Last minute engine run-up and checks are performed on Habu 972 at Det 1, Kadena Airbase in Okinawa, Japan, prior to an operational reconnaissance sortie over the USSR’s naval port at Vladivostok. For over 21 years, Lockheed’s famed SR-71 Blackbird flew highly-classified missions all over the globe, gaining fame as the world’s fastest and highest flying aircraft.