Sun "rise" in the west? Only as an illusion caused by a vector of the high aircraft velocity towards the setting sun, surely? Simplest example to bring to mind is an aircraft rushing high along a great circle above the equator from night towards a setting sun...and winning the race. The aircraft would be rushing broadly west for maximum effect, depending on the season, n'est-ce pas?
So just a bog standard apparent reversal of the progress of a sunset? - but hold on, what's the need to rush? Surely any aircraft even at the equator can win against a sunset if it is heading directly towards a setting sun in the west? It need only achieve a groundspeed greater than 60 knots and won't the sun then be seen to "rise" above the horizon on the nose?
Edit 1: I knew that sounded daft, why didn't I check it! From schoolbook geography it is obviously 1000 statute miles an hour at the equator isn't it? i.e. 60kts x 14.7 isn't it (being pedantic) =882kts or 900 if you like .... Doh!
At other latitudes heading towards the sun, wouldn't the necessary speed be lower per FlyVMO's cosine rule?
Methinks said SR-71 pilot must surely have set himself a more difficult challenge - maybe flying North after sunset and still managing to get the sun to rise again using that cosine effect again - perhaps it even rose straight up and didn't budge from west
(I'm guessing ... horribly...again!)
Quoting from
http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/sr-71... "On September 13, 1974, an SR-71A set a speed record from London to Los Angeles at an average speed of 1,435.587 mph. On July 28, 1976, an SR-71A set an Altitude in Horizontal Flight record at 85,068.997 feet. On that same day, the aircraft set the Speed Over a Closed Course record of 2,193.167 mph. On July 27, 1976, the SR-71 set a Speed Over a Closed Circuit record at a speed of 2,092.294 mph. On September 1, 1974, the airplane set a record from New York to London in 1 hour, 54 minutes, and 56.4 seconds."
I found another quote attributed to an SR-71 pilot — USAF Lt. Col. Gil Bertelson, SR-71 pilot, in 'SR-71 Blackbird: Stories, Tales and Legends,' 2002, who apparently said:
"You know the part in 'High Flight where it talks about putting out your hand to touch the face of God? Well, when we're at speed and altitude in the SR, we have to slow down and descend in order to do that."
Edit 2: I can't help thinking that the speed record in horizontal flight is key to the original question. No other aircraft was got close to being as capable of sustained horizontal flight at anything like that speed, except Concorde??