Lockheed A-12 and the SR-71 Blackbird

On April 26, 1962, the first flight took place of a revolutionary Mach 3 reconnaissance aircraft developed in secret by Lockheed's Skunk Works under designer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. Built for the CIA as the A-12, it was the forerunner of the famous SR-71 Blackbird, and it pushed aircraft design into an entirely new regime of speed and altitude.

Flying at more than three times the speed of sound and at extreme altitudes, the aircraft relied on advanced titanium construction to withstand the searing heat generated by air friction at such velocities. Its sleek, sinister black shape, sophisticated engines, and pioneering low-observable features made it unlike anything that had flown before, allowing it to overfly hostile territory faster than any interceptor or missile could reliably catch it.

The design matured into the U.S. Air Force's SR-71 Blackbird, a strategic reconnaissance aircraft that served from the 1960s into the 1990s. The Blackbird set official records as the world's fastest and highest-flying air-breathing manned aircraft, records that have stood for decades, cementing its place as one of the most remarkable achievements in aviation history.