Never Shot Down: The SR-71 Blackbird, Myth vs. Record (Illustrated Ebook, Revised Edition)

No SR-71 Blackbird was ever lost to enemy fire. So why did the fastest aircraft ever propelled by air-breathing engines stop flying, twice?

A 28-page illustrated history that checks the most repeated Blackbird claims one at a time and tells the life of the aircraft from the CIA's A-12 to NASA's last flight:

• Why the U-2 needed a successor, and the CIA's secret A-12 OXCART
• BLACK SHIELD: the first missiles fired at an A-12 over North Vietnam in October 1967
• The myths: "never shot down," "4,000 missiles," invisible to radar, leaking fuel, flawless
• The record: 2,193.167 mph and 85,068.997 ft (1976), and Los Angeles to Washington in 1 hour, 4 minutes and 20 seconds (1990)
• What grounded it: the 1990 retirement, the 1994 comeback vote, and the 1997 line-item veto
• NASA's research years and the last flight on October 9, 1999

Includes 18 archival U.S. government photographs (U.S. Air Force, NASA and CIA), a "by the numbers" page, a timeline, a "where the sources disagree" page, and a full list of sources.

Pairs with Sortie Stories Episode 5 on YouTube.

Format: PDF, 7x10 in, 28 pages, about 4.2 MB.

How it was made: the text was drafted with AI assistance, then fact-checked against the CIA's declassified history "The OXCART Story," the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, NASA, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Air Force Magazine, the Congressional Record and the Federal Register. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it in the next edition (free update).

Premiere week: save 20% with code LOGBOOK20 through Nov 4.

Teaching this? The Three Battles, Three Eras classroom bundle ($9) and the free Berlin Airlift sample are at Logbook Press.

Made with AI assistance (see "How it was made" above). Not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. military or the Department of War (Department of Defense). Also not affiliated with NASA, the CIA, Lockheed Martin or the Smithsonian. Logbook Press is an independent history imprint. Photos are U.S. government public-domain works.