Five Countries Who Fired Missiles At SR 71 Blackbird

We used to watch these beautiful birds take off from Kadena AFB.

Lt. Col. Charlie Brown. Even today with all the film footage/publicity of the SR-71 Blackbird, not many are fully aware of what it had accomplished. A truly amazing aircraft! Back in th early 80's, I was flying a civilian aircraft from East Central Florida to Orlando International Airport to pick up a friend. South of my inbound track was the Avon Bombing/Gunnery Range & ORL Approach Control radioed me to "be advised of traffic at 10 o'clock low, your position". While the controller was giving me the advisory, a black streak crossed my path from 10 o'clock low to 2 o'clock high in about 2 seconds. A SR-71 had been at the Avon Range & that was my first encounter with a US aircraft that shocked me with its speed. As soon as the controller finished his advisory, I radioed him that my "traffic no longer existed as it was now at 2 o'clock high & disappearing from sight". Somehow his mic was still keyed as I heard him say "Bullshit, no airplane can fly that fast". I wonder how he felt when he eventually learned about the SR-71 Blackbird.

Great video.