Courtney, I was ground maintenance crew on the SR71 in the early 70's. The actual record was set on September 1, 1974, by Major Sullivan and his backseater, Major Widdifield, in SR-71A serial no. 64-17972, flying from New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes and 56 seconds. They visited the Farnsbourough Air Show in the UK. September 13, 1974 Captain “Buck” Adams, and his backseater, Major Machorek returned that same plane to the USA, setting another record, this time from London to Los Angeles. The total time for the record flight was 3 hours, 47 minutes and 39 seconds. I was on the ground in California to receive that aircraft when it returned.

Another great Blackbird story: The Blackbird asks for clearance to 60,000 feet, and the controller responds with something along the lines of "FL600 is yours if you can get there." To which the SR-71 responds, "Roger, DESCENDING to FL600."

Clarence “Kelly” Johnson was the designer of the Blackbird. Someone told me that the highest recorded speed was Mach 3.45; and here’s the kicker, it was still ACCELERATING.

If you think this was interesting, watch the " LA speed check " video. Guy tells a story about a funny thing they did in an SR71.

The most mind blowing thing to me about the SR-71 is that is was designed almost entirely with a slide rule and a pencil.

You should react to "The insane engineering of the SR-71" by Real Engineering.

The SR-71 is the only plane in history to get more fuel efficient the faster it goes!!

One of the pilots talked about being so high you could see the earth was round and they saw the missile that was launched at them and they turned and out ran it. Some fighter jets could reach mach 3 for a few minutes. But the blackbird could fly that speed for an hour and a half. They said it was really expensive to fly.

I was stationed at an Air Force Base in the Mojave in the early 80's. One evening, at dusk, coming out of the building I worked out of, which was near the end of the runway, I heard an engine sound I did not recognize. Looking toward the runway, I saw a long, black silhouette with twin blue-white pins of flame against a pink-orange sky. It was a Blackbird doing a touch and go. One of the most memorable sights of my time in the service.

The SR-71 is so fast it could fly around the entire world in 10 hours.

In '87 there was an "In Flight Emergency" declared over Japan. within an hour we had an SR-71 in East Washington.

The Blackbird was one of the most badass pieces of machinery ever built. Growing up on and around air force bases, I got to see these things fly a few times. Even standing on the ground, if one flew over you, it felt like it was gonna suck all the air out of your lungs.

I was stationed in England in the USAF. I worked the HF radio communications with the airplane, the pilots even came to the station to thank us for the assistance.

The crazy thing is that a lot of the SR-71 is still classified. The top speed of mach 3 is the unofficial maximum speed. According to pilots that flew the plane it could go significantly faster then that. The Russian interceptors that where designed to catch it maxed out at mach 3. They couldn't catch the jet.

Courtney, you have no idea how long I've been waiting on this reaction! This is a great story. Edit: I thought this was the L.A. speed story. Check that one out, Court.

Sorry I just wanted to let you know how much this video helped me to smile, I'm going through a emergency custody hearing tomorrow as my daughter was being abused by her mother and I haven't really smiled for some time but watching your video listening to your accent madd me smile so thank you God Bless

Try the “LA speed story” about the black bird. A much better video

My 3 favorite planes: SR-71, A-10 Warthog and the B-52.

The SR-71 was one hell of a badass spy plane. It had neither offensive nor defensive capability. It dealt with threats by simply outrunning them. Its top speed was classified of course, but the American press surmised that it was at least Mach 3. The SR-71 was a product of Lockheed's famous "skunk works," headed by a living legend named Kelly Johnson. The SW also designed the U2.

I had an elderly neighbor who lived a couple of blocks from me in a small town in southwest Idaho. He was 91 a few years ago and has since died. He was an electrical engineer and flew in the back seat of the SR 71 when it was in development and did systems tests in the aircraft. He also designed the first radio system for LAPD. And, he was the communications officer on the non-stop flight around the world by Yeager and Rutan. Very interesting guy.

The SR 71 is an absolute beast of an aircraft… By the way I love the content! Keep it up

The SR-71 could fly at Mach 3 (2000 mph) for an hour and a half, That means a great deal of heat would be generated by friction, This heat was absorbed by the special JP7 fuel, This fuel has a high energy content but more importantly for this purpose it had very low volatility, It does not evaporate easily and can absorb a great deal of heat without boiling, To start the engines, electric heaters are needed to vaporize the fuel being fed into them. The engines are of turbo-ram design. There are seven stages of compressors., As airspeed increases the air being rammed into the intakes allows airflow to be diverted around these compressors one at a time. When the Mach 3 cruising speed is reached all of the compressors are inactive and the engine is effectively a ramjet. This allows greater fuel economy by not having to drive the compressors. Lots of other interesting techie stuff about the Blackbird.

