The SR-71 'Blackbird's' cameras and sensors could map 100,000 square miles per hour while using its speed and altitude capabilities to stay safely beyond reach. Securing its position as the most successful strategic reconnaissance aircraft in history the SR-71 gathered information for the United States throughout the Cold War, Vietnam and on into conflicts and crises worldwide until its retirement from active service in 1998. Thirty-two SR-71s and her variants were produced; none was ever lost to hostile action.

Photo by Bob Nelson on Thursday, August 11, 1994 at the March Field Air Museum, Riverside, CA