Lockheed Martin's SR-71 “Blackbird” strategic reconnaissance aircraft has been one of the most amazing aircraft in Air Force history. Flying at an altitude of over 26,000 m at speeds of over Mach 3, it was practically unshootable by the Soviets and capable of "reading" Soviet territory at will.
A total of only 32 of these amazing aircraft were built which broke a number of world records. In total they performed 3,551 operational sorties, "writing" operational 11,008 flight hours and 53,490 hours in total. Of these 2,752 hours were flown, operationally, at speeds above Mach 3 – 11,675 hours at Mach 3 in total.