The "ground speed check" is a famous anecdote from SR-71 pilot Brian Shul's book "Sled Driver." As various aircraft asked air traffic control for their speed, Shul's crew requested a check too — and the controller reported a ground speed well over 1,800 knots, far faster than anything else in the sky.

Brian Shul was a US Air Force pilot who flew the SR-71 Blackbird and later wrote the acclaimed book "Sled Driver" about his experiences. A survivor of a fiery Vietnam-era crash, he became celebrated for his vivid storytelling and photography of the world's fastest jet.

The SR-71 was the fastest air-breathing crewed aircraft ever, cruising above Mach 3 — roughly three times the speed of a typical airliner and faster than most fighter jets. In the famous radio story, it left an F/A-18 and other aircraft far behind in any speed comparison.

Among jet-engine aircraft, yes — but the rocket-powered North American X-15 flew far faster, reaching nearly Mach 7. The SR-71 remains the fastest air-breathing jet, while pure rocket planes hold the absolute speed records.

No one can fully verify it, and even Shul presented it as a great tale rather than documented fact. Still, it captures the real pride of Blackbird crews, who genuinely flew the fastest jet on Earth and loved reminding other pilots of it.

The SR-71 combined record-breaking speed, striking looks and an aura of secrecy that captivated aviators and the public alike. Decades after retirement it remains a legend, regularly ranked among the most beautiful and impressive aircraft ever built.

Flying a fighter jet is expensive but possible for civilians. A MiG-29 supersonic experience flight starts at around EUR 13,500 for 45 minutes, or EUR 11,500 for a 25-minute non-supersonic flight. Military operating costs are far higher — Austria calculated roughly EUR 70,000 per flight hour for its Eurofighters. You can even fly a fighter jet yourself through experience providers.

Air Force One, the Boeing VC-25A (a modified 747-200), costs about USD 206,337 per flight hour according to figures released under the US Freedom of Information Act. That makes presidential travel extremely expensive — one 2013 overseas trip reportedly cost taxpayers nearly USD 8 million.

Fighter jets are costly to operate because they burn huge amounts of fuel and require intensive, specialised maintenance. Supersonic jets consume far more fuel than subsonic trainers, which is why trainer flights are significantly cheaper. Crews, spare parts, and runway operations all add to the high hourly cost.

The Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is widely regarded as the most expensive aircraft ever built, and it is correspondingly costly to operate. Other expensive aircraft to run include Air Force One and the E-4 "Nightwatch" airborne command post.

The E-4 "Nightwatch" is a militarised Boeing 747 that serves as a US airborne command-and-control centre, designed to keep national leadership operational during a crisis. It is among the most expensive aircraft to operate and has been seen flying to events such as the Davos World Economic Forum.

When a pilot pulls the handle, an ejection seat first jettisons the canopy, then a rocket or explosive catapult propels the seat and pilot up and clear of the aircraft. A drogue stabilizes the seat, which then separates, and the main parachute deploys for landing. Modern seats automate the whole sequence in fractions of a second; see how ejection seats actually work.

Ejection is a last resort — pilots always try to land first — because the forces are violent, especially at high speed. Captain Brian “Noodle” Udell ejected from an out-of-control F-15 at supersonic speed and survived but was severely injured by the windblast; his navigator did not survive. Ejection saves lives but carries serious risk.

Yes, but it is the worst case. Captain Brian Udell ejected from his F-15 at roughly 1,290 km/h (800 mph), faster than the speed of sound. At such velocity the wind is brutally forceful — Udell described his face and limbs swelling dramatically — and survival is far from guaranteed, which is why pilots avoid high-speed ejection whenever possible.

The Russian Zvezda K-36D is widely regarded as one of the most effective ejection seats, credited with protecting pilots even at extreme speeds — reportedly usable at up to twice the speed of sound. It factors in more than 200 parameters to compute the optimal escape trajectory, giving the pilot the best possible chance of survival.

Long before ejection seats, pilots relied on manual bailouts. The first emergency jump using a free-fall parachute was made by Harold Harris in 1922, a milestone in aircraft-escape history told in the first man saved by a parachute. Ejection seats later automated and vastly sped up that escape.

