SR-71 Blackbird’s first test flight was slated for 22nd December, 1964 and since it has been a little more than 50 years, we think you all should know these 20 facts that pertain to this amazing spy plane.
20. Even though it hasn’t flown in 15 years, it’s still the official record holder for fastest manned jet-powered aircraft.
19. And it set the record with only one engine.
18. It’s even more powerful than you think.
Each of the Blackbird’s twin Pratt & Whitney J58 jet engines can crank out 34,000 pounds of thrust. It has about the same power as an ocean liner.
17. Those cones in front of the engines are essentially the throttle control.
16. You could start the jets with a couple of Buicks.
15. It’s larger than it looks.
It is over 105ft long.
14. It’s so heavy that it needs a parachute and special tires to land.
13. The SR-71 isn’t the only Blackbird.
A-12 was operated by CIA and is a predecessor to the SR-71.
12. There was also a variant intended as an interceptor.
11. The A-12’s design evaluation team was headed by the founder of Polaroid – Dr. Edwin Land
10. All A-12s and the first SR-71s were tested at Area 51.
9. The SR-71 couldn’t be shot down.
More than 1,000 missiles have tried over the course of plane’s service.
8. It could photograph an entire swath of North Korea in seven minutes.
7. To even be allowed to work on the plane as a crew member, you had to be married.
6. While the plane’s details and its missions were extremely sensitive, the plane itself wasn’t really a secret.
President Johnson announced the existence of a 2,000 mph plane publicly in February 1964.
The first fact that it is the fastest jet powered plane is stretched a little but true. While it didn’t use complete jet power while traveling at it’s top speed it did use them for all parts of the flight. The planes top speed is around 2,500 miles per hour but it doesn’t just use jet power to get there. As the speed of a plane incenses the efficiency of a jet engine drops making less thrust for the drag it creates. The way the blackbird reached it’s speed of around mach 3.3 is by using a “turboram” jet engine. Basclly how it works is it is a giant afterburner. A few other facts are stretched or simply not true like 19, 18, 17, 9, and 6. I would say my comment is a more though out explanation of the plane than the person who made this.
Put more facts about blackbird.
You forgot one of the most important things and interesting is that it leaks when its on the ground it has to be in air so the metal can contract to where I can hold the field
I was amazed to see the invention year of 1964…!
I don’t believe #1. Now, I wonder about the rest of them.
Figaro La—————what qualifies you to judge the truth of #1—-Ignorance?