SR-71 blackbird

The SR-71 Blackbird was a spy plane that was as fast as it was beautiful.  I saw one once, in Okinawa,  some forty + years ago when I was a sailor on my way to Vietnam.  In my job, I was familiar with the plane and was absolutely dumbfounded the first time I tracked one. 
   I can't talk about the particulars of my job but suffice it to say that part of my job was keeping track of air traffic in and around North Vietnam during that bloody war.  I was used to plotting the course being flown by Migs and F-4's and other aircraft, both foreign and domestic.  The biggest part of my job was knowing the location of all aircraft in the air in the war zone so we could keep our planes and pilots as safe as possible. 
   The first time I tracked on the plane entered the southeastern corner of North Vietnam and flew straight across the country and then turned and flew  in a slightly northeastern direction exiting the country in the east, turning again and flying to the dead center of North Vietnam and then turned north and flew out of the country.  The entire episode lasted about 2 1/2 minutes.  At first I thought it was a joke and that my superiors would think I made it up but it turned out to be legit. 
   I was shocked to learn that on one faithful trip the North Vietnamese  launched a Mig 23 from their most northern airstrip as soon as they detected the Blackbird in the Gulf of Tonkin.  The Mig flew as fast as it could in a steep climb and kicked in its afterburners for added speed and distance.  When the Mig reached it highest point it fired all of its air to air missiles.  It was a potluck gamble to shoot down a SR-71 and it almost worked.  The migs missiles  missed the tail of the Blackbird by about 100 yards.  That was a streak of luck to get that close.  No Blackbird was every lost to enemy action.
  I had access to the top secret books with the specs of the Blackbird but even that document would not list the planes speed.  It just said mock 3+. 
a special on TV last week claimed it's speed was in access of 1600 miles per hour.  I don't know how fast it was I do know it was impressive.