Blackbird

Chalking up a new trans-continental speed record, a Lockheed SR-71A has streaked across the US in 68 minutes coast-to-coast. Flying the US Air Force SR-71 from Palmdale to Washington, DC, were Lt Col Ed Yeilding, the pilot, and Lt Col Joe Vida, the reconnaissance systems officer. The record flight was also the final one by this supersonic aircraft, 64-17972, now immortalised in aviation history. The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum received the retired SR-71 and its logbook in a ceremony at Washington's Dulles International Airport shortly after the Blackbird landed. Its final home will be a proposed museum extension, slated to be located at Dulles. The SR-71 took off from Palmdale site 2 at 04.30hrs. Refuelled in the air, the SR-71 then started its record run from over the Pacific coast near Oxnard. A sonic boom from the aircraft was felt in southern California at 06.00hrs. The aircraft reached the Atlantic coast near Salisbury, Maryland, 2,404.05 miles away 68 minutes and 17 seconds later for an average speed of 2,112.52mph. The record-setting aircraft then flew to Dulles International Airport and performed two flybys, the second of which saw the pilot punch in the afterburners to ignite the cheers of an emotional crowd of some 1,500.