This story about two SR-71 “Blackbird” pilots having some fun with other pilots over the radio may not be true, but I hope it is.

And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done — in mere seconds we’ll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now.

I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet.

Hands down, the SR-71 is the coolest jet ever built. My favorite SR-71 trivia: before the jet reaches speed, it is literally leaking JP-7 jet fuel through cracks in the fuel tanks, which expand and seal once airborne. If that’s not ’60s American engineering I don’t know what is.

The King of Speed [JumboJoke.com]