SR-71 Blackbird

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.