This was the most perfect aircraft ever designed period. J.

If you travel to NYC, you can see one on the USS Intrepid. It's a retired aircraft carrier that's now a museum. BTW, the wide eyes at the beginning of the video were precious 😄

We have one in front of the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville Alabama. We also have a Space Shuttle and both a vertical and horizontal Saturn V rocket. Man I love this town.

I spent 36 years in the USAF. This was one of my favorite aircraft. I got to see the final flight of one of these beauties. AF could not afford to keep this thing flying because of the maintenance issues, but there was nothing like it. The U2 is much, much slower but flew as high. It is still in commission today. Interesting the videos that you check out. I am sure you have much to tell your husband about after all this information you get. Hopefully, you get a chance to visit us one day.

The most beautiful machine man has ever made both from an aesthetics standpoint and a functional standpoint.

Hi Courtney, I grew up in Oshkosh, WI (home of the annual EAA air shows). I remember seeing the SR-71. The announcer on the radio stated "the pilot just left California 25 minutes ago. He made a high speed pass on just one engine, and nearly put everyone on the ground. OOOOHHHH the memories.

One the main bases for the SR 71 when I was a kid in the 70’s was Kadena AFB on Okinawa. Despite being called the Blackbird, on Okinawa it was nicknamed the Habu after a deadly snake that was native to Okinawa. My brother and I both built SR 71 models and displayed them on our dressers. We would always get excited when we would see it fly over.

If anyone would like to see these planes, there are two on display in the Antelope Valley area of California. Drive to Palmdale and exit Rancho Vista Blvd/Ave P. Go east to 25th Street East. There are other planes in the area, including the 747 that carried the space shuttles from place to place.

This beautiful aircraft was the great mind of Kelly Johnson in 1958. Nothing like it.

I enlisted in the USAF at RAF Mildenhall in East Anglia, UK. Waiting for a MAC flight to take me to Lackland, I was at Mildenhall when an SR-71 mission departed. You could feel your chest vibrating like your were going to lose your insides. Awesome experience. Next time you have a chance, visit Huntsville, AL, USA. There's a place there which has an A-12 - stablemate to the SR-71 - and a couple of other craft which travel even faster. One story I remember about the SR-71 was when the Libyans fired a missile on one back in 1982 or thereabouts. The SR-71 pilot started accelerating over Tripoli to outrun the missile, and overshot his tanker at Gibralter.

The most amazing thing about the SR-71 to me is that while it still looks futuristic today, it flew first in 1964, almost 60 years ago.

And to think it was designed before modern computers... Here’s a great story from an actual SR-71 pilot kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bqepe6tqrJ_JpGQ.html You should also check out the XB-70 Valkyrie.

My Grandfather worked at Lockheed for 46 years and my Father worked there for 40, it was both their only job ever. My dad was assigned to work on the SR-71 Blackbird.. it's my favorite aircraft.

Courtney, I also worked with the SR-71 back in 72-73. I was part of the 9th RECON Wing and we had 4 SR-71 aircraft stationed at Kadena AB in Okinawa. An interesting fact, which most people are not aware of unless you worked with the aircraft is, in order to start the engines, which burned JP-7, we had to inject triethylborane (TEB) into the engines combustion chamber. TEB is a colorless pyrophoric, which means it combust into flame when it comes in contact with oxygen. Yep, that's correct, it actually 'explodes' when it comes in contact with oxygen. The reason this was done was to help ignite the jet fuel, which is basically high grade kerosene.

It was originally names the R-S 71 or reconnaissance supersonic , but back in 1966 when it was unveiled to the public President Johnson call it the SR -71 reverse the acronyms. so just SR 71.

The SR-71 was preceded by a similar looking aircraft called the Y111A Archangel. It was slightly smaller and also very fast and in service while I was working in naval reconnaissance in the mid 60's.

The most remarkable thing about it was that it had a sustained speed. Not just a fly up and shut down. Heat mitigation at those speeds was its triumph and also engines that could produce that power and not burn up.

On the SR-71 last flight from L.A. to Washington D.C. it sanded in Dallas to refuel and only took 53 minutes of flight time. The jet engines were started with twin big block Cherolet 454 C.I. engines.

