[SLHetal]

I guess I ought to chime in here just a little bit. From what I have read "The SR-71 remains to this day the only aircraft rated to run in full continuous afterburner." My wife's uncle is Harlon Hain, is one of the 93 trained SR-71 pilots and I believe there were a total of 32 SR-71's built for USAF operations, so it's a pretty small group of pilots and their birds. Uncle Harlon has plenty of stories and we probably talked to each other over the air waves on various occasions during the Viet Nam years, long before we knew each other or I had met my wife. I have seen a few SR-71's during operations in Korea, Japan, and Florida (testing at Eglin), whether on the ground coming out of their hangar (dripping fuel profusely) heading for departure, kicking ass with their afterburners while on takeoff for a mission, or returning to base and popping their chutes. I have also spoken to more than a few SR-71 pilots while an air traffic controller in the USAF and in the FAA at Houston Center. If an SR-71 pilot made a request we honored it with a factual response. Of course all of this was many years ago but my memory is still pretty good.
Sam