SR-71 Blackbird: How the World's FASTEST Plane Became Irrelevant 

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A mega projects about how they procured the Titainium off the Russians would be awesome. Please Simon.

I'll never get tired of hearing about the blackbird

Getting titanium for your super secret spy plane from the people you're spying on has got to be one of the ballsiest moves in history.

Even after being retired for ~30years, it still looks like it came from 100 years in the future. What a sexy machine 😍

This plane is just enormous in person. It must've looked like a spaceship to the people who saw it for the first time.

I worked on The SR-71 in the late 70's at Beale AFB. I even sat in the cockpit once and ran the flight controls. We had to get ALL the air bubbles out of the Hydraulic Fluid.

The black paint was not intended to absorb heat, quiet the opposite, actually: it was meant to radiate heat away from the aircraft. Triethylborane was not "mixed in" the fuel, it was used as "liquid sparkplug" during startup of the engines and for igniting the afterburners, since it is hypergolic (burns sponaneously in contact with air).

I was at Kadena air force base in Okinawa when they had the last operational SR-71. When it was leaving the base for the last time they let people on the base know so we could all see it. It was impressive seeing it take off just after sunset.

This Jet is one of the greatest achievements of mankind.

The Sr71 was the most beautiful plane ever built.

R.I.P. Brian Shul. Not just a hero but a great storyteller. Watch what you can find from him if you’re a blackbird fan or an aviation fan.

one of the most beautiful planes ever built, and the fact that they managed to build the SR-71 in a time before computers makes it even more impressive

So sad that one of the pilots, Brian Shul, passed earlier this week. His story of the speed check from the LA flight tower is epic. RIP Mr Shul and Blackbird 😢

Great video! RIP Brian Shul, Blackbird pilot who stated they got the SR over M3.5 and 100,000 feet evading missile(s) over Libya. Fastest operational claim from a pilot I know of.

My Uncle flew SR-71s in Vietnam and out of Area 51. He liked to talk about how he could go wheels up at 6:00 AM in Nevada, cross the Mississippi River, and be back before lunch. "It took three states to turn around" was a favorite quote of his. He eventually became commander of Area 51. Amazing history.

This plane seems almost cutting edge today but it was built 60 YEARS AGO!!! Such an amazing aircraft!

The book "Sled Driver" by Brian Shul is excellent - and written by someone who actually flew/RO'd blackbirds. It is a good read and glimpse into the operational experience. Unfortunately the book is quite expensive these days, so finding a digital copy is necessary if you don't want to shell out hundreds of bucks. Having seen several of these planes in person - it is amazing they were designed mainly by humans - not computers. As Brian Shul said - "the hottest of all the hot-rods."

What’s insane is that it was built in 1964, retired between 1998-99, and still holds the record for the fastest plane ever built, that we’re aware of.. Which is both a interesting and TERRIFYING fact. There is something faster out there (or was, and is also being replaced) and it is doing its job VERY well.

The LA speed check is one of the best military stories ever told.

So glad I can see one of these amazing aircraft whenever I want. The Wright-Patt Air Force museum is less than 10 miles away. I was so happy when they first brought it to the museum. It had always been my favorite, and to actually see and touch one was kind of a childhood dream come true.

At the airzoo in Michigan they have one of the 2 seater variants along with an engine. Let me tell you. You don't realize how big these planes are if you've never seen one

Yes please, I would like to see a video about how the CIA got the titanium for the SR-71s. That was awesome Simon! This is one of my favorite aircraft ever. I even have a friend who, while serving with the United States Air Force, worked on SR-71 engines for a while. I'm glad that you put in the part about how they leaked fuel when they were on the ground.

On April 14th, 1980 the first Space Shuttle mission (STS-1) ended. Just after the Columbia passed over Hawaii Massion control stated that they were at Mach 6. 10 to 20 seconds later they announced that the chase plane had caught up with the Shuttle. Approximately 20 to 30 seconds later Massion control stated that the Shuttle had slowed to Mach 5. Three quess's as to what aircraft it was: 1) SR-71 2) SR-71 3) SR-71

Seeing one at a museum i was amazed how big but sleek it was looks quick sitting still. My mum and dad had to drag me away to see the rest. love this plane

