Despite these results, when the Blackbird pilots dropped the rules, no fighter could match the SR-71’s Mach 3+ speeds ... without wearing a pressure suit.” As they’d soon learn, the Eagle ...

While visiting “Blackbird” Park at Palmdale in 2022, this author got to speak with the surviving SR-71 pilots there ... cockpit glass and thick flight suits separating them from the inferno ...

A pilot and a recon officer would take detailed photos of hundreds of thousands of miles of terrain as stealthily as they could. The incredible speed of the SR-71, as much as 2,200 mph ...

The SR-71 Blackbird is easily one of the world's most ... which was repeated for both the forward pilot and aft reconnaissance systems officer positions. The process of making the quartz ...