Though exceptionally good at what it did, the highly specialized nature of the sr71 made it expensive to operate and by the late 1980s, the air force was ready to shelve the blackbird in order to. Many schoolage children have heard of the blackbird and already know that it is the. This cuttingedge aircraft took the art of aerial spying to an unprecedented level and did it all from highly clandestine highspeed spy missions over communist nations during the late 1960s and 1970s. The sr 71 was an advanced, longrange, mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the lockheed yf12a, and a12 aircraft by the lockheed skunk works. Nasas overall highspeed aeronautical re search program and involved other nasa research centers, other government. When a document becomes declassified, it also becomes public domain.
Blackbird educator resource guide museum of aviation. The sr71 represents the very pinnacle of cold war aircraft design and it has become an aviation icon. No is asserted for the content that is presented on this web site from the sr 71 flight manual. Additionally, several aircraft in the blackbird family were modified to carry the lockheed d21 drone on a pylon above the fuselage. The manual was declassified several years ago and has now been made free to the public. Free download the sr71 blackbird story pdf full pdf. However, in practice the sr71 was sometimes more efficient at even faster. For the first time, the sr 71 flight manual is available online.
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