The SR-71 Blackbird, the world’s fastest air-breathing manned aircraft, held its speed record not because of its airframe’s ...

Born from the need to replace the vulnerable U-2 spy plane, the SR-71 Blackbird was an engineering marvel of the Cold War. We ...

From unstable airframes to a lack of safety features, not all pilots in the US Air Force are qualified to fly these aircraft. At Mach 6, the SR-72 can cut across radar fields of view so quickly that ...

The SR-71 Blackbird was the world's fastest jet. Capable of of flying as high as 85,000 feet at Mach 3.3 (2,193.2 mph), the Blackbird was used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. It ...

At Mach 3, friction with the atmosphere raised the SR-71’s skin temperatures to a searing 500 degrees Fahrenheit—hot enough to make the fuselage glow red.

Watch the impressive engineering in this in-depth tour of the SR-71 Blackbird's jet engine and you'll see an extraordinary reconnaissance aircraft that still impresses despite taking its first flight ...