1. The SR-71’s official speed record -- 2,193.13 mph -- has stood for nearly 40 years
- In July of 1976, the Blackbird celebrated the United States’ centennial by setting an outright speed record for a manned jet. This is that very plane landing after that record-setting run, and while a few pilots took their Blackbirds faster, they weren't on an official two-way record run.
- You not only had to be between 25 and 40 years old and something called “emotionally stable,” you had to be married to even be eligible for consideration to work on the plane, let alone fly the damn thing. Testing in the desert north of all those Las Vegas wedding chapels makes a lot of sense now, huh?
- During it’s decades of service, enemies with itchy trigger fingers fired in excess of 1,000 missiles in the hope of taking down the high flyer. The evasive maneuver used by most pilots? Hit the throttle and laugh, since missiles couldn’t go as fast. Not a single one was ever shot down.
