The incredible speed of the SR-71
The SR-71 speed records that have yet to be broken
The SR-71 set several impressive records related to its speed, highest flight, and quickest travel between two points. In 1974, an SR-71 set a world record by flying from New York to London. It flew at 80,000 feet in excess of 2,000 mph and made the flight in one hour, 54 minutes, and 56.4 seconds. That same year, an SR-71 set another distance speed record by flying from London to Los Angeles, covering 5,447 miles in three hours, 47 minutes, and 30 seconds.
In 1976, an SR-71 achieved an absolute speed record for a manned aircraft, achieving Mach 3.3 (2,193.2 mph), though another pilot, Brian Shul, wrote in his book, "The Untouchables," that he exceeded Mach 3.5 in 1986 while evading a Libyan air defense missile, though this claim hasn't been verified. If true, he would have flown his SR-71 at approximately 2,685.4 mph. Another record set in 1976 involved an SR-71's highest operational flight, which topped out at 85,069 feet, setting an absolute altitude record.
On June 6, 1990, the final flight of the SR-71 for the U.S. Air Force set four as-yet unbroken records: it flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 64 minutes and 20 seconds. It also went from the West Coast to the East Coast of the United States in 67 minutes and 54 seconds. The aircraft set another distance record, flying from Kansas City, Missouri, to Washington, D.C., in only 25 minutes and 50 seconds, and finally, it flew from St. Louis to Cincinnati, Ohio, in eight minutes and 32 seconds.
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