All articles tagged with #sr 71 blackbird
On a 1982 Beirut reconnaissance mission, an SR-71 crew planned a Mach-3+ flight from England, threading a route to Beirut while avoiding a Syrian SA-5 threat near Damascus. A French Mirage III shadowed them and demanded clearance; the backseater flashed the bird, and the pilot hit afterburners to outrun the Mirage, completing the Beirut pass and returning to England.
A Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat reportedly fired an AA-6 air-to-air missile at a U.S. SR-71 Blackbird near Vladivostok, but the Blackbird’s Defensive Electronic Gear allegedly interrupted the lock. Some accounts suggest the missile may have locked back onto the MiG-25 that fired it, illustrating the dangerous and fast-paced cat-and-mouse dynamic of Cold War high-speed interception. The piece also recalls Viktor Belenko’s 1976 defection and the Soviet goal of shooting down the SR-71 as the “holy grail,” while noting the MiG-25’s limitations at high speed and altitude.
Czinger has unveiled the 21C Blackbird Edition, a low-production supercar that pays homage to the legendary SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. With a 1,350 hp twin-turbocharged V8 engine and electric motors, the Blackbird is a powerful machine. Only 80 examples of the 21C will be built, including the Blackbird variant, which features aeromotive-themed design elements and a top speed that surpasses other production cars.