Titanium

Titanium was a product of a 1949 US Department of Defense program to find a high-strength, lightweight, corrosion resistant structural metal. After five years of research at the US Army Material Command Materials and Mechanics Research Center, a process was discovered that could bring powdered titanium to a structural metal. Today, titanium is used in many structural applications and has many other uses such as pigment in paints.

SR-71 mostly made of titanium.
An air-to-air overhead front view of an SR-71A strategic reconnaissance aircraft.
The SR-71 is unofficially known as the Blackbird.
Photo: Technical Sergeant Michael Haggerty.
Beale Air Force Base, California. 6/1/1988.
Department of Defense.
National Archives and Records Administration.
Still Picture Branch; College Park, Maryland.