Three years ago, at an air show in Mothan-Davis, both an SR-71 and a U-2 did fly overs. You could hear the SR-71 from about three time zones over and it was epic.
I did not even realize the U-2 was there till the shadow passed over the crowd and it whispered over, so quite you could hear the intake of breath from the whole airfield. I had never seen a U-2 and was totally agog by its performance.
Sound and fury have their place, but so does cunning and stealth.
I was stationed at Osan AB in Korea ('89-'91). The U-2 (then called a TR-1) was based there.
That thing could take off, be out of sight, and still be heard for over 5 minutes.
They were very quiet on landing. I've heard, but never confirmed, they could cut the engines at altitude and several hundred miles away, and still make it home because of the glide ratio (don't know if it's true).
One time, I was scheduled for document destruction training at a facility near the northern end of the runway. The planes normally took off from that end. I saw two Airmen run out, and grab ahold of the pogo wheels under each wing (the U-2 only has landing gear on the fuselage). The pilot did a quick run up on the engine, let go of the brakes, and the plane jerked forward with these Airmen still holding the pogos. After less than 30 feet, the wings lifted enough for the Airmen to pull the pogos out and roll away from the aircraft, and it kept going. I'd say it was in the air in less than 200 feet, but I can't confirm.
I'd witnessed several U-2 launches over my time there, but never saw one like that. So, I inquired to a few buddies who'd been there a while, and they asked folks they knew, and it came back that they'd been having pogo issues, and that sometimes one would stick in the wing without falling out on take-off, which is what they were supposed to do. The poor Airmen drew the short straw that day.
If you saw am SR-71 fly over it was a lot longer than 3 years ago because the last flight was in the 90s.