Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More
The Lockheed D-21 was a Mach 3.3 reconnaissance drone. Lockheed’s Skunk Works built it in the early 1960s. Its mission: photograph China’s Lop Nor...
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All posts tagged "SR-71"
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More
On March 6, 1990, U.S. Air Force pilot Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Reconnaissance Systems Officer Joseph Vida flew an SR-71 Blackbird on its...
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More
Between its maiden flight in 1964 and its retirement in 1999, the U.S. Air Force lost 12 of its Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft...
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More
In 1981, General Dynamics began flight testing the F-16XL — a radical “cranked-arrow” delta-wing variant of the F-16 Fighting Falcon with approximately twice the...
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More
In the early 1980s, Lockheed’s Skunk Works proposed converting the SR-71 Blackbird — the Mach 3+ reconnaissance aircraft that flew above 80,000 feet and...
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More
On July 29, 1968, Colonel Richard “Butch” Sheffield was the Reconnaissance Systems Officer aboard an SR-71 Blackbird piloted by Ben Bowles at Mach 2.88...
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More
On May 15, 1972, an SR-71 Blackbird called the “Rapid Rabbit” — distinguished from the rest of the fleet by the Playboy Bunny logos...
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More
In 1984, an SR-71 Blackbird operating at 83,000 feet and Mach 3 over the Soviet Union suffered a sudden engine unstart that yawed the...
Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More
Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works has been publicly discussing the SR-72 “Son of Blackbird” — a hypersonic reconnaissance and strike aircraft designed to fly at...