I think one of the most impressive things about that aircraft was that Kelly Johnson started developing this in the late 50's early 60's with nothing more than a slide ruler. No computers, just good old fashion paper, pencils and geometric know how. The tech to make this bird has not yet been invented. The fuel was specially made with a fleet of tankers dedicated just for the refueling of this. It would tank almost immediately after take off, climb some more, tank again, then take off to handle its mission. A couple people have mentioned the "LA SPEED" story. Major Brian Shul gives an entire speech at a university talking about his life before and leading up to being a sled driver. It's wonderful for anyone interested in Aviation and this jet. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nqx6gNZimtm6g40.html

React to the "LA Speed check Story" where a blackbird pilot tells a really funny story about its speed.

In 1968-69 I was stationed at a B-52/ KC 135 base in Thailand. We were able to see a SR71 fly overhead with an engine smoking. Due to our very long runway, they would land at our base, taxi to an enclosed hanger, get repaired and leave. This happened twice while I was there. Awesome bird taking off.

In 1988, I was beside the tarmac to watch one of the last flights of an SR 71 takeoff (before it's "retirement" the first time). It rolled to the end of the runway, a little fleet of service vehicles including a firetruck behind it, rolled down the runway gathering speed, took off and then in a final salute did a long loop to come back over and buzz the runway at a very low altitude with an ear-shattering roar before it angled up in a near vertical climb and disappeared into the clear sky in seconds.

Courtney - You picked a really good one this time even though it is so short. Look at all the comments it generated! Look at the amazing people with first hand experience it brought!

Please do a reaction to the L A speed check if like the sr71. Its funny

The major factors in retiring the SR71 was cost, long mission planning cycles, and the need to find money to fund new unmanned Drone and Stealth aircraft. It took a week for one SR71 to recover from a mission and launch another. It was an expensive logistical nightmare, and the Air Force was looking for a way out to use the money on newer technology. The increase in intelligence satellites provided an opportunity. The SR71 few at a minimum of 2x to 3x the speed of sound (2,283 miles per hour) which burns about 16,000 to 20,000 kgs of highly specialized fuel PER HOUR of flight. One mission can be from 2 to 11 hours of flight. It can go much faster than 3x the speed of sound and burn much more fuel. An 11 hour mission would required a minimum of 5 tanker aircraft full of fuel to supply it with mid-air refueling operations every 3,000 or so miles -- and that is only 1 mission. So you needed a fleet of large tanker aircraft just to support the SR71s. You had many SR71 aircraft, so imagine the size the the flying tanker fleet supporting it. Maintenance was also costly often requiring a 1 week turnaround cycle. Satellites that were on station were much less expensive -- but not necessarily more effective. There was a tradeoff of losing some capability versus the cost. Satellites are often on a fixed course. They have to be "reprogrammed" to have them change course and move to another location. That takes time and money also. Sometimes it is easier to just send the SR71 on a direct mission or multiple missions at the need of a battlefield commander rather than reprogramming a bunch of Space Satellites that might be on the other side of the world at the time. Here is a full story of the SR71 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nqx6gNZimtm6g40.html

Sad part is that a lot of people never even heard of the a-12 which was pretty much a smaller blackbird that was kinda over shadowed by the SR-71 even though it was a little faster

Odds are it was retired because they have something that can outperform it now. Like the Aurora project...

Their are quite a few fallacy's on this plane even in this video. Like the leaking fuel. To start in an attempt to save weight and for maximum fuel capacity for this thirsty plane they did away with actual fuel tanks and instead used the body and skin of the plane for the fuel tank. The reason it leaked is yes because of the thermal expansion and contraction of the body but they didn't really design it loosely so it would tighten up at speed. They had sealer in the body panel joints to seal it up and the heating and cooling regularly broke the seal and they had to regularly replace the seals to keep the leaking fuel at bay. The fact that the plane constantly broke these seals made it impossible to stop the leaks while still being able to fly consistently. The loss of fuel and the leaks was seen as acceptable to a degree because of the extremely time consuming constant dismantling of the body and replacing of seals. Instead they set up a reference chart that effectively told them that for so many drips over a set time from different areas of the plane would determine if the seals were getting bad enough to be worth taking the time to replace them. As to why they stopped flying it. No it wasn't satellites, maybe to a degree but the main reason was the Russians had them on radar and steadily kept getting closer with new missiles and jets getting higher and faster to the point that the US finally thought is it really worth the risk at this point... should we stop and get out while the gettings good. They decided just that. They cut the flights before they lost a plane and caused an incident...again. The Russians constantly warned the US to stop the flights but since the Russians had no concrete evidence of it being a US plane the US just feigned ignorance and denied it was them. But if they lost one of the SR-71's like they had lost a U-2 previously... that would be a nightmare for them.

