Tag Archives: SR-71 Blackbird

In 1964 during the Vietnam War U.S. aviators were captured by the North Vietnamese. Paul F Crickmore shares the story of how two SR-71 Blackbirds generated tri-sonic booms to free captured US prisoners of war in his book Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions (Revised Edition): On Jun. 10, 1970, …

Ed Cobleigh a fighter pilot with the US Air Force, US Navy, Royal Air Force, Imperial Iranian Air Force, and the French Air Force. He also served as an Air Intelligence Officer working with the CIA, FBI, and M16 on a variety of covert projects. He knows fighter planes, fighter …

The below video taken on Oct. 9, 1999 at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) shows the last ever flight of an SR-71 Blackbird. This flight took place at the Edwards AFB Open House Airshow.Thirty minutes after the take off the SR-71 had climbed to 80,100ft and was travelling at a speed …

SR-91 Aurora aircraft design was a rumored mid-1980s American reconnaissance aircraft. It is believed that SR-91 Aurora is capable of hypersonic flight at speeds of Mach 5+. According to the hypothesis, Aurora was developed in the 1980s or 1990s as a replacement for the aging and expensive SR-71 Blackbird. Aurora also …

on March 6, 1990, the very last US Military flight of the SR-71 Blackbird took place. The flight originated from Palmdale, California, and flew to Washington-Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, DC. In the process, it set the official National Aeronautic Association coast-to-coast speed record of 2,086 miles in one …

On Jul. 4, 2019, Robert J. “Bob” Gilliland, former Lockheed test pilot and the first man to fly the iconic SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, died at the age of 93 at Rancho Mirage, California retirement facility where he had been living for several years. The death was announced by his …

On Jan 11, 2018, Boeing unveiled a conceptual model for a new hypersonic jet that would replace the SR-71 Blackbird at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech forum in Orlando. Here are Details: Boeing unveils its Mach 5+ ‘Son of Blackbird’ conceptual hypersonic jet design to replace the …

on Jun. 1, 2019 Former SR-71 pilot Lieutenant Colonel Ben Bowles has passed away.  Ben Douglas Bowles, 87, of Salem, was born on Jan. 14, 1932. Ben was born in Richmond and raised near Roanoke and in Detroit, MI. The family relocated to Salem, VA where he learned to fly …

On  Jan. 31, 1986 Captain Mikhail Myagkiy claims to Achieve a RADAR lock on SR-71 Blackbird while participating in Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance Operations Program (PAROP) missions to the Barents Sea area. Here is our previous article, retired Soviet MiG-31 pilot Major Mikhail Myagkiy share details how he was able to …

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3-strategic reconnaissance aircraft remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft throughout its nearly 24-year career. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. And in the off chance an enemy tried to shoot it down with a missile, …