SR-71-Pilot Colonel Rich Graham: „The airplane is 92 % titanium inside and out. Back when they were building the airplane the United States didn’t have the ore supplies – an ore called rutile ore. It’s a very sandy soil and it’s only found in very few parts of the world. The major supplier of the ore was the USSR. Working through Third World countries and bogus operations, they were able to get the rutile ore shipped to the United States to build the SR-71.“ – Stephen Dowling: SR-71 Blackbird: The Cold War’s ultimate spy plane. BBC, 2. Juli 2013, abgerufen am 4. Mai 2017.
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale: Record: Eldon W. Joersz (USA). Eintrag zur erzielten Geschwindigkeit eines Fluggerätes der Klasse C; C-Absolute (Absolute Record of classes C, H and M). World Air Sports Federation der FAI, 10. Oktober 2017, abgerufen am 11. Dezember 2019 (englisch).
