The Aircraft Lockheed Built That Was So Fast Even The Pilots Who Flew It Don't Fully Understand How It Worked

To this day, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird remains the fastest manned, air-breathing aircraft ever to enter service. The aerodynamics of the plane and the unique titanium alloy that Skunk Works crafted it from were crucial elements and enabled this incredible plane to fly as fast as it did, but its engines are also one of a kind. The Pratt & Whitney J58 was one of the strangest, most counterintuitive machines ever built. Formally classified by its engineers as a 'Recovered Bleed-Air Turbojet,' many still disagree on the correct technical description for how these incredible power plants worked.

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