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SR-71 NASA Desktop Wood Model Aircraft Display
SKU: NC10322
The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" was an advanced, long range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft and is now made available as a desktop model aircraft by Mastercraft.
Delivery 7 to 10 days
Product Description
Code: NC10322
SR-71 "Blackbird"was developed from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by the Lockheed Skunk Works as a black project. During reconnaissance missions the SR-71 operated at high speeds and altitudes to allow it to outrace threats; if a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, standard evasive action was simply to accelerate. The SR-71 was in service with the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1998. Twelve of the 32 aircraft were destroyed in accidents; none were lost to enemy action. Since 1976, it has held the world record for the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft, a record previously held by the YF-12.
Although equipped with defensive electronic countermeasures, the SR-71's greatest protection was its high top speed, which made it almost invulnerable to the attack technologies of the time; over the course of its service life, not one was shot down, despite over 4,000 attempts to do so. All the pilot had to do was to accelerate. Original capabilities for the SR-71 included optical/infrared imagery systems, side-looking airborne radar (SLAR), electronic intelligence (ELINT) gathering systems, defensive systems (for countering missile and airborne fighter threats) and recorders for SLAR, ELINT and maintenance data.
The first flight of an SR-71 took place on 22 December 1964, at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later, 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, in January 1966. The United States Air Force Strategic Air Command had SR-71 Blackbirds in service from 1966 through 1991. All other Blackbirds have been moved to museums except for the two SR-71s and a few D-21 drones retained by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. On August 2, 1997, a NASA SR-71 made multiple flybys at the Oshkosh Airventure air show. It was then supposed to perform a sonic boom at 53,000 feet (16,000 m) after a midair refueling, but a fuel flow problem caused it to divert to Milwaukee. Two weeks later, the pilot's flight path brought him over Oshkosh again, and there was, in fact, a sonic boom.
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