My dad was a long time Lockheed employee, he worked on this contract for years. Don’t know what all he did on the program (machinist) but the last few years he was assigned to a follow-on contract machining spare parts and repairing the fixtures used to service the airframes (the SR71 would literally tear itself apart on every flight)

So it's taken almost 60 years to come up with a replacement for the SR-71, those guys were way ahead of their time! Definitely a video for the 'procurement' of the Russian titanium. Another video suggestion: The design & construction of pads 39-A&B at KSC. Saw a brief description of that recently that left me wanting more! 👍👍

My dad was an Air Force kid growing up in the 60's and 70's. For his high school years he lived in Okinawa, Japan and had the chance to see an SR-71 take off from AFB Okinawa. He took pictures of that event and kept them. Years later he had returned to the states to live in Kansas and during the late 90's a museum by the name of The Kansas Cosmopshere in Hutchinson had an actual SR-71 donated to the museum. It was put on display and is the first thing you see when entering. When my dad went to see it in the early 2000's he checked the numbers on the body and they matched numbers seen in the photos he captured in the mid 70's. The SR-71 on display is massive and gorgeous to admire, you can reach out and touch it as well. If any of you haven't already, make the trip to the Cosmopshere and see perhaps the greatest space museum in the whole of the Midwest.

the tri-ethyl borane was only used to light the engines, and re-light the afterburners in flight after in-flight refueling, it was not mixed with the jp7

SR71. Puts me in awe of flight, proud my country can produce such a feat.

My fave plane of all times! Imagine the skill and knowledge from the pilot to manage that glorious cockpit 16:10

One fact overlooked in the video is that Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team worked out all the maths for the Archangel/SR-71 program on sliderules, pencils and paper. I read somewhere that several years ago a modern computer was used to work with the same data that Johnson and his team did, and it produced the exact same results. Kelly Johnson, his engineers, and the SR-71 were decades ahead of everybody and everything when the Blackbird was designed in the late 1950s. Vintage film of Johnson showing a model of the plane at a Skunk Works meeting look surreal and must be seen to be believed.

Oh thank you Simon and Megaprojects Team! I did have a friend, an older gentleman who was retired from Skunk Works who used to chat with me about the Blackbird. He told me [and swore me tos secrecy for some reason] what her true top speed was, and regaled me of stories about her test flights at Groom Lake. He got a kick out of my being a woman who loved this plane of all the flying goodies out there. She is a beauty, and I did climb up onto a display platform to touch a trainer at a museum; this might have been the Bastard, but I don't remember. She had the two-man cockpit and was a trainer for certain. Her skin felt so interesting, the paint felt like an Orca's skin, with the folded or corregated metal under it. It makes me shiver happy like even now, tho breaking the law to touch a plane was a thrill too. [it was a long time ago, cant get me now!] I thing that taking the still working planes and updating their systems and some of her more fragile sections might be a useful idea, as she still has uses and is an intimidating tool for the US Reconn groups. Still, there is no way to explain why we all love the Blackbird so much. Is it her sheer, majestic beauty? Her speed? What is it? I just love her whole. Wish she was still working for us up there...

Tri ethol boron (TEB) was only used to ignite the JP7 not mixed in with it. It had a limited amount to ignite each time they put the afterburner on, this happens multiple ti es per mission...

YES, YOU NEED TO DO A VIDEO ON THE PROCUREMENT OF THE TITANIUM!

If your title is going to mention the sr 71 then make the thumb nail an actual pic of that plane

Thank you Simon and your team for doing an AMAZING recount off the Blackbird's life. It was simply a stunningly unmatched plane, despite its mechanical faults. In a world where satellite reconnaissance takes precedence, the world has lost a true human engineering marvel. RIP Blackbird-gone but NEVER forgotten!!

One beautiful piece of engineering, not just the bird itself but how it was designed, the materials put together, built, maintained, records broken, and with 60s era tech. The SR72 might have its own mythical place in aviation history but the blackbird will always be something very special

No wait hold on Simon. A couple of years ago, you presented the A-12 Archangel, that is THE ACTUAL fastest jet plane!

Blackbird forever. What a dominant legend.

Every single aspect of this plane is mind boggling. The speed, the stealth, the altitude it operated at and mainly the year in which it was designed and built in. It is all just so surreal.

