The SR-71 Blackbird is a total badass.
It was the nation’s preeminent spy plane for more than 30 years and served as the gatekeeper between the era of spy plans and spy satellites. But what really mattered was that the thing flat out hauls serious butt.
When you make the fastest plane every to fly, there’s mind-boggling engineering and that leads to awesome factoids. Here’s a collection of things you probably don’t know about the SR-71:
1. Even though it hasn’t flown in 15 years, it’s still the official record holder for fastest manned jet-powered aircraft.
Though a few pilots took it even faster over the years, 2,193.13 mph is the official record, set in July of 1976 to celebrate America’s bicentennial. This image above is that plane landing after hitting that accomplishment.
2. And it set the record with only one engine.
As with other speed records, to be official speed, the plane needs to fly in both directions. On the run, one engine shut down at the start of the second run, and the pilot tried to get it relit. The pilot, then-Capt. Al Joersz, said, “By the time we’d gone through the checklist, we’d already passed the second gate [thus officially starting the run]. Still, we exited the gate at Mach 3.2.”
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