Adjacent to the Boeing facility in Seattle, the Museum of Flight is an excellent museum of military, civilian, and airline aircraft.  The centerpiece of the collection, most of which is diplayed in a mammoth glass atrium known as the Great Gallery, is the world's only-remaining M-21 Blackbird.  Here's a sampling.

May 28, 2006:  Ok, I'll admit it.  I like the DC-3.  Not as sexy as a Mustang, sinister as a Corsair, or technologically impressive as a Blackbird, the DC-3 remains a triumph of rugged, simple design.  This 1940's king of the airways did its job so well that many are still flying today.  As pictured here, the DC-3 seems about to pass over Boeing's first airliner, the Model 80 trimotor.  Indeed, this seems appropriate as the DC-3 outclassed many of Boeing's early commercial airliners.

May 28, 2006:  This sinister-looking Nazi Focke-Wulf 190D-13  was a 400 mph aerial menace during World War II and easily ranks among the best fighter aircraft of the time.  An inspection of a captured Fw 190 by Grumman engineer Bob Hall inspired many of the design elements of the Grumman Bearcat, the fastest single engine fighter developed during the World War II era.

May 28, 2006:  A head-on view of the Harrier, everyone's favorite vertical take-off and landing fighter aircraft.  I wonder what sort of drag penalty is incurred on the aircraft by that windshield wiper?

May 28, 2006:  Appearing as though it is crouched and ready to leap into the air, a Harrier sits outside of Seattle's Museum of Flight.

May 28, 2006:  Nose to bulbous nose with the Grumman Intruder.  One thing that you have to love about Grumman is that they were never afraid to build ugly aircraft.  Grumman airplanes were built for durability and functionality, with key examples including the Intruder and its cousins, the OV-1 Mohawk and the Apollo Lunar Module.

May 28, 2006:  The first operational Mach 2 interceptor, the Lockheed  F104 Starfighter was often called the "Missile with a Man in It".  With its sleek, tapered fuselage and minimal wing surface area, the genesis of that nickname is obvious.  I shudder to think what the stall speed on this thing might be.

May 28, 2006:  No, Lockheed never built a trimotor version of the Blackbird.  Going along for the ride on the back of its Blackbird mother ship is a D-21 drone.  This unmanned reconnaissance vehicle was capable of Mach 4 speeds, but needed to be launched at Mach 3 in order for its ramjet engine to function.  The Blackbird / drone combination was abandoned after a drone spun out of control during ejection and struck the aft section of its mother ship, resulting in the destruction of both aircraft.  Because only two M-21 Blackbird aircraft were built, this is the only surviving example.