Lockheed Blackbird: The SR-71 Is World's Fastest Plane

Tak nevím, je-li tento letoun z jiného světa nebo z jiného času...

I saw the one on display at the Udvar-Hazy Museum (part of the Smithsonian) at Dulles Airport near Washington, DC. It's last flight was the record-setting coast-to-coast flight mentioned by Rcoleman below. Wikipedia says:

When the SR-71 was retired in 1990, one Blackbird was flown from its birthplace at USAF Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, to go on exhibit at what is now the Smithsonian Institution's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. On 6 March 1990, Lt. Col. Raymond E. Yeilding and Lt. Col. Joseph T. Vida piloted SR-71 S/N 61-7972 on its final Senior Crown flight and set four new speed records in the process:

Los Angeles, California, to Washington, D.C., distance 2,299.7 miles (3,701.0 km), average speed 2,144.8 miles per hour (3,451.7 km/h), and an elapsed time of 64 minutes 20 seconds.[124][126]
West Coast to East Coast, distance 2,404 miles (3,869 km), average speed 2,124.5 miles per hour (3,419.1 km/h), and an elapsed time of 67 minutes 54 seconds.
Kansas City, Missouri, to Washington, D.C., distance 942 miles (1,516 km), average speed 2,176 miles per hour (3,502 km/h), and an elapsed time of 25 minutes 59 seconds.
St. Louis, Missouri, to Cincinnati, Ohio, distance 311.4 miles (501.1 km), average speed 2,189.9 miles per hour (3,524.3 km/h), and an elapsed time of 8 minutes 32 seconds.

Cool, I am from Kalamazoo, Mich too. thanks. I didn't know one was up there at home.
Pat.

The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo MI also has an excellent SR-71 on display. Nothing like seeing one of these up close and personal!

Thanks for the info mr_51_vic_ss! There was also an outside exhibit of one near Lockheed offices in Palmdale or Lancaster California.

https://pimaair.org/exhibits-and-aircraft/museum-aircraft/
go to and then enter SR 71.

There used to be one here at Pima Air Museum in Tucson, AZ. I do not know if it is still here. I have seen it and taken pictures of it many times. A great museum to go to if you like airplanes. They have examples of everything. My relatives spend days out there looking around. They did have a pizza place out there too, and then a '50's diner, but with this virus, I think the place is closed.. the whole museum??

This airplane goes so fast that the skin gets hot and expands. It leaks fuel like crazy on the ground so it has to go up and get refueled and get hot and expand to stop the leaks. Man that is really fast.
Pat.

Wow! Thanks.

First Flight: 1964
Top speed: 2,193 mph
Introduced: January 1966
Manufacturer: Lockheed
Engine type: Pratt & Whitney J58
Number built: 32
Retired: 1999

The Blackbird set the new record for a flight from the West Coast to the East Coast, making the trip in just 68 minutes and 17 seconds; the old record, by comparison, was 3 hours and 38 minutes

" In July 1976, an SR-71 even set two world records – one was an absolute speed record of 2,193.167 mph while the other was an absolute altitude record of 85,068.997 feet."

So tell us, how fast?