This is a very deceptive piece of art. The SR-71 flies too fast to be photographed in flight, so every trick in the book was utilized to simulate the idea. Photographer Mike Darcy got a very tall ladder and photographed the plane sitting on the tarmac. The plane's exterior is altered during flight from when it's sitting on the ground, so hatches were closed, dirt and footsteps cleaned off, and a pilot was illustrated into the cockpit. A background image of the earth (supplied by NASA) was placed in position. Plumes were added at the rear, and a sweeping blur motion was added to the nose. Final image was used (along with several others created the same way) on the cover, and throughout AirPower magazine. All retouching was done on the Quantel Graphic Paintbox.