Exciting news, what's the fun in that and I thought so...

Exciting news this week on virtually every aviation and technology website!
Skunk Works revealed the Mach 6.0 SR-72! http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/features/2013/sr-72.html

Those who understand the code in the above sentence now have water dripping from their mouth.Those of you who don't know Skunk Works nor the SR-71 (not a typo, read on) will have some of questions...

The retired SR-71 was designed by one of the most innovative aeronautical engineers of all time: Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. He became instrumental in the Lockheed Skunk Works where he worked amongst others on the U-2 and the F-104 Starfighter. And Skunk Works is the official alias for Lockheed (Martin’s) Advanced Development Programs. Skunk Works is the birthplace of the P-38 Lightning, F-104 Starfighter, the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 Nighthawk, the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II.

The Blackbird truly was one of a kind. On wiki you can learn that the SR-71 was the world's fastest and highest-flying operational manned aircraft throughout its career. On 28 July 1976, SR-71 serial number 61-7962, broke the world record: an "absolute altitude record" of 85069 feet (25929 m). Several aircraft exceeded this altitude in zoom climbs but not in sustained flight. That same day SR-71, serial number 61-7958 set an absolute speed record of 1905,81 knots (3529,6 km/h), approximately Mach 3.3.

SR-71 Blackbird   Copyright: Lockheed Martin

So now work is on its way on an SR-72! At Mach 6.0 it promises to be another wonder of science and technology. But then... the bummer. The damn thing will be a pilotless aircraft!!! Hey guys what's the fun in that????

SR-72   Copyright: Lockheed Martin

It's always sad when an airplane type retires and even more so for the real iconic ones. I know, I have talked about iconic designs in the past but it's a hard search to beat the SR-71. Usually when airplane types are taken off line they are replaced by a new one which is better and more advanced. Not so with the SR-71. It didn't get replaced at all because there was actually nothing flying that could match it. Same for Concorde.

It's 10 years now since its last flight. Gone are the days of supersonic passenger transport. Nothing flying today even comes close to bridging large distances at twice the speed of sound. I saw Concorde for the first time in 1994 in Farnborough and will never forget it. I was standing along runway 24 as it landed and took off, its mighty Olympus engines roaring so hard my heart was resonating in my chest. Ok it may not have been the most fuel efficient airplane around and a lot of technological advances have been made since but if you were offered a transcontinental flight today and could choose between Concorde or any other airliner, which one would you choose? I thought so and rest my case.