Am I the only one that learned what "Skunk Works" was from a poster of the SR-71 Blackbird? On July 28, 1976 the SR-71A traveled at Mach 3.3 which is just shy of 2,200 mph. There are other records set (such as altitude record of 85,069 feet) but my favorite is the New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds. The Pratt & Whitney J58-P4 engines used in the Blackbird were the only American engines designed to operate continuously on afterburner, and became more efficient as speed increased. Each J58 engine could produce 32,500 lbs/f of static thrust.
