Ken Collins on the nose of an SR-71 Blackbird.

Retired Air Force colonel, Ken Collins, stands on the nose of an SR-71 Blackbird, a top-secret spy plane deployed by the Air Force from the 1960's on. The Blackbirs flew faster than Mach 3, which routinely made the temperature of the canopy reach 600 degrees F, due to air friction. In fact, the intensity of the heat actually made the plan's frame grow an inch in flight. The Air Force no longer flies the Blackbird, though other models of its vintage, such as the C-5 Galaxy and the C-130 Hercules are being updated and reborn.