Back in the 1960s, the Air Force ordered a small batch of special Model 41 pistols for SR-71 Blackbird aircrew survival kits.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. GettyImages 106007381 Photo Quest Getty Images Sleek, black and evil in appearance, the SR-71 Blackbird was THE masterpiece of ...

In the aftermath of Operation El Dorado Canyon, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was sent across Qaddafi's ‘Line of Death’ for a ...

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is unlike virtually any plane that came before it, and virtually no planes like it have been made since. Even though the remarkable machine's development began in the ...

The SR-71 is famous for flying above 80,000 feet at more than Mach 3, but speed was only the beginning of what made the ...

The SR-71 Blackbird became legendary because it outran or outclimbed every missile fired at it. U.S. Air Force material says ...

Back in 1976, Major General Eldon Wayne Joersz and Lieutenant Colonel George T. Morgan Jr. climbed on board a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and set the absolute world speed record for a manned, ...

The SR-71 Blackbird’s earned world record for speed has never been topped by a successor. The fastest jet to ever fly the skies is surprisingly not a fifth-generation platform designed in the last ...

Sharon Caples McDougle joined the US Air Force in 1982, where she specialized in working with pressure suits for the SR-71 and U-2 missions. She fitted suits for individual pilots and suited them up ...

Titanium is fantastically expensive, and difficult to fabricate, relative to other materials—meaning it was only ever practical to use on the world’s fastest plane. The SR-71 Blackbird was built from ...

What was it like to fly in the SR-71 Blackbird? Hear first hand from Walter Watson, the only African American to fly in the Blackbird program. For more FREE teacher resources from the Smithsonian’s ...