The SR-71 did not simply fade into a museum corner; it left service with the same aura of speed and mystery that defined its ...

For the first time in 40 years, the fastest jet flight crew in the world reunited with the once super-secret spy plane that put them in the history books. At the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, ...

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft in the world. It is also one of the most fearsome reconnaissance aircraft, able to outrun threats from the Soviet Union at ...

As the Air Force’s budgets declined toward the end of the Cold War, the service could no longer justify keeping the expensive SR-71 in its inventory—especially as new threats started to emerge. The ...

Key Points and Summary: During 1986’s Operation El Dorado Canyon, an SR-71 Blackbird flew a daring post-strike reconnaissance ...

Ever since Germany began creating the first rocket-powered aircraft in the late-1920s, mankind has developed an immense infatuation with building jets capable of hitting supersonic speeds in the blink ...

To say that the feature-packed SR-71 Blackbird is a work of art would be a disservice to the gifted hands and minds that willed it into existence. The aircraft has six world records under its belt, ...

As Cold War tensions heightened during the 1950s, the CIA began flying the U-2 spy plane to keep tabs on the Soviet Union’s fast expanding nuclear weapons capabilities. Ungainly and relatively ...

On July 26, 1968, the North Vietnamese fired two SA-2 surface-to-air missiles at SR-71A No. 976. Neither crewman saw the SAMs detonate about 2 miles behind the supersonic “Blackbird,” whose crews ...

The SR-71 is perhaps the most iconic Cold War spy aircraft, famous for many record-setting flights. Seemingly impervious to loss by enemy defenses, a dozen Blackbirds were lost to accidents. On July ...

Speed demons: pilots of the Blackbird SR-71 looking as top secret as the plane itself. (Image courtesy of Lockheed Martin) The ups and downs of Brian Shul’s life have been both literal and extreme.

Boeing unveiled a conceptual model for a hypersonic jet that would replace the SR-71 Blackbird. The jet would hit speeds of more than Mach 5 No one has committed to building it yet. Boeing recently ...