The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a military flying machine that had no equal. Nothing was like it when it was flying, nor has there been anything similar since. The reason, mainly was due to the fact that it was designed for a very specific purpose: to fly at Mach 3+ and spy on nations of interest (be a supersonic U-2, basically) from about 80,000 feet.

It was not intended at all, however, for low-flying, slow-speed air show performances in front of crowds of thousands. But it did them somehow in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the limited footage of it is fascinating. In a lot of ways, it’s akin to asking an aircraft carrier to tow a waterskier or using American Pharaoh to plow a field or turning the space shuttle into an ice cream truck.

Foxtrot Alpha explains — from a technical aspect — why rolling out this high-powered flier for entertainment was so preposterous:

Although the Blackbird was a fairly maneuverable machine considering its intended purpose, it was not at home under 250 knots doing turns and low approaches in front of air show crowds. Yet this is what made the jet so amazing to watch, the fact that this 107 foot long titanium jet-sled could still put on a show down in the thick air, and what a spectacle it was.

The SR-71’s finicky J-58 turbojets had their airflow issues up high and at supersonic speed, with ‘unstarts’ being a major hurdle during the genesis of the Oxcart program, down low these same engines could backfire and were susceptible to intermittent compressor stalls at high angles of attack, especially when the throttle was advanced. The results of which were huge fireballs erupting out the back of the big black jet.

Without further ado, here are those mesmerizing videos of an aircraft that really should never have been performing in air shows … performing in air shows (and also doing flybys):