‘It’s just black sky up there’: 50 years on, the transatlantic flight speed record remains unbroken

Two men flew between New York and London at three times the speed of sound. No other aircraft has since been as fast as the Blackbird SR-71, explains crew member Noel Widdifield

On 1 September 1974 two men made the fastest ever journey between New York and London. The astonishing trip – at three times the speed of sound – took less than two hours and set a record that still stands 50 years later.

Even the mighty Concorde, which set the record for the fastest commercial transatlantic flight in 1996, straggled in almost an hour behind.