The Lockheed-built SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest plane in history, was designed to replace the U-2 spy plane. This revolutionary aircraft pushed the boundaries of aviation, achieving sustained speeds ...

Here’s What You Need to Remember: Any plane is only as fast as whatever drives it, and the SR-71 was powered by a pair of Pratt and Whitney J58 turbojet engines. The engines in question, which were ...

The J58 required the use of a special AG330 engine starter cart to spool the engines up to the proper rotational speed for starting. Taken at Beale Air Force Base (AFB) in 1986, the impressive video ...

In one of the greatest ironies of the Cold War, the U.S. had to secretly buy the titanium needed to build the Mach 3+ SR-71 ...

In the perennial game of aeronautical anatomy-waving contests, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird wins every time. All the world's achievements in aviation in the last 120 years don't hit home in most ...

There are many high-speed air vehicles in the world today, with some of them, namely rockets and missiles, being capable of reaching many times the speed of sound. But only one, the legendary Lockheed ...

The SR-71 Blackbird may have been one of the most secretive aircraft of all time, developed behind closed doors in Lockheed’s Skunkworks. But after some time, it was an aircraft treated like any other ...

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works is developing the SR-72, a hypersonic spy plane designed to reach Mach 6. The SR-72, intended to replace the SR-71 Blackbird, will utilize a scramjet engine and is ...

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, ...

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 ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Before the era of military drones and satellites, there was the SR-71 Blackbird — an engineering marvel. It operated in the upper reaches of ...