How The SR-71’s Engine Made History

It is widely known that the SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft to ever take to the skies, with the plane able to exceed speeds far beyond Mach 2. The aircraft, which was developed as a collaboration between Lockheed’s secretive Skunk Works division and multiple US government organizations, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the United States Air Force (USAF), was incredibly valuable for decades as a high-altitude reconnaissance jet.