SR-71   A-12   YF-12A   M-21
The Blackbird Survivors

What is a SR-71 Blackbird? The Blackbird is a Mach 3 spy plane that was designed to fly so high and fast that it would be impossible to shoot down. In fact, the Blackbird was shot at over 1000 times without being hit once. The Blackbird was also the first airplane to incorporate stealth technology.

The SR-71 was a follow-on project to the U-2 aircraft, which evolved from a need for the intelligence agencies to overfly the Soviet Union to determine if the so-called 'bomber gap' was real. The Soviets quickly figured out how to bring down the U-2, so the CIA asked the Lockheed Skunkworks to come up with an aircraft that could overfly hostile territory without risk of being shot down. The airplane that emerged from designer Kelly Johnson's drawing board was a black titanium jet that could fly at Mach 3 at altitudes above 80,000 feet. The theory was very simple. Even if you saw the SR-71 coming, by the time you could launch a missile, the Blackbird would be so far away that the missile would never catch up.

The first group of Blackbirds was built for the CIA under the designation A-12. This single seat version of the Blackbird first flew on April 26, 1962. The Air Force also purchased a group of Blackbirds. They were to be called recon-strike aircraft, but due to a mix-up, the designation ended up being SR-71. The SR-71 is a two seat aircraft. It first flew on December 22, 1964. The USAF tested the Blackbird as a bomber aircraft. Two YF-12A prototypes were developed. Later, the USAF tried to operate the D-21 drone from a Blackbird. The motherships were given the designation M-21. The M-21 program ended in disaster, so the drone role was shifted to B-52 bombers.

The CIA ended its Blackbird operations in 1968. The USAF took over this intelligence gathering role, and continued to operate the Blackbird well into the 1990s. The USAF attempted to retire the Blackbirds due to the extreme cost of the program. The idea was that satellite technology could fill that role. Congress, however, felt otherwise, and continued to fund the SR-71, so the SR-71 was brought back on-line. The aircraft were finally retired a few years later, and several examples were transferred to NASA. The last NASA flight was at the annual Edwards Air Force Base Open House on October 9, 1999. Click here for a photo tour of the final Blackbird flight.

All surviving Blackbirds have now been transferred to museums. Several SR-71s were being held in flyable storage in the event that world events required that they be activated, but those aircraft were released to museums in the mid-2000s. A list of all known Blackbird survivors follows below, along with a hot-link to a page with a photo of each aircraft. So far, I have visited and photographed all but 2 surviving Blackbirds. A few more have moved to new locations since I have last seen them.

This serial number table is based on a list created by Albert Dobyns. It is used with permission. Note that SR-71 serial numbers are often listed as 64-17xxx. These numbers are incorrect, and are often used as disinformation. The correct serial numbers are 61-7xxx.