SR-71 Pilot

[rgmwa]

Interesting read. (Sorry, there were picture in the article, but they didn't copy across. Ah well, you all know what an SR-71 looks like) ...

 

BYE BYE SR-71 BLACKBIRD

 

FROM AN SR-71 PILOT.Very interesting read.

 

SR-71 Blackbird

 

In April 1986, following an attack on American soldiers in a Berlin disco, President Reagan ordered the bombing of Muammar Qaddafi's terrorist camps in Libya.

 

My duty was to fly over Libya and take photographs recording the damage our F-111s had inflicted.

 

Qaddafi had established a 'line of death', a territorial marking across the Gulf of Sidra,swearing to shoot down any intruder that crossed

 

the boundary.

 

On the morning of April 15 I rocketed past the line at 2,125 mph.

 

I was piloting the SR-71 spy plane, the world's fastest jet, accompanied by a Marine Major (Walt), the aircraft's reconnaissance systems officer (RSO).

 

We had crossed into Libya and were approaching our final turn over the bleak desert landscape, when Walt informed me that he was receiving missile

 

launch signals.

 

I quickly increased our speed, calculating the time it would take for the weapons, most likely SA-2 and SA-4 surface-to-air missiles, capable of Mach 5, to reach our altitude.

 

I estimated, that we could beat the rocket-powered missiles to the turn, and stayed our course, betting our lives on the plane's performance.

 

After several agonizingly long seconds, we made the turn and blasted toward the Mediterranean.

 

'You might want to pull it back,' Walt suggested. It was then that I noticed I still had the throttles full forward.

 

The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit.

 

It was the fastest we would ever fly.

 

I pulled the throttles to idle, just south of Sicily ,but we still overran the refueling tanker, awaiting us over Gibraltar.

 

Scores of significant aircraft have been produced in the 100 years of flight following the achievements of the Wright brothers, which we celebrate in

 

December.

 

Aircraft such as the Boeing 707, the F-86 Sabre Jet, and the P-51 Mustang are among the important machines that have flown our skies.

 

But the SR-71, also known as the Blackbird, stands alone as a significant contributor to Cold War victory and as the fastest plane ever. Only 93 Air Force pilots, ever steered the 'sled', as we called our aircraft.

 

The SR-71 was the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, the famed Lockheed designe who created the P-38, the F-104 Starfighter, and the U-2.

 

After the Soviets shot down Gary Powers's U-2 in 1960, Johnson began to develop an aircraft that would fly three miles higher and five times faster than the spy plane, and still be capable of photographing your licence plate.

 

However, flying at 2,000 mph would create intense heat on the aircraft's skin. Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy to construct more than 90 percent of the SR-71, creating special tools and manufacturing procedures to hand-build each of the (40 planes.. (WoW ! ! ! 40 planes???? I thought only 7.) Special heat-resistant fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluids that would function at 85,000 feet and higher also had to be developed.

 

In 1962 the first Blackbird successfully flew, and in 1966, the same year I graduated from high school, the Air Force began flying operational SR-71 missions.

 

I came to the program in 1983 with a sterling record and a recommendation from my commander, completing the weeklong interview, and meeting

 

Walt, my partner for the next four years.

 

He would ride four feet behind me, working all the cameras, radios, and electronic jamming equipment.

 

I joked, that if we were ever captured, he was the spy, and I was just the driver.

 

He told me to keep the pointy end forward.

 

We trained for a year, flying out of Beale AFB in California, Kadena Airbase in Okinawa, and RAF Mildenhall in England ..

 

On a typical training mission, we would take off near Sacramento, refuel over Nevada, accelerate into Montana, obtain a high Mach speed over Colorado, turn right over New Mexico, speed across the Los Angeles Basin, run up the West Coast, turn right at Seattle , then return to Beale.

 

Total flight time: two hours and forty minutes.

 

One day, high above Arizona, we were monitoring the radio traffic, of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. 'Ninety knots', ATC replied. A Bonanza soon made the same request. 'One-twenty on the ground,' was the reply.

 

To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check.

 

I knew exactly what he was doing.

 

Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was, 'Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground', ATC responded.

 

The situation was too ripe.

 

I heard the click of Walt's mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walt startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, 'Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.'

 

We did not hear another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.

 

The Blackbird always showed us something new, each aircraft possessing its own unique personality.

 

In time, we realized we were flying a national treasure.

 

When we taxied out of our revetments for take-off, people took notice.

 

Traffic congregated near the airfield fences, because everyone wanted to see, and hear the mighty SR-71.

 

You could not be a part of this program, and not come to love the airplane.

 

One moonless night, while flying a routine training mission over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky would look like from 84,000 feet if the cockpit lighting were dark.

 

While heading home on a straight course, I slowly turned down all of the lighting, reducing the glare and revealing the night sky.

 

Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful that the jet would know, and somehow punish me.

 

But my desire to see the sky overruled my caution, I dimmed the lighting again.

 

To my amazement, I saw a bright light outside my window.

 

As my eyes adjusted to the view, I realized that the brilliance was the broad expanse of the Milky Way, now a gleaming stripe across the sky.

 

Where dark spaces in the sky had usually existed, there were now dense clusters of sparkling stars.

 

Shooting stars flashed across the canvas every few seconds.

 

It was like a fireworks display with no sound.

 

I knew I had to get my eyes back on the instruments, and reluctantly I brought my attention back inside.

 

To my surprise, with the cockpit lighting still off, I could see every gauge, lit by starlight.

