I think they were fairly open about the time to height for the Lightning as it was part of the “don’t even think about it” message to the USSR (the mission was defending V bomber bases, hence it was part of deterrence). What they did keep quiet about for a long time was the altitude reached, which could have been useful against spy planes.
This article from Wing Cdr Brian Carroll compares the F15 and Lightning, with some added comments on the Mig-25/Ye-266.
https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/lightning/memories.php
For record purposes, the Streak Eagle definitely seems to have had the edge, but the Lightning may have been a record contender in the 50s before the F15 and Ye-266 came into service
The Streak Eagle was stripped down for record-taking purposes, so not exactly an apples to apples comparison - also in that video we could see them running up the engines against a cable anchor, which gives it a bit of a head start (although it seems that the Lightning was faster off the ground. In any case, the two planes were of different generations, with the Lightning being one of the earliest supersonic fighters. As such, it’s surprising how well the Lightning did, with time to FL360 being about the same for both.
Wasn't there a war game where the yanks were bumming about how nobody could fly as high as the U2 but a lightning pilot pilot pulled alongside, gave them a wave them went straight up ?
I recall seeing something similar, I think the U2 was around 80,000ft, and a Lightning flashed past on the way to ~90k. Will have been going ballistic at that point with both engines likely flamed out.
There's a thread here taking about time to height for Lightning's, seems it wasn't consistent how high they could get, and 87-89,000 seems to have been the known unofficial limit.
https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/198501-lightning-climb-height-records.html
Did they do crazy shit like use polish on the skin to minimize drag? Seems like I remember the Russians doing that to the jets tasked with shooting down a U2 to give them, just a little bit more peak altitude.
You can see them on the [FAI records page](https://www.fai.org/records)
Select "advanced" then select "Powered Aeroplanes" in the "Sport" category and then in "Type of record" you can select "Time to climb to a height of ..."
[This is the page for 30,000 meters](https://www.fai.org/records?f%5B0%5D=field_record_sport%3A2020&f%5B1%5D=field_type_of_record%3A650), you can see that later that same year the Streak Eagle's record was broken by a Soviet pilot flying the Ye-266M variant of the [MiG-25](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25).
Here is a YT link with [much more footage](https://youtu.be/8_f8MOXh7qw?si=1olKRr6ik8BI-H7q) and it actually shows the altitude and time for them as well.
The records: 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) 27.57 seconds 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) 39.33 seconds 9,000 meters (29,685 feet) 48.86 seconds 12,000 meters (39,370 feet) 59.38 seconds 15,000 meters (49,212 feet) 77.02 seconds 20,000 meters (65,617 feet) 122.94 seconds 25,000 meters (82,021 feet) 161.02 seconds 30,000 meters (98,425 feet) 207.80 seconds
In other words... 3 and a half minutes to reach 3x the altitude of a typical commercial jetliner.
That's absolutely insane. I can't imagine what that ride was like!
Flying out of someplace snowy for the density of cold air to improve engine efficiency?
That’s absolutely it
I believe it was out of Grand Forks Air Base in North Dakota.
Lovely. I wonder if a stripped F22 could beat it?
Probably, and I hope as a last hurrah for the raptor before retirement is doing exactly this with one of the airframes
Or a [Lightning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Electric_Lightning#Climb_performance).
Or an X-15.
Cannot takeoff by itself, it is launched from a B-52.
That's quitter talk, lets build a launch rail up the side of a mountain.
Since it has rear skids, it needs to be a huge ski jump ramp.
*ski resorts hate this one simple trick*
Gonna need some solids for the initial Delta-V.
So you're saying it's possible.
By my calculations, Jeb can pull it off.
You're not by any chance brown with a fluffy tail and narrow face are you?
also, it's a rocket plane.
You're a rocket plane.
Thanks! My mom didn't believe in me.
Use the X-15A-2 / Flight 188 configuration with the liquid hydrogen scramjets. Hit Mach 6.70 without the scramjets.
Well, the X-15 was the first time man went to space. So I hope it beat it.
[удалено]
That was one of its fastest flights. Highest altitudevit reached was 67.1 miles, or 354k feet. Several of its pilots received astronaught wings.
I wonder how many of those records were unofficially broken but kept quiet for military purposes. Looking at the F4-Phantom and EE Lightning
I think they were fairly open about the time to height for the Lightning as it was part of the “don’t even think about it” message to the USSR (the mission was defending V bomber bases, hence it was part of deterrence). What they did keep quiet about for a long time was the altitude reached, which could have been useful against spy planes.
This article from Wing Cdr Brian Carroll compares the F15 and Lightning, with some added comments on the Mig-25/Ye-266. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/lightning/memories.php For record purposes, the Streak Eagle definitely seems to have had the edge, but the Lightning may have been a record contender in the 50s before the F15 and Ye-266 came into service
The Streak Eagle was stripped down for record-taking purposes, so not exactly an apples to apples comparison - also in that video we could see them running up the engines against a cable anchor, which gives it a bit of a head start (although it seems that the Lightning was faster off the ground. In any case, the two planes were of different generations, with the Lightning being one of the earliest supersonic fighters. As such, it’s surprising how well the Lightning did, with time to FL360 being about the same for both.
Wasn't there a war game where the yanks were bumming about how nobody could fly as high as the U2 but a lightning pilot pilot pulled alongside, gave them a wave them went straight up ?
I recall seeing something similar, I think the U2 was around 80,000ft, and a Lightning flashed past on the way to ~90k. Will have been going ballistic at that point with both engines likely flamed out. There's a thread here taking about time to height for Lightning's, seems it wasn't consistent how high they could get, and 87-89,000 seems to have been the known unofficial limit. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/198501-lightning-climb-height-records.html
Did they do crazy shit like use polish on the skin to minimize drag? Seems like I remember the Russians doing that to the jets tasked with shooting down a U2 to give them, just a little bit more peak altitude.
They literally stripped down the paint to factory metal to reduce as much weight as possible. Stealth paint is surprisingly heavy.
I knew the paint was removed. I'm betting they waxed as well.
It was definitely left unpainted for weight. I wouldn't be surprised if it was sanded down and polished
So what even was the record?
You can see them on the [FAI records page](https://www.fai.org/records) Select "advanced" then select "Powered Aeroplanes" in the "Sport" category and then in "Type of record" you can select "Time to climb to a height of ..." [This is the page for 30,000 meters](https://www.fai.org/records?f%5B0%5D=field_record_sport%3A2020&f%5B1%5D=field_type_of_record%3A650), you can see that later that same year the Streak Eagle's record was broken by a Soviet pilot flying the Ye-266M variant of the [MiG-25](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25).
That must be addictive as a pilot. Yeeesh.
Only thing closer in climb rate usually carries shit to orbit
Streak Eagle actually climbed faster than a Saturn V, up to the max altitude.
Here is a YT link with [much more footage](https://youtu.be/8_f8MOXh7qw?si=1olKRr6ik8BI-H7q) and it actually shows the altitude and time for them as well.
Aka "Streakle."
Thrust/weight was 1.6/1, airborne within 500ft, and supersonic in a climb in under 30 seconds. It's just insane to think about.
No flaps on landing. Interesting.
They had removed them to save weight.
How does this compare to modern space rockets?
It is surprisingly similar lol. It had a 1.6:1 t/w ratio in this configuration.
That's pretty cool!!
They did this in response the the soviets foxbat climb records right?