if you asked me at 9-10 years old what I wanted to be when I grew up
I wanted to be an SR-71 blackbird pilot , I even had some right seat stick time on a Piper an Cessna , plan was Ground school at 16 and air force when high school was over or something like that.
then they moth balled it , dreams gone and then I got glasses
oh well
Wow. Same for me. I had the models. Knew all the stats... long since forgotten. Seems there was something about a Buick 350 that played a part in starting the engines.
And when I realized my glasses would DQ me from ever having my chance... I threw it all aside. Of course there's LASIK now, but time has marched on for me and the plane. A burgeoning interest in the female of our species helped hasten the loss of interest too.
And again, if I remember correctly, 83,089 feet was the record for the altitude at 3000ish mph.
I remember a USAF commercial with the Blackbird in it. Listed the record stats and then said, "That isn't good enough anymore." I remember thinking if the world record isn't good enough anymore, what have they developed to replace it that they aren't telling us about?
Mike