AIRFRAME: Lockheed SR-71 BLACKBIRD - Airman Magazine

Описание: During it’s 34 years of service, the SR-71 gathered intelligence in some of the world’s most hostile environments. The Blackbird evaded all 4,000 missiles fired at it and, to this day, remains the only Air Force aircraft to never lose a crewmember associated with it; whether in the air or on the ground.

The Blackbird was designed to operate at extreme velocities, altitudes and temperatures. It was the first aircraft constructed with titanium, as the friction caused by air molecules passing over its surface at Mach 2.6 would melt a conventional aluminum frame. Its engineering was so cutting edge that even the tools to build the SR-71 needed to be designed from scratch.

This video was produced by AIRMAN, the official magazine of the U.S. Air Force, and is re-published here as it is in the public domain.