SR-71 BLACKBIRD

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Some numbers from the Blackbird family of planes:

• * 35 miles per minute or 3,100 feet per second is how fast the SR-71 could fly
• * 170,000 pounds was how much a fully fueled and outfitted Blackbird weighed
• * 59,000 pounds was what one weighed empty
• * 107 feet, 5 inches is the length of a Blackbird
• * 85,000 feet is the official Blackbird ceiling, although it supposedly could fly higher
• * 34,000 pounds of thrust were what each of the SR-71’s J-58 engines put out in afterburner
• * 17,300 total sorties were flown by the Blackbird family of aircraft
• * 3,551 of these sorties were operational missions
• * 11,675 hours were spent over mach three
• * 53,490 total flight hours were amassed on the fleet
• * Just 8 crew members had more than 1,000 hours in the jet
• * Only 86 SR-71 pilots and 86 RSOs flew operational missions
• * 385 total persons have reached mach three in a Blackbird, including 105 VIPs
• * 478 total people have flown in Blackbirds
• * 32 SR-71s were built
• * 50 total Blackbird family aircraft were built (A-12, YF-12, SR-71, M-21)
• * 1 hour and 4 minutes was how fast the SR-71 could go from Los Angeles to Washington D.C.
• * $33,000,000 was the cost to build a single SR-71 Blackbird
• * 900 degrees Fahrenheit was how hot the SR-71’s skin got during high-speed runs
• * 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit was the temperature of the J-58 engine’s exhaust at maximum output
• * Over 1,000 missiles were launched at the SR-71 without any losses
• * 5 pounds is how much weight a SR-71 crew member could lose in their pressure suit during a four our mission
• * 85 percent of the Blackbird’s skin is titanium, the other 15 percent is carbon composites

Source: http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/celebrate-the-51st-anniversary-of-the-sr-71-blackbirds-1749338300