The SR-71 Blackbird is an American strategic reconnaissance aircraft built by Lockheed's Skunk Works division under designer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, entering United States Air Force service in January 1966 as a long-range, high-altitude aircraft capable of sustained speeds above Mach 3.2. Only 32 were built, and during a career flying reconnaissance missions over Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, the Soviet Union, Cuba, Nicaragua and Libya between 1968 and 1989, the aircraft was targeted by roughly 800 surface-to-air missiles without ever being shot down, relying on its extreme speed and altitude to outrun any threat. In 1974 an SR-71 set a still-remarkable point-to-point speed record, flying from London to New York in 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56 seconds, and although the Air Force retired the type in 1989 and again after a brief 1990s reactivation, NASA continued flying its own SR-71s for high-speed research purposes until 1999.
Facts
Weapon ClassStrategic reconnaissance aircraft 1 Introduced Year Classification
Service Status Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)Reconnaissance Aircraft 1 Connections
Operated By
Source Wikipedia: SR-71 Blackbird
Used In
Source Wikipedia: SR-71 Blackbird
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: SR-71 Blackbird
WikipediaLede, paragraph 1, sentence 1
The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a retired long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft that was developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation.
Lede, paragraph 2, last sentence
The SR-71 was revealed to the public in July 1964 and entered service in the United States Air Force (USAF) in January 1966.
service status
In 1974 an SR-71 set a still-remarkable point-to-point speed record, flying from London to New York in 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56 seconds, and although the Air Force retired the type in 1989 and again after a brief 1990s reactivation, NASA continued flying its own SR-71s for high-speed research purposes until 1999
- Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
Used In: Vietnam War, Wikipedia article text
Over the course of its reconnaissance missions during the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese fired approximately 800 SAMs at SR-71s, none of which managed to score a hit.
Operated By: United States Air Force, Wikipedia article text
When the A-12's performance potential was clearly found to be much greater, the USAF ordered a variant of the A-12 in December 1962, which was originally named R-12 by Lockheed.
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