The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), lead ship of the US Navy's newest carrier class, cost more than USD 13 billion, making it the most expensive warship ever built. That is far more than even the world's priciest superyachts.

EMALS, the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, is a catapult that uses electromagnetic energy instead of steam to launch aircraft from carriers. Introduced on the Ford-class, it is estimated to increase daily aircraft launch capacity by around 25% compared with the steam catapults used on Nimitz-class carriers.

The Ford-class generates about three times the electrical power of the older Nimitz-class. That extra power enables the electromagnetic EMALS catapults, advanced systems, and potential future weapons such as railguns, while boosting the ship's daily aircraft launch rate by roughly 25%.

A railgun is an electrically powered weapon that uses electromagnetic force to fire projectiles at extremely high speed, without gunpowder. The Ford-class carrier's greatly increased electrical capacity could in principle support such weapons, which the US Navy has tested in sea-trial programmes.

US Navy supercarriers operate fixed-wing jets launched by catapult, including fighters like the F/A-18 Super Hornet and, historically, the F-14 Tomcat. These carrier-based aircraft are launched with catapults and recovered using arrestor wires across the flight deck.

The USS Gerald R. Ford was built as CVN-78 and began sea operations in the mid-2010s. It introduced major new technologies, including electromagnetic EMALS catapults and roughly tripled electrical generation compared with earlier Nimitz-class carriers.

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft ever built, capable of sustained flight above Mach 3 (over 3,500 km/h). Developed by Lockheed's Skunk Works, it set Cold War speed records that still stand, and even survived dramatic close calls during reconnaissance missions.

Germany's Messerschmitt Me 262 was the world's first operational jet fighter, entering combat in 1944 during World War II. Its turbojet engines made it markedly faster than the piston-engined fighters of the era, helping usher in the jet age of military aviation.

Most modern fighter jets can exceed twice the speed of sound (Mach 2, around 2,400 km/h). Specialised aircraft fly faster still — the SR-71 reconnaissance jet topped Mach 3. Sustained high speed generates intense heat and places heavy stress on both the airframe and the pilot.

Mach number expresses speed relative to the speed of sound: Mach 1 is the speed of sound (about 1,235 km/h at sea level), Mach 2 is twice that, and so on. Fighter jets are often described by their top Mach number, a key measure of performance.

Most modern military jets are painted in shades of grey because it makes them harder to see against the sky and at distance, improving stealth and survivability. Earlier camouflage schemes used greens and browns better suited to low-level flying over land.

U.S. Marine Corps Captain Katie Higgins was the first woman to fly with the Blue Angels, the US Navy's flight demonstration squadron. She joined the team in 2015, flying the C-130 transport, after earning her aviator wings in 2011.

"Fat Albert" is the nickname of the Blue Angels' Lockheed C-130 Hercules support aircraft. It carries the team's equipment and personnel and performs its own crowd-pleasing demonstration. Captain Katie Higgins flew Fat Albert as the first woman to pilot for the Blue Angels.

The Blue Angels perform in Boeing F/A-18 Hornet (and later Super Hornet) fighter jets, supported by the C-130 "Fat Albert." The fast jets fly tight formation and solo aerobatics, subjecting pilots to intense G-forces, while Fat Albert handles logistics and its own display.

Yes. Women had served on the Blue Angels team in support and staff roles before Katie Higgins, but she was the first to fly as a demonstration pilot during air shows. Women have long excelled in military aviation too, including World War II ace Lydia Litvyak.

Katie Higgins received her US military aviator wings in 2011, following her family's tradition of service, and went on to join the Blue Angels in 2015 as their first female demonstration pilot.

Yes. A famous set of photos shows the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird flying in tight formation with "Jeannie," a heavily modified P-51 Mustang air racer. Although many assumed the images were faked, the aviator Skip Holm confirmed the formation was real. It was arranged to promote Jeannie as "The Fastest Prop and The Fastest Jet."

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is a Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft, cruising at over three times the speed of sound, faster than any other air-breathing manned aircraft in service. In the formation photos it was flying nose-high at a relatively low speed of around 450 knots, near the slow end of its envelope.

"Jeannie" was a highly modified P-51 Mustang racing aircraft, tail number 69, that won the Reno Air Race in 1981. Owned by Wiley Sanders and based at Van Nuys, its crew sought publicity and speed records, which led to the idea of photographing it alongside an SR-71 to crown it the fastest prop aircraft.

