SR 71

The Wright brothers made their first air worthy plane in 1903, since then, planes have come a long way. During the war, planes were used to drop bombs and cargo. The United States used a plane to drop atomic bombs. They were also used to spy on other countries before satellites were conventional. Planes were getting faster and more complicated. Now we have planes that can fly themselves and take photos. But until now no plane has been better than the SR-71, also known as the Black Bird.
Lockheed Martin was contracted by the United States to make planes for them. On May 1, 1960, a U-2 flown by the US officer Francis Gary Powers crashed in the USSR. This caused tension between the two countries. Powers was put to trail and was jailed. After this, the CIA and the USAF were both looking for a better spy aircraft. They were asked to make something that could fly faster and higher that could be more stealthy. Both the CIA and United States Air force contracted Lockheed Martin to make this plane. The first version was developed at Skunk Works, located in California. It was made in 1958. It could fly at 85,000 feet above sea level, higher than any plane. It could also sustain Mach 3 as long as it had fuel. The SR -71 was faster and could fly higher than before and its radar signature was only 1%.(Wikipedia)
In 1968, SR-71s were put to work at Beale Air Force Base,Japan,Kadena,California,and Mindenthall, UK. During 1964 and 1990, the Blackbirds flew almost all over the world. Doing its highly confidential secret missions of the United States government. They had a maximum weight of 172,000 pounds were capable of flying at a speed of over three times the speed of sound. The exact speed and performance were never revealed. Unlike U-2, S...

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...r planes. In later years, a data link system could send data to a ground station.(Sr-71 online)
The first SR-71 flew December 22, 1964, with pilot Bob Gilliland, since then it has had a total of 3,551 missions with a total of 11,008 hours of mission flight and a total of 53,490 hours of flight. Only 2 were lost, during missions,both due to mechanical failure, and only 1 pilot died. There were a total of 12 SR-71s crashed, none shot down. The Blackbirds were extremely safe in air but had a hard time landing. Of the 32, 11 crashed during landing. By 1972 the SR-71 would do a mission per day. It initially retired in 1989, but it was soon reactivated in 1993 to spy on North Korea. It finally retired in 1998. The last 2 air- worthy SR-71s were left with NASA. The last flight of one took place October 9, 1999. Multiple go to museums as their final resting places.(NASA)