1:20 - Chapter 1 - Skulking at skunk works 3:00 - Mid roll ads 5:05 - Back to the video 8:55 - Chapter 2 - A12 to SR71 12:10 - Chapter 3 - A magnificient invention 18:10 - Chapter 4 - Alone in the skies 22:25 - Chapter 5 - Records & happy retirement

One of the most beautiful aircraft ever produced. I doubt anything will ever beat its capabilities within my lifetime. One thing I wish this video touched on a bit more was the engines. The J58 engines on the SR-71 had bypass valves installed that opened at speed above mach 2.2 allowing the engine to act more like a ramjet than a turbojet. Making the J58 on the SR-71 a turbo Ramjet engine, the only aircraft to ever have this style of engine install before or since. There is a great video going into more detail about this unique engine that I will link. It's definitely worth the watch. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F3ao5SCedIk.html

The most incredible thing is that it was engineered with a slide ruler! My favorite story is when they flew over France, which they were prohibited from doing. They were done with the mission, they said fuck it, we’re going over France. They reduced altitude and speed, and shortly thereafter, a Saab interceptor radioed them, and asked for their diplomatic approval code. They flipped him off, lit the afterburners and were back in the UK in just two minutes!!

To anyone visiting NYC, I recommend going to the Intrepid sea, air & space museum. It's the one on/in an aircraft carrier (shown in a scene from 'I am Legend' where Will smith is golfing off an SR71/A12). Well it was an A12, and they still have it there just as it was in the movie.. along with Concorde & a space shuttle to name a few. But seeing/touching an A12 was definitely bucket-list worthy lol. (Although the space shuttle was the real mind blowing one in terms of size, just the fuselage was seemingly 3-4 stories tall)🤯. I recommend that place to anyone though (especially to other history/aviation nerds like myself)

Growing up in southern California, I used to hang out with a kid who's dad had SR71 stuff all over the house. He was an engineer at Skunkworks and had a hand in designing the blackbird. I always wish I could have gotten a tour of his work.

One of the most beautiful planes ever built.

Kelly Johnson was an absolute genius. The SR-71 and F-104 are, to this day, two of the slickest jets to grace the skies. My old man was the crew chief on the F-104 in Da Nang and even after two strokes, he can still pull specs right off the top of his head. The J79 engine was an absolute beast... I can't imagine the power of a single J58, much less two of them.

Fun fact: in the mid 80s the maintenance cost was about $90,000 per flight hour. That is roughly 1% of the original price per airframe per hour.

One of the is in the Dulles airport in Virginia, what impressive piece of aircraft it is

Simon: Also interesting is the fact that th J58 engines used in the SR-71 changed dimensions from cold to running temperature. The engine diameter increased by 2 inches and the length by 6 inches. The challenge was accounting for the dimentional changes without having the airframe destroy itself.

Found your channel doing a deep dive on post WW2 Germany and found your SR-71 vlog. I was in the US Air Force in the 1980s and spent 3 years assigned to Kadena AB Okinawa, Japan. We would go out to the flight line late at night midnightish to watch the SR71 take off. It never took off during the day. Your vlog on it is easily the best I've seen. Thanks for the memories!

A couple of not so minor points. In the air, the Blackbird was ALWAYS on afterburner except during aerial refueling, when it needed to fly as slow as it could while the modified KC-135 was flying nearly as fast (and high) as it could. Once it had it's 80,000 pound full fuel load and it was ready to go -- the afterburners came on. The afterburners were on during take off. When they started the engines and taxing to the runway, no, the afterburners weren't lit. But once it started it's takeoff run, they came on and stayed on except for refueling. They came off again when landing. It carried a rather small amount of triethylborane, whose sole function was to ignite the JP-7. Each plane took off with enough triethylborane for about a dozen restarts to allow for restarting the afterburners after refueling and a very few starts to recover from unstarts or other engine malfunctions. You seemed a bit confused on that point. There were a few other minor mistakes but those two, my god. I finally just had to say something even if nobody ever reads this. I don't know who helped with the research/script, but no lollipop for him.

I was lucky enough to get to see this beast take off from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa on our last day there as we waited to board our flight back to the states. Watching the afterburner reach a length that was almost as long as the airframe, it screamed down the runway and as soon as it lifted off and retracted its gears it literally went vertical straight up into a cloudless sky and vanished in less than a minute! Was an experience I will never forget!

The blackbird has celestrial navigation. Behind the REO, is a clear window looking up. This is how the crew knew where they were.

