Compared with the Blackbird, they are hardly art at all.

SR-71 Blackbird.

And history the planes have become. However advanced they were, time and technology overtook them; in 1990, as satellites appropriated their mission, operational flights ended. Today’s unmanned orbital droids may represent the state of the art. But compared with the Blackbird, they are hardly art at all.

A quick look back at the legendary SR-71 Blackbird. [via kottke]