Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Blackbird: A History of the Untouchable Spy Plane

James Hamilton-Paterson

4.2/5 ( ratings)

The SR-71 Blackbird, the famed “spy” jet, was deliberately designed to be the world's fastest and highest-flying aircraft—and its success has never been approached since.

It was conceived in the late 1950s by Lockheed Martin's highly secret 'Skunk Works' team under one of the most brilliant aero designers of all time, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. Once fully developed in 1964, the Blackbird represented the apogee of jet-powered flight. It could fly at well over three times the speed of sound above 85,000 feet and had an unrefueled range of 3,200 nautical miles. It flew with great success until 1999). Despite extensive use over Vietnam and later battlefields, not one was ever shot down .

The Blackbird's capabilities seem unlikely ever to be exceeded. It was retired because its function can be performed by satellites—and in today's steady trend toward unmanned military aircraft, it is improbable that another jet aircraft of this speed and caliber will ever again be conceived.

Pages: 232

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Pegasus Books

Release: September 05, 2017

ISBN: 1681775050

ISBN 13: 9781681775050

Blackbird: A History of the Untouchable Spy Plane

James Hamilton-Paterson

4.2/5 ( ratings)

The SR-71 Blackbird, the famed “spy” jet, was deliberately designed to be the world's fastest and highest-flying aircraft—and its success has never been approached since.

It was conceived in the late 1950s by Lockheed Martin's highly secret 'Skunk Works' team under one of the most brilliant aero designers of all time, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. Once fully developed in 1964, the Blackbird represented the apogee of jet-powered flight. It could fly at well over three times the speed of sound above 85,000 feet and had an unrefueled range of 3,200 nautical miles. It flew with great success until 1999). Despite extensive use over Vietnam and later battlefields, not one was ever shot down .

The Blackbird's capabilities seem unlikely ever to be exceeded. It was retired because its function can be performed by satellites—and in today's steady trend toward unmanned military aircraft, it is improbable that another jet aircraft of this speed and caliber will ever again be conceived.

Pages: 232

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Pegasus Books

Release: September 05, 2017

ISBN: 1681775050

ISBN 13: 9781681775050

More books from James Hamilton-Paterson

Cooking with Fernet Branca

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Empire of the Clouds: When Britain's Aircraft Ruled the World

4.1/5 ( ratings)

Amazing Disgrace

3.8/5 ( ratings)

Rancid Pansies

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Marked for Death: The First War in the Air

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Seven Tenths: The Sea and Its Thresholds

4.3/5 ( ratings)

Playing with Water

Gerontius

3.8/5 ( ratings)

Under the Radar

Beethoven's Third Symphony 'The Eroica' (The Landmark Library)

Beethoven's Eroica: The First Great Romantic Symphony

Blackbird: A History of the Untouchable Spy Plane

What We Have Lost

The Unlikely Ghosts

Stuck Monkey: The Deadly Planetary Cost of the Things We Love

Loving Monsters

Weltraum Nr. 1

Three Miles Down

The House in the Waves

America's Boy: The Marcoses and the Philippines

Rate this book!

Write a review?