In the 4½ years since Lyndon Johnson told the world of a new U.S. spy plane faster and higher-flying than the old U2, the SR-71 has remained wrapped in secrecy as dark as its dull black paint. Travelers have caught tantalizing glimpses of the mysterious jet at Thailand's Udorn airbase, from which it has flown over Red China and North Viet Nam; there has been talk of speed "faster than a bullet" and a ceiling of 100,000 ft. An occasional unrevealing photograph has been declassified by cautious military censors. But only recently...
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