Color postcard of the SR-71 Blackbird landing at Washington Dulles International Airport in 1990. The plane is housed at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum, Chantilly ...

The SR-71 set a number of impressive aviation records, many of which remain today unbroken.In 1976, the jet achieved an absolute speed record for a manned aircraft, reaching an astounding 2,193.2 ...

A variant of the SR-71's predecessor program, the faster and higher-flying A-12, actually had a fighter-interceptor sibling in the form of the YF-12. The Air Force felt it needed a Mach 3 interceptor.

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.

The SR-71 Blackbird’s earned world record for speed has never been topped by a successor. The fastest jet to ever fly the skies is surprisingly not a fifth-generation platform designed in the ...

One SR-71 pilot noted that the ANS was accurate enough to limit drift to just 1,000 feet off the direction of travel, even while traveling at Mach 3 speeds. About the Author: Harrison Kass.