In the late 1950s, the CIA commissioned a top-secret project dubbed 'Archangel', to fly faster and higher than anything before - or since -, invisible as a ghost. The most iconic aircraft of the Cold War was born, the impossibly futuristic spy plane SR-71 Blackbird.  Inspired by aircraft #17962 "Skull and Crossbones". In May 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet airspace. Initially, the U.S. government tried to play down the incident as a stray weather research aircraft but later had to backpedal on that story after photos of the captured pilot and the plane's spy equipment were released. Needless to say, this brought unwanted heat to the Cold War and - along with another U-2 shot down over Cuba - reinforced the need for a new type of spy plane. "The Perfect Christmas Gift/Present"