The SR71 Blackbird is an icon in the world of aircraft. It’s top speed may still be classified but publicly it’s been said to go as fast as 2200 mph…which is actually faster than a bullet. No enemy missile or interceptor jet ever brought one down, and the Blackbirds flew all over the world, and over some of the most hostile places where a shoot-down, would not have been an unusual response to their presence.
A couple of interesting notes about the SR71. There were actually 3 nose configurations. One for training, one with radar, and one set up for photo recon. The nose cone was held on by only 4 bolts and could be changed out quickly. For the photo/film work, the film roll was 5 inches wide and two miles long. The field of view at altitude was a bit over 70 miles wide. 93% of the plane’s skin is made of titanium (amazingly obtained from Russia of all places) due to it’s resistance to heat build up during supersonic flight. On the ground, designed gaps in the skin of the plane will leak fuel, but as the plane climbs and picks up speed the fuselage will expand up to about 6 inches with outside temperatures reaching around 600 degrees, and some spots can get much hotter. and once this happens these seams seal up.
I recently watched a very good talk given by Brian Shul who flew the Blackbird and wrote a wonderful book on the experience called Sled Driver. He’s an excellent speaker, and I’ve included one of his presentations below. A very good and humorous, short story, called the LA Speed Story, can also be found on Youtube.
I have visited several air museums over the years and a few had Blackbirds on the display. The most memorable one for me, and the one that I think really presents the aircraft beautifully is found just west of Omaha Nebraska.