There's one at the air and space museum in Oregon. It's bigger than you might think. It takes your breath away. It looks badass, and secretive, and very very fast as it's just sitting there. Like it's waiting.

These airplanes were never shot down, shot at. The engineering on this machine was like something from a science fiction movie. They ran into problems and just figured out a means of overcoming that problem. I watched a video in which the pilot stated that they were so high he could see the curvature of the earth. This bird could hit 2,000 mph. Talk about hauling ass. This is so cool.

Their is one at the Museum of Flight in Seattle across the street from the original Air Force One.

The reason we know about it and its been benched is because we created something better to replace it not just satellites

My cousin was an SR-71 pilot. I saw one in my AFB station in Minot in the early 80s, it stopped in for emergency maintenance. when it left, it took off and came back around for a flyby! halfway down the tarmac it went straight up and disappeared in less than 20 seconds!!!

I was told a story of one that had an engine failure near Seattle, Washington. It landed in Grand Forks, North Dakota (~1200 miles away). It was a very foggy morning, so the ground crew couldn't spot the plane. People lined up and walked out to the airplane with their hands in front of them to feel for the heat. The crew had to be lifted out of the cockpit, because the plane takes 2+ days to cool down. After repairs, they figured a pre-dawn departure would be a good idea. Some claimed it was so bright it looked like the sun was taking off into the sky. Fun fact: at speed, the turning radius was about 100 miles.

They may say they are retired………

Problem with satellites is countries would know when they were coming over and hide stuff…

It was retired for two reasons. One, it was incredibly expensive to keep it flying. And two, satellite imagery had become so good the aircraft wasn't really needed anymore. And keep in mind... this was 'Kelly Johnson's' (Lockheed's Warlock) genius 1960's technology! Pretty cool, huh?

It's a shame that the most awesome plane ever built was decommissioned. It was built in the late 50s early 60s with no computers to help it was all drawn up on the drafting board.

Officially the SR-71 was retired because “it’s expensive to operate and missiles were starting to catch up to it” etc. Unofficially, rumors are there is something better flying in the deserts of the southwestern U.S. If you’d like to hear a really awesome story by one of the pilots, checkout the “L.A. Speed Story”.

The SR71 Blackbird flew from NYC to LA in 64 minutes. That is over 3,000 miles. So it was going 3,000 miles an hour. You need to Check out it's replacement, the SR72, It can go 6,000 miles an hour.

The SR-71 is just one of many aircraft to come from the Lockeed Skunk Works. My uncle was an engineer that worked on the landing gear for the F-117 Night Hawk(the stealth fighter as it was known).

I lived in the Antelope Valley from 1966 to 1987. There's a spot on Sierra Hwy across from Lockheed, where you could park and it would take off and ascend over your head. Always thrilling.

For a good laugh check out the story about the SR 71 called the LA Speed Check. Its only about 5 or 6 minutes long.

I could watch Jeremy Clarkson talk about anything. The dude is greatness.

While stationed at KAB in Okinawa, I worked Line D delivering munitions to the flight line. I saw the SR71's take off and land many times. When the bird took off, the sound hurt my ears even with earplugs in. You could feel the heat from the afterburners as well!

This bird still holds records that are over 40 years old and haven't been broken yet. It flew from New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes: London to Los Angeles 3 hours and 47 minutes Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour 4 minutes: Coast to coast 1 hour 8 minutes; Kansas City to St. Louis in 8 minutes; St. Louis to Washington D.C. in 26 minutes. It's retirement was militarily political.

One thing that is little known about the SR-71 Blackbird is that it uses nearly all of it's entire fuel supply on takeoff and rising to elevation. It is them refueled in the air before going on it's surveillance mission. By then friction has heated up all the panels, made them expand on the body, and the plane has stopped leaking.

Kelly Johnson of Lockheed was the Steve Jobs of the aeronautical world.

This bird is crazy. As posted already, Real Engineering does a great video or two on it. But it was all designed by hand without computer help. Fuel lines ran through the body to cool it while also heating the fuel for ignition.

