SR-71 BLACKBIRD

To travel the world in search of kool places to visit, and, hopefully, go to every continent as well..... Hi, My name is ZAK and I love to fly. I just turned 12 and have flown a Piper and Cessna. When I first saw the SR-71 I knew I would one day be a pilot. I plan on going to the US Air Force Academy and I am working on getting my pilot's license.......Please attach some kool pics of my travel bug with other aircraft, exotic places, out of the way places, and anything that is interesting. This bug loves to go to new and different caches.....Thanks!!

Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird was ahead of its time. The history of the SR-71 can be traced back to 1957, the year that Lockheed's Advanced Development Project (better known as "Skunk Works") began exploring the feasibility of a higher-flying, faster, and less radar-visible alternative to the U-2. "Skunk Works" was originally called "Skonk Works," which was the name of a secret moonshine distillery in Al Capp's "Li'l Abner" comic strip. The name was changed slightly after Mr. Capp's editor threatened legal action for copyright infringement.
The SR-71 was designed without the aid of modern computers, but rather using slide rules and the "primitive" drafting techniques of the time. Its planning and construction were undertaken in total secrecy. The Blackbird program began as a project called "Archangel" eventually resulting in the single-seat A-11 (which evolved into the more stealthy A-12, code named OXCART) flown by civilian CIA pilots, an interceptor version called the YF-12A, and finally the two-seat SR-71 (code named SENIOR CROWN) flown by the U.S. Air Force. "SR" referred to its planned role as a strike/reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft was originally designated the RS-71, but the letters were reversed after President Lyndon B. Johnson's now-infamous flub when he misread the name while announcing the program's existence to the world during a press conference on 24 July 1964.

The first flight of the SR-71 was on 22 December 1964, with Lockheed test pilot Bob Gilliland in the driver's seat. Now, at the outset of the 21st century, the Blackbird is still the most unique, fastest, highest-flying "air-breathing" aircraft in the world. The Blackbird, or "habu" as it is known by Air Force insiders, is capable of sustained speeds in excess of Mach 3 and has an altitude ceiling of over 80,000 feet. It was the first generation of "stealth" aircraft, utilizing Radar Absorbing Material to give it a radar cross-section of less than ten square meters.