This Military Jet Set A World Record That Hasn't Been Broken In Half A Century

The SR-71 Blackbird is arguably one of the most impressive aircraft ever produced, thanks to its striking appearance and long list of performance records. This wonder of aerospace engineering was designed in the 1960s by Lockheed's Advanced Development Programs (ADP) division, better known as Skunk Works. The SR-71's first test flight was in December 1964 and it went into service just over a year later. The SR-71 Blackbird flew for the U.S Air Force through January 1990, and Lockheed built 32 of them over that span. None were lost to enemy fire, although 12 were destroyed in accidents. 

The SR-71's ability to outfly surface-to-air missiles enabled it to set some speed and altitude records that have yet to be broken. On September 1, 1974, Majors James Sullivan and Noel Widdifield set two impressive benchmarks during a flight between New York City and London. The trip took less than an hour and 55 minutes, a time that beat the Concorde's best run by almost an hour. They averaged over 1,400 mph during the trip, but the SR-71 wasn't done setting records. In July 1976, one flew faster than 2,100 mph and higher than 85,000 feet (over 16 miles) above sea level; both are records for a strategic reconnaissance plane. Technically speaking, the decommissioned Oxcart-12 CIA spy plane was faster than the SR-71, but only under certain undocumented and unverifiable conditions.

The SR-71 Blackbird was designed for high-speed, high-altitude missions and it delivered. At the time, stealth technology was still a way off and the United States needed an aircraft that could fly over the Soviet Union with impunity. The SR-71 Blackbird's speed and ceiling allowed it to operate beyond the reach of contemporary air defense systems used by the USSR. Pilots could outrun or outclimb most of what the world had to throw at it, and this was key to its remarkable service record. It's one of the highest-flying military jets ever made, thanks to its twin Pratt & Whitney J58 engines that each deliver 32,500 lbs. of thrust with afterburners.

 The SR-71 Blackbird remained a peak performer through in 1990, and set four more records on a single trip in March of that year. Lt. Cols. Raymond Yeilding and Joseph Vida piloted SR-71 serial number 61-7972 2,299.7 miles from Palmdale, CA to Dulles airport in Washington, D.C. They averaged 2,144.8 mph and it took them only 64 minutes and 20 seconds to make a cross-country trip that takes five hours or longer on a passenger jet. They even continued on a little further to set a new west Coast to east Coast (2,404 miles) record of 67 minutes, 54 seconds, and along the way the plane broke two records for shorter sprints. It covered the distance between Kansas City and Washington, D.C. (942 miles) in a second under 26 minutes and flew from St. Louis to Cincinnati (311.4 miles) in an astonishing 8 minutes, 32 seconds. That exact SR-71 Blackbird is now on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.