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.

On this day in aviation history, December 22, 1964, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird made its first flight. A favorite of many ...

Around the conclusion of the Cold War, the SR-71 was falling out of favor. The shift in attitude was owed in large part to the Soviet decline, which spoiled the SR-71’s most important reconnaissance ...

For the first time in 40 years, the fastest jet flight crew in the world reunited with the once super-secret spy plane that put them in the history books. At the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, ...

The fastest plane to ever fly retired from service decades ago. When the American-made SR-71 Blackbird was introduced during the Cold War, its innovative technologies, electronics, and avionics pushed ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Before the era of military drones and satellites, there was the SR-71 Blackbird — an engineering marvel. It operated in the upper reaches of ...

The SR-71 is perhaps the most iconic Cold War spy aircraft, famous for many record-setting flights. Seemingly impervious to loss by enemy defenses, a dozen Blackbirds were lost to accidents. On July ...