this is the pima air & space museum. e of the most important and unusual machines to ever fly in the sky. this is quite an impressive display. >> well, thanks. you know, we've been working hard at it for about 35 years now, so we're very proud of our accomplish >> one of the most popular exhibits is the blackbird. it's the world's fastest jet. the blackbird was designed to outrun missiles trying to shoot it down. that's because the u.s. used blackbirds to spy on other >> it was a secret program, so they were flying high and fast long before anyone acknowledged that the program existed. but in the late '70s, i believe 1978, one of the blackbirds flew from los angeles to new york city in 1 hour, 4 minutes and 6 seconds. >> wow! i wish all flights from new york to los angeles were that fast! >> yeah, no, exactly. but the in-flight services aren't that great. >> so, what was its top speed? >> generally it was a little bit over mach-3. >> mach 1 is the speed of sound. so, mach 3 means flying at three times the speed of sound.