Why would the blackbird fly so high? I looked it up and it says they can fly up to 90,000ft.

Question

Why would the blackbird fly so high? I looked it up and it says they can fly up to 90,000ft.

In: Other

Answer 1

The Blackbird and the U-2 that came before it were spy planes that flew over the Soviet Union and warzones where the enemy would would try to shoot them down.

The Soviet Union managed to shoot down a U-2 that could fly at 70,000ft.

The Blackbird solved this problem by flying higher and faster making it more difficult for it to be shot down.

Because these planes were photographing Soviet airfields, factory’s, nuclear facilities, test site, aerial defences and everything in-between the Soviets really wanted to stop them.

Flying at mach 3 at 90,000ft was the best way to keep them safe. The enemy air defence did not have enough time or energy to detect the plane then get a missile that high and fast to shoot it down.