Originally Posted by
megan
From the SR-71 manual. Turns were typically made at 35° bank, at ISA temp and 3.2M radius would be 70NM and take about 8 minutes for 180° turn, about 220 track miles.
Back in my college days, we had a lot of USAF pilots in our classes (who the Air Force had sent back to get advanced degrees).
One once made a comment regarding the viability of the YF-12/SR-71 as an interceptor to the effect 'You'd better get the bomber on the first pass, because it takes two states to turn around'. Sort of depends on which states you're referring to, but 220 miles sounds consistent...