The SR-71 was developed by Lockheed's secretive "Skunk Works" advanced projects division. The same organisation's managers, including flight operations director Bill Park, helped arrange the formation flight with Jeannie. The Blackbird in the photos carried tail number 17955 and the Skunk Works logo.

Many. The Blackbird's speed and altitude made it the subject of countless legends, including the time a Swedish Viggen escorted a crippled SR-71 over the Baltic, and the Soviet Union's own Mach 3 spy plane that never flew.

Fighter jets are far bigger than most people expect. Many modern fighters are 15 to 22 metres long with wingspans of 10 to 15 metres and stand several metres tall — roughly the size of a small house. Photos rarely convey this; standing next to one, or looking at the pilot for scale, reveals just how massive they really are.

The English Electric Lightning was a British Cold War interceptor famous for its blistering climb rate and twin stacked engines. Around 16 to 17 metres long, it was built to rocket up to high-altitude bombers at supersonic speed. Read more about Britain's vertical missile.

The Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker is one of the largest fighters of its generation, roughly 21 to 22 metres long with a wingspan of about 14 to 15 metres. Its sheer size, combined with great agility, lets it perform dramatic maneuvers like the Pugachev's Cobra. Up close, the Flanker towers over many Western fighters.

The Blackburn Buccaneer was a British low-level strike aircraft designed to attack ships and ground targets at high speed and very low altitude. Around 19 metres long and built tough for carrier and overland operations, it strikes many people as surprisingly large and muscular when seen in person.

Photographs flatten scale and remove familiar reference points, so a fighter can look compact in a picture. In person, comparing the aircraft to the size of the pilot, the cockpit or a person standing beside it reveals its true bulk. The intense forces these big machines pull also affect pilots — see what pulling 9G does to your body.

The fastest manned aircraft ever flown is the rocket-powered North American X-15, which reached about Mach 6.7. Among air-breathing jets, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest, cruising above Mach 3.2.

The Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat is generally regarded as the fastest fighter ever built, capable of about Mach 3.2, though usually limited to lower speeds to protect its engines. It also set the highest altitude record ever reached by a jet.

The Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker has a top speed of about Mach 2.35. Built for air superiority to counter Western jets like the F-15 Eagle, it featured the first fly-by-wire control system on a Russian fighter and spawned many variants, including the Su-30, Su-33, Su-34 and Su-35.

The F-15 Eagle can exceed Mach 2.5, helped by a thrust-to-weight ratio close to 1:1. Introduced in 1976, it is one of the most successful fighters ever built, with over 100 confirmed aerial victories and no air-to-air losses.

The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark was a tactical bomber capable of about Mach 2.5. It was the first production aircraft with a variable-sweep ("swing") wing, and could carry a payload of around 14,300 kg of bombs and missiles before its retirement in 1996.

Beyond service jets, experimental aircraft chased extreme speed. The American XB-70 Valkyrie and Soviet Sukhoi T-4 were rival Mach 3 bombers; read about the XB-70 versus the Sukhoi T-4.

The North American X-15 was a rocket-powered research aircraft introduced in 1959. It flew higher than 100 km and faster than Mach 6, gathering vital data for future aircraft and spacecraft. It remains the fastest manned aircraft ever flown.

The X-15 holds the speed record for a manned aircraft at 7,274 km/h, roughly Mach 6.7. That is far faster than any air-breathing jet, including the SR-71 Blackbird, because the X-15 used a rocket engine rather than turbojets.

Yes. Only three X-15s were built and together they flew 199 missions, of which 13 exceeded the 80 km altitude that the US Air Force counted as spaceflight. Eight pilots reached that height and earned astronaut wings, flying so high they entered space.

The X-15 did not take off from a runway. It was carried to about 14 km altitude under the wing of a B-52 Stratofortress "mothership," then dropped at around 805 km/h before igniting its Reaction Motors rocket engine and accelerating toward the edge of space.

While the X-15 flew into space under rocket power, the record for a jet aircraft belongs to the MiG-25. Read about the highest altitude ever reached by a jet and how it compares to the rocket-powered X-15.