Just Read Brian Shul's book to see how high and how fast (re the famous anecdote about asking for groundspeed readout from ATC).

Sorry to burst your bubble BDiONU, but I have, personally, worked a Tornado (albeit an F2) at significantly higher than FL500 :eek: and still going up…………Love to tell the rest of the story, but I’d have to shoot you afterwards.

And I got into trouble for 'taking five miles' with a non-mode C TR-1 (if you get the significance); thing was, it was VERTICALLY.

Got to go - there’s a black sedan just pulled up………….:suspect:

Surely that was an F2 at 50 and still going up?! They couldn't compete with F15s at Deci in the mid 80s at anything near that kind of altitude.

I didn't say it was in an operational config or trying to do anything else....but it did FL 500++++ all the same!

<<Concorde operated above FL450... well above...>>
Certainly FL560 spings to mind for its trans-Atlantic crossings and I think it went to 600. But you're talking about an old machine (like me)! Modern stuff can surely equal or better that?