I've seen an A12 at a museum. Really something special to see in person.

Sr71 Beautiful piece of engineering and BEST speed check story ever told. Major Brian Shul RIP sir True Hero of the skys....

Just the fact that the "Archangels" and "Blackbirds" we're built with no computer assistance, using only sliderules and manual drafting is amazing enough! And "only 32 were built". Let that sink in for a few minutes. Also, _the actual top speeds and flight ceilings_ are still classified to this day.

It was about 60 years from the first flight of the Wright brothers to the first flight of the SR-71. It's about 60 years from the first flight of the SR-71 until today. Either the pace of aeronautical advancements has slowed or there's a lot out there we don't know about.

The SR-71 Blackbird is such a fascinating topic! It's incredible to think about how this aircraft, once the fastest in the world, played a significant role in aviation history. The advancements in technology and engineering that made the SR-71 Blackbird possible are truly astounding. It's a testament to human ingenuity and the relentless pursuit of pushing boundaries. Even if it became irrelevant in some contexts, its legacy in the world of aviation and aerospace is undeniable and continues to inspire future innovations. What a remarkable journey from being at the forefront of speed to becoming a symbol of technological evolution! 🛩✨

Of all the vids on the SR71, this is the only one I've come across that addresses the aircraft's availability issues. Excellent stuff. 1 week's post flight maintenance, + 1 day pre-flight prep, 4 flights a day across the whole fleet at absolute best; that's not great. Poor availability of serviceable aircraft is always going to be a tough challenge, financially, especially if the military need has gone away, no matter how great the aircraft actually was (and the SR71 was certainly great!). This is largely why the F16 is such a good sales success. They're reliable. They've been undergoing constant refinement for decades, and are now pretty solid performers, and have a strong logistics chain behind them. Not necessarily the greatest fighter to ever fly, but it will fly for you, when you want it to, without much difficulty or expense. The comparison to Concorde's availability is also interesting. Concorde was famously maintenance heavy too, but none the less British Airways and Air France could reliably run commercial services with a small fleet with enough left over for charters. Concorde had far more hours at supersonic speed than anything else that's ever flown. Ok, so it wasn't as thermally stressed as an SR71, but it still wasn't a walk in the park. Getting Concorde to that point of reliability must have been a lot of work! I read years ago of a chance encounter between an SR71 and Concorde over the western Atlantic. The SR71 was on the way down to 60,000ft, Concorde was on the point of beginning its descent, and they met up. The SR71 pilot was deeply impressed to be toasted by passengers wearing shirt sleeves waving champagne glasses, whilst he was sat there in a pressure suit. What this betrays is the measures taken in the Concorde design to make the aircraft safe for passengers, in the event of depressurisation (at that height, you cannot survive even on pure oxygen. You need pressure too to keep you alive). Concorde's a/c system was designed so that even if two windows blew out, it could force air into the cabin quicker than it could escape through the windows, preserving the pressure inside the aircraft. That would have been very, very noisy but you would live through it.

This plane is an absolute triumph of engineering, not to mention sleek and beautiful… they could unveil this plane as brand new today and it’d still look modern

In 1982 I was a 16 year old Scout canoeing in the sea on the west side of Singapore when a SR71 flew in with its landing gear extended soaring over my group's heads. The next day when I went by Tengah Air Base, I saw a C5A and the SR71 there. Never saw it again. I have never read any account of the SR71 in Singapore before but Scout's Honor it did happen!

According to SR71 pilots, USSR Mig pilots, and US radar officer of that time in an interview. USSR had capabilities to shoot down blackbird. But only with MIG31. According to interviews 2 times soviets flew "relatively" close to SR71 to get a missile lock. Missiles were just never fired. Why? Because funny enough, not a lot of people know this. SR never few over russian airspace. It would hug the border. (Specifically to prevent an incident like with U2.) Altho SR71 was indeed shot at by ground launchers multiple times they all were unable to hit.

For the love of all that is holy and pure, the video's thumbnail is not an SR-71. Amazing video though, thank you.

If you're a petrol head and this plane isn't in your top 5, then you are a little bit dead inside imho. For those who love the plane, I highly recommend Brian Shul's seminar on this. At least for the LA Speed Story. This pilot had the most remarkable career in some of the greatest aircraft known...

Yes Simon , I think that the titanium procurement story and the shell game and shell companies used would be a good thing. Please work on that episode!

