INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Flying too high for enemy fighters to reach, too fast for missiles to catch, virtually invisible to radar, not a single one has been shot
Suddenly, he sees red warning lights flaring across his instrument panel
high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation
Its shape was based on the Lockheed A-12, a pioneer in stealth technology with its reduced radar cross section, but the SR-71 was longer and
heavier to carry more fuel and a crew of two in tandem cockpits
The SR-71 was revealed to the public in July 1964 and entered service in the United States Air Force (USAF) in January 1966.During missions,
the SR-71 operated at high speeds and altitudes (Mach 3.2 at 85,000 ft or 26,000 m), allowing it to evade or outrace threats
If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was to accelerate and outpace the missile
camera.[4] On average, an SR-71 could fly just once per week because of the lengthy preparations needed
A total of 32 aircraft were built; 12 were lost in accidents, none to enemy action.An air-to-air overhead front view of an SR-71A strategic
A-12 Oxcart and YF-12A aircraft
The United States Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan
26, 1990, but returned them in 1995 until January 1997
Location: Beale Air Force Base, California, USA
Evaporating fuel can be seen streaking down the fuselage and top of the wings from the aerial refueling port aft of the cockpitIn 1974, the
SR-71 set the record for the quickest flight between London and New York
In 1976, it became the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft, previously held by its predecessor, the closely related Lockheed YF-12
As of 2025, the Blackbird still holds all three world records.In 1989, the USAF retired the SR-71, largely for political reasons, although
several were briefly reactivated before their second retirement in 1998
NASA was the final operator of the Blackbird, using it as a research platform, until it was retired again in 1999
Blackbird, flown by the Dryden Flight Research Center as NASA 831, slices across the snow-covered southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of
California after being refueled by an Air Force tanker during a 1994 flight
SR-71B was the trainer version of the SR-71
Notice the dual cockpit to allow the instructor to fly the airplane.Sources: YouTube; Wikipedia