Back in the early 80's when I was in my 20's I was racing (testing) for the BMW factory at Riverside Raceway in So. Calif. During a break the SR 71 Blackbird flew over the racetrack. I grabbed my camera with a telephoto lenses and took several pic's as it flew by so close you could see the rivets. About 15 minutes two guys dressed in suits walked up to me and said, "We need your film, you can't take photos of the SR 71".They opened my camera and took the film.....geezz

I believe that the SR-71 was a result of the U2 incident. After the U2 was shot down, the SR-71 was intended as a recon plane that was untouchable.

The SR-71 may still hold the record for fastest jet flight, but the North American X-15 is the undisputed king of every powered aircraft that has ever flown within the atmosphere of the Earth...William (Pete) Knight flew the X-15 to Mach 6.7 on October 3, 1967.

Lots of awesome things about this plane. One of my favorite is the pilot said "I made the first flight Dec 24 of 1964." This plane was most likely developed in the 1950's.

I loved this plane since I was a kid, the reason it leaks on the ground is because at high altitudes like he said, the panels warp and they made it so they seal during high flight.

Back in 1984-1986 I was a young USAF airman stationed at Mather AFB near Sacramento California...nearby Beale AFB operated the SR-71. It would overfly Mather occasionally and it was a nearly mythical machine. I recall jumping on my motorcycle and riding up to Beale during their open house airshow...got to see the SR do multiple low-level fly-by's.

New Zealand Girl. I put out a plea about a month ago wanting someone to somehow get a hold of you and see your reaction to the SR-71! I just love this plane. 35 miles in one...minute!

I went to a lecture given by a crew of the SR71. Someone asked how fast the plane could go. "Fast enough to melt the airplane"

US Air Force Veteran here: Had one land on our base in 1984 for an oil leak. It went straight into the hanger after landing and spent 3 days there before taking off again. Definitely check out "LA Speed Check" by Major Brian Shul, one of the former pilots.

I sent so much time reading about this aircraft and the SR-71 i seen it for the first time 2 years ago in the museum was the one that set a speed record by flying from New York to London England a distance 3,461.53 miles (5,570.79 km), 1,806.964 miles per hour (2,908.027 km/h), and an elapsed time of 1 hour 54 minutes on September 1st 1974 and it was retired due to modern satellites and the cost to fly the SR-71 was $200,000 per hour.

My fav aircraft by far. I grew up in Palmdale, Ca home of the Lockheed Skunk Works where my Dad worked as an Electronic Tech Engineer from 1958 till 1993 when he retired and I saw that beauty fly all the time. When it would break the sound barrier (Mach 1 or 750mph) the sonic booms would rattle the windows and shake the house. I really miss seeing her fly and her sonic booms. I highly suggest binge watching some SR-71 vids. Then you will really know why she is the most awesome aircraft ever to be flown, IMO.

I fell in love with the SR-71 when they would fly over my house in Okinawa City late ‘70’s early ‘80’s. Beautiful machine! And yes , Courtney, i agree with you... I have always believed UFOs were military experimental aircraft.

I actually got to see the SR-71 Blackbird fly at Scott AFB in Illinois back in 1983-84 when it did a few flyover passes during an Air Show event there. And that plane is very quiet until it flies right over you. But the one aircraft nobody talks about that did the same mission/ job as the SR-71 is the U-2 "Lady Dragon" spy plane, that's STILL flying & in operation to this day considering it first flew in 1955 & was used during the Cuban Missile Crisis back in the mid 1950's.

Fun fact. The fuel used by the SR71 had such a high flash point that you could throw a match into a bucket full of it and the match would go out without igniting the fuel.

Saw one when I was a kid out in California during a air show, I grew up on whiteman afb so I saw the b2 stealth damn near daily, but I still dream about the SR71 cause seeing that thing fly.. just the shape and deafening noise.. u could tell it was built for speed... such a rad looking jet

Lots of comments here, but some interesting facts: 1) The SR-71 was made primarily of titanium, and - given the altitude - the pilots wore what were in effect astronaut suits. 2) The first mission after an SR-71 took flight was to refuel with an orbiting aerial tanker. Combining the lost fuel from seeping fuel tanks with the takeoff thrust, refueling had to be the first task. 3) The world's largest supplier of titanium during the SR-71s production was... the USSR. Now, the US couldn't openly order titanium from the Soviets for hosts of reasons. So the CIA set up shell comapanies that bartered with the USSR. I think the main trade item was... Pepsi syrup, which could be carbonated on the Soviet side to create this interesting Western drink (Pepsi was also traded for Stolichnaya Vodka). So this is one of the first documented instances where the US used capitalism to defeat Communism. Lastly, I think the major decision to retire the SR-71 was around the improved capability of satellites, which did not put pilots' lives at risk. This was a riding concern ever since Francis Gary Powers was shot down and taken prisoner in what was deemed a "missile-proof" U-2. Once that happened, and the US had to negotiate a spy-captive trade with the USSR to get Powers back, human assets became more important.

