26 years after its retirement from the US Air Force and 25 years after its retirement from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) , the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (unofficially nicknamed the " Habu " for a species of venomous pit viper endemic to the Ryukyu Islands of Japan) is still the fastest air-breathing aircraft ever made, with a top recorded speed of Mach 3.56 (2,731.478 mph; 4,395.
887 km/h; 2373.59 kn). The fastest airplane of *any* kind was the rocket-powered North American X-15 , at 6.
7 Mach (5,140 mph; 8,273 km/h; 4,467 kn). That extreme speed also generated extreme heat, as in temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (500 degrees Celsius) attacking the nose and cockpit of the aircraft. As the saying goes, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen" (or as rapper Coolio rephrased it in his 1994 song Fantastic Voyage , " If you can't take the heat, get your @$$ out the kitchen/We on a mission ").
Simple Flying now examines the engineering genius that enabled the Blackbird to stand the heat in fine fashion. The SR-72 "SOB" sounds great in theory (and looks great in the movies). So what are the hurdles keeping it from becoming a reality? The Why and the Wherefore of the hot 'n' cold The reason for that extreme heat is basic science.
Friction from the air molecules colliding with the leading edges of the aircraft converts their potential energy into thermal energy, i.e., heat.
Ergo, the faster the flight, the higher temperatures the plane w.