
Yep, we built the scaled down mockup of this, the X-33.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_X-33
And the summary that I gave earlier is basically the tl:dr of it.
We could have been working on making these things to replace shuttle. A reusable, heavy lift, single stage to orbit craft.
But nope!
Nope, instead we get... what are at now, 13, 14 attempts by Elon Musk to even achieve actual orbit with his Starship? Still haven't managed that yet.
So now the ISS is slated to get deorbited, China will have the only major space station, and we will have a ... Kessler Syndrome generation program, in the expansion of StarLink into 'StarMind', those million orbital AI datacenters Musk has recently had CGI made for, and will never happen.
Nope, I'm not mad, definitely not mad, nope.
The venture star is the aerospace manifestation of the granny shot free throw in basketball. Sure it's mathematically and mechanically optimal... but you're still gonna look dumb using it
God that thing looks like it could be found in one of those toy sets you only ever see at the zoo. I love it!
I also really hope that joke isn't too niche...
But God damn you know some engineer was proud of that anti leak at attitudes feature. You know some guy with a slide role figured that crap out with pencil and paper over the course of days. Absolutely love it
I mean, the SR 71 is literally the X Jet, from X-men.
Its...
Here:
The design has changed somewhat over the years, but... it just literally is the X Jet.
Its in XMen First Class, where it is of course also now VTOL or STOVL, in addition to being Mach 3+ capable... because... why the fuck not?
Aight, so you seem very knowledgeable about niche air craft, so I have a pointless question for you...
What's the aircraft that most makes you wonder how tf it even flies?
Ahahaha.
Ah.
Well, the actual honest answer is that I've twice seen a quite large, hovering, silent, large equilateral triangle shaped craft.
The greenish, lower left pic is pretty much exactly what I've seen, twice, over the course of 10 years, around Seattle.
The second time I saw it, I was going across the West Seattle Bridge, and saw it hovering, only a few hundred feet over a hangar or some large byilding in Boeing Field, on the west side of Marginal Way.
Ironically, on the other side of the road as the Flight Museum where the extant M21and D21 are on display.
I do not purport to have any fucking clue how this thing works, but I have definitely seen it twice.
So yeah that's my actual answer, I've twice seen something that is apparently called the TR 3B sometimes 'Astra', sometimes 'Black Manta'. I have no idea why it has that name, if thats even kind of accurate to anything... but yep... giant (by normal aircraft standards), black, silent, hovering, equilateral triangle, with a large glowing area in the center, and 3 different glowing areas just inside of the uh, tips.
The second time I saw it, it was close enough that I could see red / green running lights on it... so ... my assumption is that it is some kind of human, experimental aircraft.
Military.com says, unofficially, that it ... well here:
https://www.military.com/video/aircraft/military-aircraft/tr-3b-aurora-anti-gravity-spacecrafts/2860314511001
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_triangle_(UFO)#Military_aircraft
https://aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/tr-3b-black-manta-secret-us-aircraft-anti-gravity/
?????
So anyway this would be the thing that I have no idea how it flies.
... Would you believe my cousin actually used to work SkunkWorks, before moving over to BlueOrigin?
Ah... everybody just calls me crazy.
I remember first learning about that engine design and being similarly mad about why it never saw any use.
Yeeep.
Its some pretty crazy shit, that we literally know how to do... and just... don't.
Because stock market line go up is more important I guess?
Gotta pay for more missiles to blow up brown people?
But yeah, aerospikes are awesome because they're like the ... jack of all trades of effective thrust at different ambient air pressures/densities.
They're not the most efficient or powerful at any particular altititude band... but they're shockingly decent at a whole bunch of them, across the spectrum, because of their fundamental design.
So they're literally perfect for an SSTO, reusable concept. Definitely do a full inspection and maintenance cycle after every mission, they're kinda complicated... but, if you take care of one... it should just basically keep working for quite a long time.
Guess we'll have to do it the old European boring way? Using old rocket tech
We went from the wright brothers to that in like 55 years
My vote for a single song that encapsulates the history of powered flight.
"The D-21 was designed to carry a single high-resolution photographic camera over a preprogrammed path, then release the camera module into the air for retrieval, after which the drone would self-destruct."
It was literally the little spy satellite that couldn't (make it to orbit).
They'd ... they'd either retrieve the photo canister from the ground, or, ideally...
Catch it in the air, using basically the sky hook system, as seen in MGSV.
Its... the ludicrousness of this system is really only slightly exaggerated in its MGSV portrayal.
Yeah, I mean they were solving problems with the tools they had. I just love the idea of them tracking down the actual film
....Why do you think Naked Snake actually needed to go into a goddamned Russian jungle in the 60s?
They only built 3 of them.
1 crashed in California in 1971. Another was given to NASA for testing until 1978. The surviving 2 are in museums. Couldn't find any information on whether they saw actual active duty, but they were technically in service in the 1970s.
‘Y’ means it was the second prototype batch after ‘X’. Sometimes the Ys would be modified with the final spec and enter service but typically they would lose the Y designation at that time. For instance the prototype YB-36 entered service as a reconnaissance RB-36A after modifications.
I was always a fan of the YF-19
Isn't that just the su 47, but anime?
Or ... did ... the Russians... make anime space jet plane thing... real?
This wing config it for high speed IIRC and has been tried loads of times, the russian (korbut?) wasn't the first.
True, to varying extents... but the 47 is well known and also just shocking similar in design elements and proportions to the Macross ... not-a-gundam.
Grumman X-29:
Think it first flew in 84, definitely earlier than the su-47, but also, purely an experimental tech demonstrator, whereas the su-47 was at least ostensibly, potentially, going to be an actual combat aircraft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward-swept_wing
Apparently, quite a lot of people have been futzing about with concept, for a long time.
Which transformer is this? Need a model kit asap.