Basically on the reason why the blackbird was decommissioned was mainly because of the cost to keep it running and back when the blackbird operated, there were films in the plane that would take pictures, once the pictures were back at the base, the camera was disconnected from the plane and was sent to be analyzed by technical personnel to see if the photos gotten damaged, and more people to see what kind of info would be useful, also the plane is very special and it was made from titanium, and the wheels are so special, that normal tires on plane, when the plane goes to take off, the speed needed to get up is so fast, that the tires would explode, these are the reasons that the SR-71 Blackbird is no longer flying

While in the U.S.Navy I was stationed in the desert in Nevada. A SR71 had hydraulics failure over Idaho and could not slow down fast enough to land until Nevada. It was guarded with live ammo.

This aircraft filled one with awe......like something out of sci fi. Had a friend stationed at a base in CA .....needed to hook up so he could drive his mom's car back home and then have me take him back to base before he went back on deployment. I pulled up to the base entrance...got clearance to enter and directions to his quarters at the gate....... which took me right by this baby........think she had just landed.......there were vapor clouds all over......which made the scene before me even more eerie......I saw what's mentioned in the clip later.....she was dripping fuel from all her panels......hence the vapor clouds.....at a certain height and speed she seals up tight....my buddy had clearance and we got up damn close and personal with her......right off the flight line. I been up close to a F-117 Nighthawk ( the original stealth aircraft) which was bizarre and awesome too......but the SR-71 was a beauty.

Actual Air Traffic Control communication. ATC AF 271 requesting clearance to Flight Level 800 (eighty thousand feet) Unknown aircraft on same frequency “Good luck getting up there”. SR-71 “ We are descending”!

I recently spoke to a friend who is a radar operator on my little island in Hawaii. At that time, the fastest military planes could reach speeds up to Mark two. During a training exercise, with several high-ranking officers present, he noticed that that suddenly appear on his radar flying at Mark 3+. He dutifully reported the incident to the seniors, apologizing for his faulty radar equipment. The senior general in the room smiled and said,: “nothing wrong with your equipment“. He didn’t learn until 10 years later, after he had become a civilian again, that he had witnessed the test flights Of the SR 71 blackbird.

i remember back in the 80s my mom worked out at Beale air force base in californis as a cook Beale was the first one to get the sr71 use to go out there and have lunch all the time i got to meet the pilots and even got to sit and have lunch with them and even got to get inside of it several times great memories i was 19 years old in 1986 miss those days so much R.I.P to mom and dad i love and miss you so very much

I was stationed at Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa. Seen these plane take off and land many times. When it took off, the ground shook. At 2 times the speed of sound at 80,000 feet it could take a picture of a news paper and read the headlines, or the numbers on a license plate on a car. Flip them off, they can tell the color of you your nail polish. That good.

I gotto see one of these babies, back in the ‘80s. It was escorted by the Air Force security into the hanger next to the hanger where I worked in the Air Force. We got to watch it take off a couple days later. It circled the area twice and then it just disappeared with a huge sonic boom that even my neighbors off base in Forth Worth, Texas talked about for days!

Fun fact on why it as retired, the film from the camera that the SR-71 took photos from was 5 inches in width and 2 miles long. The photo maintenance people who removed it from the camera, had to put on some cotton surgical gloves so they don't damage the film and carefully remove the entire film.

SR-72 is already in secret flight around the US. But the SR-71 is godly makes me cry

Blackbird Airpark, in Palmdale, CA, has an SR-71 and an A-12, that you can view up close. Worth the trip, if you are in Southern CA.

I was at work at a defense plant in L.A. and a Blackbird landed at the government aurport next door. So loud the building I was in shook like an earthquake!

The "Sled" retired after there were enough hi-res satellite cameras in space to photograph anything they needed to see. Also, the SR-71 was a very expensive operation. It required a fleet of DC-10 refueling aircraft that stored the special fuel for this aircraft to take on in-flight. Fun fact: although fuel "weeped" out of the tanks into drop pans in the hangar, it would not easily catch fire. It took a special ingredient injected into the fuel in the engine to get it to light.