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Flight test files: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird – Managing the expansion of the titanium skin

If there is one aircraft that could be termed the craziest development in aviation history, it would be the SR-71, the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird was a top performer in ...
BGR

The SR-71 Blackbird Jet Was Faster Than Any Commercial Plane

More than 60 years after it graced the skies for the first time, Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird remains the fastest manned plane ever developed. With the ability to hit a maximum speed of 2,193 miles per ...
The National Interest

Did the CIA Help Create the SR-71 Blackbird? It’s Complicated

The SR-71 was derived from the A-12 Oxcart, a black project also built by Lockheed’s famed “Skunk Works” division for the CIA.
National Security Journal on MSN

Before the Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird, the CIA had a secret spy plane that flew even faster

Summary and Key Points: Years before the famous SR-71 Blackbird, the CIA built the A-12 Oxcart — a top-secret Mach 3 spy ...
autoevolution

SR-71 Blackbird Speed Record in Danger After New Quarterhorse Prototype Takes Flight

Back in 1976, Major General Eldon Wayne Joersz and Lieutenant Colonel George T. Morgan Jr. climbed on board a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and set the absolute world speed record for a manned, ...
SlashGear

NASA Once Tricked Its Own Government By Hiding An SR-71 In Plain Sight

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird,one of the most recognizable aircraft, was primarily intended as a classified reconnaissance plane. Designed in the 1960s at Lockheed's Skunk Works division, the SR-71 ...
The Aviationist

New York to London in a Flash: A Look at an SR-71 Record Flight

Leaving the airspace above New York City at 2,455 miles per hour, SR-71 tail number 64-17972 would set a transatlantic speed record on Sept. 1, 1974. Stationed at Beale Air Force Base (AFB) California ...