Description

Long and sharp of edge, like a great black dagger, the SR-71 rips open the flight envelopes of much newer aircraft at will – setting new top speed and altitude records any time the US Government chooses to declassify another portion of its awesome capabilities. For twenty-five years, the Blackbird has been the world’s most capable spy; flying at 80,000 feet and more than 2,000 mph, its sharp eyes can peer under every rock and tree in 100,000 square miles, every hour.

The SR-71’s infamous older sister, the U-2 ushered in the age of the high-flying spyplane on 4 July 1956, with its first spy mission over the Soviet Union. The Dragon Lady soared like an impudent condor on long graceful wings – so audacious was the flight that the Soviets were too stunned to respond, and so high that they were powerless in any case. U-2 became a household word, its infamy assured, when a barrage of Soviet SAMs brought down Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 on 1 May 1960. The resulting incident caused immense political embarrassment for the US and U-2 incursions into Soviet airspace were halted. Yet the U-2 and its variants, the TR-1 and ER-2, are still proving their worth, gathering vital information for NASA and the US Air Force.

Though designed by the same man and for the same mission, the U-2 and SR-71 look as different as two jet aircraft can, though their enticing black forms cast the same spell. Brewed in a cauldron brimming with top secret intrigue, exotic fuel and clandestine flights at impossible altitudes and impossible speeds – this spell is the magic of Lockheed’s Blackbirds….Black Magic!

Black Magic captures the allure of these unique spyplanes. Within are more than 100 colour photographs that make the sense of intrigue palpable, and incisive text that goes beyond the mystique to reveal their astonishing capabilities.

Journey inside the heavily guarded gate at Beale AFB, where the Blackbirds roost; through the extensive planning that precedes each mission; follow the pilots and RSOs through the Physiological Support Division (PSD) facility, where they don their Dave Clark suits and physically prepare for the rigors of extreme altitude flight; to the hangars, lit with the unearthly green flame of TEB-doped fuel; into the cockpit to be strapped and plugged in for flight; and onto the runway to feel the ground shake when the afterburners are lit, as 65,000 pounds of thrust launches the Blackbird into the sky.