The SR-71 Blackbird Plastic Model Kits.

  My duty was to fly over Libya , and take photographs recording the damage our F-111's had inflicted.   Qaddafi had established a 'line of death,' a territorial marking across the Gulf of Sidra ,  swearing to shoot down any intruder, that crossed the boundary.
  On the morning of April 15, I rocketed past the line at 2,125 mph.  I was piloting the SR-71 spy plane, the world's fastest jet, accompanied
by a Marine Major (Walt),   the aircraft's reconnaissance systems officer (RSO).
  We had crossed into Libya , and were approaching our final turn over the bleak desert landscape, when Walt informed me, that he was receiving
missile launch signals..  I quickly increased our speed, calculating the time it would take for the weapons, most likely AS-2 and AS-4 surface-to-air missiles, capable of Mach 5 - to reach our altitude.   I estimated, that we could beat the rocket-powered missiles to the turn, and stayed our course, betting our lives on the plane's performance.
  After several agonizingly long seconds, we made the turn and blasted toward the Mediterranean ...  'You might want to pull it back,' Walt suggested. It was then that I noticed I still had the throttles full forward. The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit. It was the fastest we would ever fly. I pulled the throttles to idle, just south of Sicily , but we still overran the refueling tanker, awaiting us over Gibraltar .....
  Scores of significant aircraft have been produced, in the 100 years of flight, following the achievements of the Wright brothers, which we celebrate in December.

  Aircraft such as the Boeing 707, the F-86 Sabre Jet, and the P-51 Mustang, are among the important machines, that have flown our skies.  But the SR-71, also known as the Blackbird, stands alone as a significant contributor to Cold War victory, and as the fastest plane ever, and only 93 Air Force pilots, ever steered the 'sled,' as we called our aircraft.
  The SR-71, was the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, the famed Lockheed designer, who created the   P-38, the F-104 Starfighter, and the U-2.   After the Soviets shot down Gary Powers U-2 in 1960, Johnson began to develop an aircraft, that would fly three miles higher, and five times faster, than the spy plane, and still be capable of photographing your license plate.
  However, flying at 2,000 mph would create intense heat on the aircraft's skin.   Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy, to construct more than 90 percent of the SR-71, creating special tools, and manufacturing procedures to hand-build each of the (40 planes.. (WoW ! ! ! 40 planes???? I thought only 7.) Special heat-resistant fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluids, that would function at 85,000 feet, and higher, also had to be developed.  In 1962, the first Blackbird successfully flew, and in 1966, the same year I graduated from high school, the Air Force began flying operational SR-71 missions.
  I came to the program in 1983, with a sterling record and a recommendation from my commander,   completing the week long interview, and meeting Walt, my partner for the next four years.   He would ride four feet behind me, working all the cameras, radios, and electronic jamming equipment. I joked, that if we were ever captured, he was the spy, and I was just the driver.   He told me to keep the pointy end forward.
  We trained for a year, flying out of Beale AFB in California , Kadena Airbase in Okinawa , and RAF   Mildenhall in England ...   On a typical training mission, we would take off near Sacramento , refuel over Nevada , accelerate into Montana, obtain a high Mach speed over Colorado , turn right over New Mexico, speed across the Los Angeles Basin, run up the West Coast, turn right at Seattle , then return to Beale.  Total flight time:- Two Hours and Forty  Minutes.   

One day, high above Arizona , we were monitoring the radio traffic, of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the  air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. 'Ninety knots,' ATC  replied. A Bonanza soon made the same request. 'One-twenty on the ground,' was  the reply.   To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio,  with a ground speed check..  I knew exactly what he was  doing.  Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his  cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley, know what  real speed was, 'Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,' ATC  responded. The situation was too ripe.   I heard the click  of Walt's mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walt  startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet,  clearly above controlled airspace.  In a cool, professional voice, the  controller replied, ' Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground. We  did not hear another transmission on that frequency, all the way to the  coast.

The Blackbird always showed us something new, each  aircraft possessing its own unique personality. In time, we realized we were  flying a national treasure.   When we taxied out of our revetments  for take-off, people took notice.   Traffic congregated near the  airfield fences, because everyone wanted to see, and hear the mighty SR-71.  You could not be a part of this program, and not come to love the  airplane.    Slowly, she revealed her secrets to us, as we earned  her trust..
One moonless night, while flying a routine training mission  over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky  would look like from 84,000 feet,  if the cockpit lighting were dark. While heading home on a straight course, I  slowly turned down all of the lighting, reducing the glare and revealing the  night sky.  Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful that  the jet would know, and somehow punish me. But my desire to see the sky,  overruled my caution, I dimmed the lighting again.   To my  amazement, I saw a bright light outside my window.  As my eyes  adjusted to the view, I realized that the brilliance was the broad expanse of  the Milky Way, now a gleaming stripe across the sky. Where dark spaces in the  sky,  had usually existed, there were now dense clusters, of sparkling stars.  Shooting Stars, flashed across the canvas every few seconds. It was like a  fireworks display with no sound.

I knew I had to get my eyes back on  the instruments, and reluctantly, I brought my attention back inside. To my  surprise, with the cockpit lighting still off, I could see every gauge, lit by  starlight.  In the plane's mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of my gold spacesuit, incandescently illuminated, in a celestial glow. I stole one last  glance out the window. Despite our speed, we seemed still before the heavens,  humbled in the radiance of a much greater power.

For those few  moments, I felt a part of something far more significant, than anything we  were doing in the plane. The sharp sound of Walt's voice on the radio, brought  me back to the tasks at hand, as I prepared for our descent.
San Diego Aerospace Museum  The SR-71 was an  expensive aircraft to operate. The most significant cost was tanker  support, and in 1990, confronted with budget cutbacks, the Air Force  retired the SR-71. The SR-71 served six presidents, protecting America for a  quarter of a century.  Unbeknown to most of the country, the  plane flew over North Vietnam , Red China , North Korea , the  Middle East ,  South Africa , Cuba , Nicaragua , Iran , Libya , and the Falkland Islands  ... On a weekly basis, the SR-71, kept watch over every Soviet Nuclear  Submarine, Mobile Missile Site, and all of their troop movements. It was a  key factor in winning the Cold War.
I am proud to say, I flew about 500  hours in this aircraft. I  knew her well. She gave way to no plane, proudly  dragging her Sonic Boom
through enemy backyards, with great impunity. She  defeated every missile, outran every MiG, and always brought us  home. In the first 100 years of manned flight, no aircraft was  more remarkable. The Blackbird had outrun nearly 4,000  missiles, not once taking a scratch from enemy fire.

       On her final  flight, the Blackbird, destined for the Smithsonian National Air and Space  Museum , sped from Los Angeles to Washington in 64 Minutes,  averaging 2,145 mph, and setting four speed records.

In April, 1962, the world of aviation was changed forever. The world's fastest and highest flying air-breathing aircraft was setting new standards of  performance. With extensive use of new materials, the new SR-71/A-12 was the first  of its kind to cruise continuously in afterburner at Mach 3+ and above 85,000 ft.