How they built the Blackbird: Fascinating pictures show birth of SR-71

great job... stories like "you cannot stay in that hotel", PARTS BEING DELIVERED TO PRIVATE HOMES,, "tell security if you plan to leave the country on your next vacation" (i.e. "DON'T YOU DARE").....dedicated phone line that NEVER went microwave, twisted pair all the way across country. and many more...

I was lucky enough to view the mock-up in the very early days of design. A fantastic aircraft, especially considering the state of aerodynamics and computational technologies back then. As for it's speed record, don't forget that it is true for unclassified airbreathing aircraft....enough said

One of the ironies of its' production was, the world's largest producer, by far, of titanium at the time, was...the Soviet Union. There are stories about how enough titanium was procured through third parties in order to build the aircraft.

My father died due to the effects of materials he worked with in the early 60's to mid 70's. Workers today owe a lot to the lessons learned based on the subject matter you reference.

Comments about what they used while building it reminded me that my cousins husband has cancer along with others who worked on them due to the chemicals used on them. She said its quite common with the mechanics that maintained them.