COBI Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Set 5891

COBI's SR-71 Blackbird is a 1:48 model built from 1,374 blocks, 67.5 cm long with a 33.5 cm wingspan, produced under licence from Lockheed Martin. The landing gear detaches, the ailerons move, and the cockpit opens for the included USAF pilot figure in a high-altitude pressure suit. A display stand with a Lockheed Martin plate is included, and all markings are printed.

The titanium came from the Soviet Union

The Blackbird is about 85 per cent titanium, because nothing else survives Mach 3 for hours at a time. In the early 1960s the United States did not have enough of the right ore.

The largest supplier in the world was the Soviet Union. So the CIA set up front companies in third countries and bought it — quietly, through intermediaries, over several years — and the aircraft built to fly over the Soviet Union and photograph it was made largely of Soviet metal.

Working the material was its own problem. Titanium ruined conventional tooling, so Lockheed had to invent the processes, and early batches were rejected because cadmium-plated spanners left traces that made the metal brittle. Every tool in the shop had to be replaced.

Nothing ever caught one

Over 3,700 km/h at 26 kilometres, and the standard evasive manoeuvre against a surface-to-air missile was to accelerate. Around 4,000 missiles were fired at Blackbirds over the aircraft's career. None hit. No SR-71 was ever lost to enemy action.

The type was retired in the 1990s not because anything could catch it but because satellites had become good enough, and the aircraft cost a fortune to fly.

In the COBI range

Set 5890 is the Executive Edition with 1,424 pieces, a second NASA pilot figure, NASA markings and brick exhaust flames.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,374 · Figures: 1 pilot · Scale: 1:48 · Licensed by Lockheed Martin · Display stand included
Model dimensions: 67.5 × 33.5 × 12.5 cm (26.6 × 13.2 × 4.9 in)