An SR-71 Blackbird beautifully displayed at the SAC Museum just west of Omaha Nebraska
Happy 55th Birthday Blackbird!
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird flew for the first time on Dec. 22, 1964 at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. Throughout its career, that came to an end on Oct. 9, 1999, no SR-71 was reportedly lost nor damaged due to hostile actions: the SR-71 flew above Mach 3 at 85,000 feet, with a reported top speed of Mach 3.4 during flight testing and Mac 3.5 during on an operational sortie while evading a missile over Libya.
There are rumors of ongoing work by Lockheed that may lead to the creation of something like an SR-72. In November last year, Lockheed Martin stated that a prototype of the SR-72 was scheduled to fly by 2025. Keep an eye in the upcoming movie, Top Gun: Maverick…and you may see a glimpse of something similar on the big screen.