<hi style=afpcap>The SR-71 was the final version of the 'Blackbird' series and enjoyed some public attention from the start of its carrer as President Johnson revealed the existence of the type during a speech. The two seat SR-71 was ordered for the US Air Force, rather than the CIA to perform periphal reconnaissance operations in much the same manner as the A-12. The SR-71 entered service in January 1966 with operations being conducted from Beale AFB, California for the 24 years the type was in service. The SR-71 performed some spectacular long flights to gain imagery, with sorties flown non stop from the USA to the Middle East, for example, to monitor the war between the Israelis and their Arab neighbours. Overseas detachments were formed in the Pacific at Kadena, Okinawa and in Europe at RAF Mildenhall, UK to enable operations to be conducted without the need to perform lengthy transit flights from the USA. Despite being an expensive sysytem to operate, the SR-71 provided the itelligence community with much needed and timely raw data. However the SR-71 was prematurely retired from service when funding was withdrawn in November 1989. Most aircraft were allocated to museums, although three were placed in ready store with Lockheed and a further three joined NASA. In a surprising turnaround, funding was made available during fiscal year 1995 for three aircraft to be returned to service with operations located at Edwards AFB. </hi>
