United States Air Force SR-71 (Blackbird) The Lockheed SR71, unofficially known as the Blackbird, is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft by Lockheed's Skunkworks, which was also responsible for the U-2 and many other advanced aircraft.. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on December 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later, 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, California, in January 1966. The U.S. Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on January 26, 1990, because of a decreasing defense budget and high costs of operation. The USAF returned the SR-71 to the active Air Force inventory in 1995 and began flying operational missions in January 1997. The planes were permanently retired in 1998.Throughout its nearly 30+ year career, the SR71 remained the world's fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth's surface per hour. On July 28, 1976, an SR-71 set two world records for its class: an absolute speed record of 2,193.167 miles per hour and an absolute altitude record of 85,068.997 feet. When the SR-71 was retired in 1990, one was flown from Palmdale Airbase to go on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute's National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C., setting a coast-to-coast speed record at an average 2124 miles per hour. The entire trip took only 68 minutes.On March 21, 1968 Major (later General) Jerome F. O'Malley and Major Edward D. Payne made the first operational SR-71 sortie. During its career, this aircraft accumulated 2,981 flying hours and flew 942 total sorties (more than any other SR-71), including 257 operational missions, from Beale AFB, California; Palmdale, California; Kadena Air Base, Okinawa and RAF (Base) Mildenhall, England. The aircraft was flown to the United States Air Force Museum in March 1990.Thirty-two planes were built. Of these, 12 were lost in flight accidents but all crews ejected safely.The original designation for the aircraft was the RS-71. However when the aircraft was announced by Lyndon B. Johnson on February 29. 1964, Johnson accidentally switched the letters for the name of the aircraft, which forced Lockheed to instantly change the name of the aircraft.Similar to the SR-71 were the A-11 and A-12 which were prototypes for the Blackbird, and the YF-12 which was an attempt to convert the SR71 into a long range fighter.
General characteristicsSpan: 55 ft. 7 in. Length: 107 ft. 5 in. Height: 18 ft. 6 in. Weight: 170,000 lbs. loaded Armament: None Engines: Two Pratt and Whitney J58s of 32,500 pounds-thrust each with afterburner
Crew: Two
Maximum speed: greater than 2,000 mph.
Range: greater than 2,900 miles
Service Ceiling: greater than 85,000 feet
Total Number Built: 32
