This might be the most badass cockpit selfie ever taken

This is retired US Air Force Major Brian Shul in full flight suit gear within the cockpit of the iconic SR-71 Blackbird.

USAF/Brian Shul via Wikimedia Commons

US Air Force Major Brian Shul pilots the SR-71

According to Shul's website, he flew 212 combat missions during the Vietnam War before volunteering to fly the SR-71 Blackbird - a high-speed, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed Martin's "Skunk Works."

Shul retired from the US Air Force in 1990 with 20 years and 5,000 hours of fighter jet flight time.

Forty years ago, on July 28, 1976, USAF pilot Eldon Joersz set the world air speed record by traveling 2,193 miles per hour (Mach 3.3) in the SR-71. That record still stands today.