 

In the plane's mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of my gold spacesuit, incandescently illuminated, in a celestial glow.

 

The sharp sound of Walt's voice on the radio brought me back to the tasks at hand as I prepared for our descent.

 

San Diego Aerospace Museum. The SR-71 was an expensive aircraft to operate. The most significant cost was tanker support, and in 1990, confronted with budget cutbacks, the Air Force retired the SR-71. The SR-71 served six presidents, protecting America for a quarter of a century.

 

Unbeknown to most of the country, the plane flew over North Vietnam, Red China, North Korea, the Middle East, South Africa, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, Libya, and the Falkland Islands . On a weekly basis, the SR-71 kept watch over every Soviet nuclear submarine, mobile missile site, and all of their troop movements. It was a key factor in winning the Cold War.

 

I am proud to say I flew about 500 hours in this aircraft. I knew her well. She gave way to no plane, proudly dragging her sonic boom through enemy backyards with impunity. She defeated every missile, outran every MiG, and always brought us home.

 

In the first 100 years of manned flight, no aircraft was more remarkable. The Blackbird had outrun nearly 4,000 missiles, not once taking a scratch from enemy fire.

 

On her final flight, the Blackbird, destined for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, sped from Los Angeles to Washington in 64 minutes, averaging 2,145 mph, and setting four speed records.

 

 

[paulh]

Amazing awesome aircraft, we should have fun stuff like this too!

 

 

[alf jessup]

Rgmwa,

 

Thanks for posting it was a great read.

 

Alf

 

 

[Phil Perry]

The TSR-2. . . . . . was a wonderful machine, British designed and built, MUCH faster than the English Electric Lightning,. . . then the FASTEST jet fighter in the world, even using just ONE engine. . . it was able to leave a lightning even when it was using reheat,. . . behind in very short order. . . but it became a victim of stupid, craven and cowardly British politicians, and was scrapped, VERY RAPIDLY. . . along with all the design drawings and tooling, at he insistance of the American government BECAUSE,. . . It's basic Specifications made the offerings from the yanks look a little bit stupid. So we ( the UK armed forces ) were forced to purchase their F111 design. A far slower and less useful machine.

 

There are only a couple of shells of these aircraft left to tell the tale,. . . One of which is in my local museum, at RAF Cosford, in the West MIdlands,. . . and just looking at it makes me drool, and want to kill several politicians for their abject bloody pathetic and uneducated stupidity.

 

OK, OK, it was not in the same category as the Blackbird, which came along many years later. . . but as far as I and many other people are concerned, the Yanks have a lot of explaining to do, before I will ever understand why THEY didn't buy the TSR2 from the Brits, which was a much better, much faster aircraft when this was precisely what was required at that point in time, I believe that in doing so that they basically stalled the development of fast jet military aircraft for a number of years due to this irrational and incredibly stupid piece of political mismanagement.

 

Mr. Angry

 

 

[Aldo]

For those of you who are interested the Blackbird (SR-71) was actually developed by the CIA in conjunction with Lockheed and was originally designated "Oxcart" get hold a book called Area 51 if you want one of the most interesting reads on the development and early operations of the SR-71.

 

 

[frank marriott]

"Skunk Works" also interesting book on the development, as well as about Kelly & Rich.

 

 

[Yenn]

Don't the yanks have a history of denigrating anything not US produced. They made sure the Concord was scrapped and they were pissed off at De Haviland producing the first jet airliner. They have a different US name for the british VTOL fighter, I forget both names. Even the humble Fergy tractor is called a ford in the USA.

 

 

[turboplanner]

For those of you who are interested the Blackbird (SR-71) was actually developed by the CIA in conjunction with Lockheed and was originally designated "Oxcart" get hold a book called Area 51 if you want one of the most interesting reads on the development and early operations of the SR-71.

I second that, a brilliant book covering events from the U2 to the fabulous Oxcart, and how they used to fool the Russions with heaters etc.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Amazing period, they made all sorts of machines back then that they can't match the performance of today.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I suppose this is now due to our old friend FUNDING.

 

In the past, I would think that funding for military projects in the States was given priority over other matters due to political pressure during the "Cold War"

 

Phil

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Just more stupid now I suspect, led by Odumbo and all. Back then they could even identify the enemy and figure out a precise strategy to deal with them.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

The Canadian Arrow was another.

 

 

[turboplanner]

There was intense competition between the CIA, who had the Oxcart developed, and the Air Force who were pissed off at having the CIA active in what they saw as their territory, and the book Area 51 detail politics that even rival the politics of RAA.

 

However, CIA were smart enough to see that Satellites would be even better and they could be used for live surveillance over a longer period, so they went in that direction. However they realised that direct overhead photos and video did not always show the target in the best detail, and oblique shots were required, so they got Area 51 a new life testing UAV's.

 

Not as exciting, but if you look ahead, they will be the weapons platforms of the future. Already in Afghanistan the performance looks stunning with pinpoint accuracy.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Just more stupid now I suspect, led by Odumbo and all. Back then they could even identify the enemy and figure out a precise strategy to deal with them.

I have to agree Gnarly. . . .

 

They didn't seem to have developed a sensible "How to deal with it" strategy in Iraq, Or Afghanistan, OR Somalia, I hope that they have learned something, ANYTHING from these disastrous interventions, along with our illustrious UK Government too,. . .IE, STAY THE HELL OUT OF SYRIA ! ! ! ! !. But I'll bet Four bottles of my favourite red wine that they both get involved in it somehow,. . . !

 

Phil ( in cynical mode )