The RAF's very own Blackbird! Now it does look menacing! In 1968 the anti-flash white was replaced by an all-black colour scheme as the bombing role was dropped and all the fleet became high-speed reconaissance aircraft operating around the Eastern Bloc from Britain and Cyprus and around China from Singapore.
On September 24 1964 Avro 730 XF678 made a series of attempts on the world record speed attempt and acheived Mach 3.01 (2,291 mph), a record that still stands today. Pictured is XF678 in her Royal Aircraft Establishment colour scheme for the speed event.