Not many people know what it feels like to fly at the edge of space. Not many people have been to a place where the sky turns black and air is so scarce that one has to wear a spacesuit to survive. However, the men who flew the SR-71 spy plane during the cold war knew this experience all too well.

An SR-71 Blackbird in flight

Revolutionary Performance 

Gracing the edge of space at an altitude of 16 miles, at a speed of mach 3.2 (3.2 times the speed of sound) the Blackbird was unstoppable and couldn’t be shot down by soviet missile technology. It was the first stealthy aircraft in that the engineers at Lockheed were able to reduce how large the aircraft appeared on radar. It wasn’t stealthy by today’s standards, but for it’s day it was a much needed improvement over more conventional designs. It was made completely out of titanium, the only metal strong enough to deal with the intense heat buildup that occurred on the aircraft when it flew at top speed. Its engines were designed for pure power in that they operated at peak efficiency only when the blackbird was moving at top speed. Nicknamed the “Habu” or “Blackbird” by its operators, it ended up being one of the most feared weapons of the Cold War, despite the fact that it carried no weapons. Its unstoppable performance and frighteningly advanced design gave Soviet planners serious headaches. There was nothing they could do to hide their military secrets any longer.

The Genius Behind the Plane

A Lockheed engineer named Kelly Johnson conceived the SR-71.   Johnson was well known both then and now as a visionary when it came to building airplanes. He was one of the few people that understood all facets of aircraft design. Propulsion, structures, aerodynamics, avionics, you name it he knew it. Known for designing other advanced planes like the U-2 spyplane, he was the ideal choice for building the SR-71. In doing so, he built an aircraft that was well over 25 years ahead of it’s time, whose performance still cannot be matched.