I always found the sr71 fascinating, my grandpa used to work on the radars on the SR71, and he procured a bunch of little mementos, such as lapel pins, service patches and stuff of that nature. Must’ve been one of the coolest jobs in the airforce at the time.

There're was another unofficial speed record of 3609km/h. "Be quick, be quite, be on time". Incredible 3.2M titanium bird in aviation history. Many thanks indeed for introducing that breathtaking information. We're looking forward...

Can you do a Biographics on Brian Shul?

I can't beleive Simon hasn't made a video about the Mirage or Rafale. He covered the Eurofighter Typhoon and most people would argue either of those are more important then the Typhoon.

I grew up in Northern Ca, out side of Marysville, Ca. in the 70's & 80's. I saw The Blackbirds Flying around sometimes. They were based out of Beale AFB. They were an amazing site to behold.

Totally fascinated by this aircraft. Its history and records are beyond amazing. Thanks for this review.

The thumbnail looks like you entered “SR-71” into midjourney.

The SR-71 speed check story is about the best thing I have ever heard about this plane.

I had a small book about the Blackbird when I was a young kid and the facts in that small book were awe inspiring to my young mind.

As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn't one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute…….

Simon you didn't even mention the most EPIC of the Blackbird's stories. The speed check!!!!

The first time that I saw a SR-71 Blackbird was within the 1986 movie D.A.Y.R.L., and that was the movie that encouraged my Engineering Degree. Many thanks to this "unheardof" movie!

Perfect....almost spooky timing there guys, Since childhood I've wanted to see an SR71 in the flesh, that has been a bucket list thing for many years untill yesterday..... when we made a bit of an effort and called in to see the only one outside the US. So to see this video be launches the same day is just the cherry on top for me. Well done guys.

The bullets were moving with the sr71, they have the same momentum but missles were just far more practical

SR-72 by skunk works will be faster. And powered by AI So there is a 90% chance it will hit a mountain and we all get to see it on the news

my late grandfather worked on the development of this plane at lockheed so it is super awesome to get a video on this! ty!

There's a great video on Air Zoo with Arnie Gunderson, who worked on those J58 engines for 20 years. Worth a watch if you want to learn more about the Blackbird. One amusing bit from that video is they used two Buick 400 Wildcat engines for the start carts to get them started. In 15 years, they burned through every one of those in the US scrapyards (got carried away and blew them up) and picked the Chevy 454 to replace it.

What is that in the thumbnail?

Is no one gonna mention the thumbnail? That's definitely not a blackbird lol

The Blackbird, even today looks like something out of science-fiction. To think they make something like this with slide rules and clay models since computers as we know them weren't even a thing yet. The Engineers at that time must have been like happy little boys, creating an engineering marvel with all the energy of a 5-year old imagining his toy fighter shooting down UFOs.

Such a beautiful aircraft.. I've seen a few of the ones on display.. The one in Mckminville, Oregon is my favorite.. A large plane as the Sr-71 is still dwarfed by the massive Spruce Goose they have it displayed next to..

What on EARTH is that abomination of a plane in the thumbnail and what godforsaken lands did you get it from?!

What even is that plane in the thumbnail?

I fell in love with this aircraft around 8 years old when I built the model. Its one of the most beautiful looking aircraft ever made.

I remember ,being a child ,playing with a toy version of the Blackbird and a family friend who was visiting us came up to me and told me she was part of the project on the real plane. She went on and on about some of it's features. I always thought the Blackbird was the most badass looking plane ever and I'll never forget that I knew someone who was a part of that amazing project.

What the heck was that thumbnail!?

The thumbnail is not an sr71 blackbird lol

Well done Simon. I didn't know why I would watch yet another video on the Blackbird but your presentation and the writing made it a good watch anyway.

the image used of the engine is from my city!!! The only surviving training variant (the SR-71B) is housed in Portage Michigan at the Airzoo. its so cool to see up close! That mural in the background is also a really cool part of your visit!

What the hell is the plane in the thumbnail

What a cursed thumbnail

Fun fact. The leading edge of the Blackbird is razor sharp. When I was around 10, I saw one in a museum. I ran my hand along the wing in wonder, and slashed my funger pretty good.

Out of all the stories that I’ve heard about the black bird yours was pretty good! Thanks Simon