usually when someone or something
retires it's because they've grown a
little older and maybe a little slower
over time maybe their skills aren't as
useful as they once were so they opted
to spend their sunset he is peacefully
watching others take over their old
duties and not the sr-71 blackbird it
went out with a sonic boom this 71 was
in the prime of its amazing life
this was a titanium bird designed to
outrun and spy on the russians a bird
that was fooling russians even before it
was assembled when talking about the
lockheed blackburn family probably the
most frequently asked blackbird question
is how fast does it really fly the
iconic sr-71 blackbird spy plane is
known for being the official record
holder for the fastest jet-powered
piloted aircraft of all time
the lockheed martin sr-71 blackbird or
as its aircrew members have dubbed it
the hubbu after a pit viper indigenous
to japan is without a doubt one of the
most legendary and iconic military
aircraft of all time by simple virtue of
the fact that 58 years after its
invention and 23 years after its
official retirement nasa operated the
two last air with the blackbirds until
1999.
all other blackbirds have been moved to
museums except for the two sr-71s and a
few d21 drones retained by the nasa
dryden flight research center later
renamed the armstrong flight research
center and it still remains the world's
fastest air-breathing aircraft and to
not keep you waiting any longer meet the
azar 71 blackbird the fastest
air-breeding aircraft ever
all these years later the sr-71 is still
as far as the record books go the
fastest airplane development began in
the late 1950s and the airplane first
flew in the early 1960s
lockheed sr-71 blackbird is the fastest
jet aircraft in the world reaching
speeds of mach 3.3 that's more than 3500
kilometer per hour and almost four times
as fast as the average cruising speed of
a commercial air miner the elements of
the sr-71's design made this possible
out of nowhere jim hit good air and in
the dive with good air he redlined
everything he went into his descent
profile and headed back to the test side
the exact date of the accomplishment is
unknown however it is known that in july
1976
an sr-70 one set not one but two world
records one was an absolute speed record
of two thousand one hundred ninety three
point one hundred sixty seven miles per
hour while the other was an absolute
altitude record of eighty five thousand
sixty eight point nine hundred ninety
seven feet
is there a plane faster than the sr-71
the blackbird was designed to cruise in
afterburner at three times the speed of
sound for hours on end
the records it said are many the
blackbird was a remains the world's
fastest and highest flying manned
aircraft another impressive feat of the
blackburn transpired on seven match 1990
when an airframe piloted by lieutenant
colonel raymond e yelding and joseph t
veda both usaf flew from the west coast
of the united states to the u.s east
coast a mine blowing 2 400 4 miles in 68
17
to provide the reader with even further
appreciation for the sr 71 speed it
sustained airspeed of mach 3.2 ensured
that even the soviet union's much feared
my g25 make a reporting name fox that
the world's fastest interceptor could
not catch it even at its impressive
airspeed of 2.8 plus mark on paper the
my g25 could attain a maximum speed of
3.2 mark but in reality this would
entail the destruction of the plane's
engines
as an interesting side note much of the
aura fear and mystery surrounding the
myg-25 originally designed to counter
the mock-free xb70 valkyrie bomber was
dissipated after the defection of fox
but pilot lieutenant victor bolenko from
the soviet union to the united states
via japan in 1976
bolenko's story is told in detail in
john barron's excellent
1983 book my g pilot the final escape of
lieutenant bolenko which is now out of
print but readily available via used
booksellers online
the assassin 71 was never shut down the
blackbird's legendary status is further
cemented by the fact that it has never
been shot down whether by enemy fighter
planes surface-to-air missiles sams or a
fire america's are the most famous and
venerable spy plane the u2 although
ironically a fighter plane belonging to
a friendly nation namely sweden so vegan
actually came close in 1986
even obtaining missile lock and visual
contact via a head-on game of
chicken-like approach since a tail chase
would have been for naught the sr-71
traces its routes to lockheed's famed
skunk works division note the lockheed
corporation didn't officially change its
name to lockheed martin until much
1995 merger with martin marietta which
also designed the p-38 lightning flown
during ww2 by major richard dickball
america's all-time highest scoring air
ace the p-80 shooting star the first jet
fighter used operationally by the united
states on the air forces use off during
world war roman 2 the f-117 nighthawk
the original stealth aircraft and the
f-22 raptor the first fifth generation
fighter
sr-71 is a legendary career american
aerospace engineer clarence kelly
johnson designed the airframes features
based heavily upon a previous skunk
works black project theatre
reconnaissance aircraft equipped with
reconnaissance mission features such as
signals intelligent sensors side-looking
airborne radar and a camera the sr-71
made its first flight on 22 december
1964 and officially entered into service
in january 1966
a total of 32 aircraft were built and
although as previously noted none were
ever lost to enemy action two were lost
in accidents out of these 12 aircraft
losses only one fatality occurred the
being reconnaissance system officer rso
jim zware who lost his life during a
mid-air breakup incident stemming from a
severe case of engine and start on 25
january 1966
during its 58 years of official service
which included an initial retirement in
920 88 and an on retirement
10 20 24 before the affordance and final
retirement of 120 28 until 1720 99 sr-70
once blew missions over the hostile
skies of north vietnam north korea libya
cuba and nicaragua as well as sort of
flown off the borders of east germany
poland and dssr including the latter
nation submarine port
the final retirement of the blackbird
has left a bit of a gap in the usa
reconnaissance capabilities due to the
inherent limitations of reconnaissance
satellites which take up to 24 hours to
arrive in the proper orbit to photograph
a particular target making them slower
to respond to demand than reconnaissance
plane
the blackwood successor is the subject
of considerable speculation ranging from
the rumored and most likely apocryphal
meanwhile the official story is that the
usaf is pursuing the northrop grumman iq
108 uav to assume the sr-71 strategic
intelligence surveillance and
reconnaissance role