The Stratojet

The B-47 was the world’s first swept wing bomber and the first to use a bicycle arrangement landing gear, which was necessary because of the thin wings. It was also the first plane built solely for the delivery of nuclear weapons. A total of 1,260 B-47s were built as bombers and 600 were built as trainers and reconnaissance aircraft. The B-47 first flew on December 17, 1947 and the first B-47A was delivered to the USAF in 1951.

In May of that year the B-47 began replacing the propeller-driven B-29s and B-50s in US Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC)’s medium bomber units. While it could carry about the same bomb tonnage as the aircraft it replaced, the B-47’s top speed was more than 200 mph faster.

45 B-47s taking off from Little Rock AFB to UK

In 1956 45 B-47s took off on a bomb run exercise from Little Rock Air Force Base (AFB) to the UK. Only one B-47 made it across the Atlantic Ocean; all the rest returned to the US. My father, B-47 navigator/bombardier Lieutenant Richard “Butch” Sheffield was prepared to follow. He quickly had to learn how to lead.

He recalls in his unpublished book, “Ohio to Supersonic:”

‘As we prepared to fly to the UK, my aircraft and crew were to be the fifth aircraft in a flight of five. I believe that because I was the lowest-ranking navigator with the least experience, they did not want me to have to navigate the Atlantic as lead or alone.

‘We took off from Little Rock, all forty-five B-47s, and flew up to Northern New York State to refuel from KC-97 tankers flying at fifteen thousand feet. We were at thirty-five-thousand feet. Tankers put out a radar signal that we could identify on our radar screen. Each set of tankers, nine different sets, put signals that were almost alike but not. I saw our signal and told the aircraft commander (AC). He relayed to the lead aircraft that we had the tankers that we were to refuel with, and they didn’t believe him.

‘As we overflew them, we went over twice as fast and twenty thousand feet above them. My AC asked me if I was sure, and I said yes. He then told the lead, you are going to miss them; they are right below us now. Once again, they didn’t believe him, or I guess they didn’t believe that a Lieutenant could find the tankers from among the many radar signals.’

Heading for UK

He continues;

‘My AC asked me for a heading for the tankers and left the formation. We rendezvoused with our tankers and took on our fuel. After refueling (we could not use the radios while refueling), the pilots asked for our location, and I gave it to them. They called the rest of the flight and told them where the tankers were at that time; by then, they were far away from the tankers.

‘I really didn’t know what we were going to do next, then the AC said; give me a heading for the UK. Now, I knew we were going to the UK alone, and I was going to navigate the North Atlantic in the middle of the winter, all by myself. I broke into a cold sweat; I was not prepared to do it.

‘Normally, the fifth aircraft in a flight of five just station keeps (keeps other aircraft on the radar) on the other aircraft in front of them, and the navigator/copilot team doesn’t shoot stars.

‘The lead navigator would do his planning by pre-computing the star shots on the ground the day before the flight. Now, I had to do the star computations in the small area and dim light of the cockpit. All across the Atlantic, I shot one star after another. My copilot, Mac McCraken, was young and eager, like me. He would do anything I asked him in the air. The older World War Two copilots would not have done it. This was hard work, and we never stopped until I saw the UK lands on the radar. WE HAD MADE IT.’

The only B-47 out of 45 that made it across the pond

Sheffield concludes;

‘The following day, we were all told to report to see the Squadron Commander in his Office. This always meant trouble or an award. When we arrived, the AC was told to go in alone; Mac and I waited outside the door. We heard the Commander hollering all over the building, he was very mad that we had left the formation and went it alone.

‘When the AC came out, he was smiling. He said the Squadron Commander was just mad that the others were still back in the US, and they had never found the tankers and landed in North Eastern United States!

‘He said, I told him, we are here, and they are back in the US, so who goofed up?’

Dad was only 23 when navigated across the Atlantic ocean alone. I can see why he was selected to be one the first navigators for the new B-58 a few years later. Then he was first RSO to be selected for the SR-71 Blackbird program. Dad, was told to follow the older more experienced navigators, but he ended up having to lead and quickly learn to be good at it.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Linda Sheffield Miller

The Blackbird

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966. The US Air Force (USAF) retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

Frags (from the Vietnam War-era term of “fragging,” or “frags” for short, to indicate a practical joke) were part of SR-71 Blackbird crew members (or Habus)’ traditions.

Former Blackbird pilot Richard H. Graham recalls a very special frag that took place at Kadena Air Base (AB), Okinawa, Japan, home of Sr-71 Det. 1.

Mobile crew

He explains in his book Flying the SR-71 Blackbird: in the copckpit on a secret operational mission;

‘There were a lot of unit rivalries on Kadena between the SR-71 crews and the RC-135 reconnaissance crews from the 55th SRW at Offutt AFB, Nebraska. We were all there on a TDY basis with a common mission of gathering intelligence on the enemy. There was plenty of free time to think up pranks to play on each other.

‘One day, the mobile crew* had just launched the SR-71 and went to the Officers Club to grab a bite before they were due back for the landing. They parked and locked the mobile car in front of the club. An RC-135 crew just happened to park right beside the mobile car, and one of them looked inside and saw a kit bag with “CLASSIFIED” labels all over it sitting on the back seat.

SR-71 crews spray painting RC-135 silhouettes all over Kadena

‘This was a big no-no!

‘They knew who it belonged to, but thought it would be cute to call the security police and let them know there was classified material in a military vehicle parked in front of the Officers club. Needless to say, this breach of security turned into much more than a practical joke.

‘To get revenge, we made stencils of their RC-135 aircraft and spray painted them all over the base. They thought someone in their own squadron had done the job and were proud to see their plane stenciled on signs, poles, and buildings. The natural assumption was that they did it and their squadron ended up having to remove all the painted planes. Touché!

All part of the experience

‘In hindsight these pranks seem petty, but at the time they were all part of the experience. A lot of the shenanigans we did back then would probably get us in big trouble in today’s Air Force.’

*The mobile crew was so named because it was always on the go. Crew members primary duties were to make sure the plane was 100 percent ready for the flyers and to get the SR-71 into the takeoff position, unimpeded, at the precise takeoff time. The mobile pilot and RSO preflighted both cockpits before the primary flyers arrived at the aircraft, ensuring the cockpits were set and everything was in perfect order up to the starting engines checklist. There was a tremendous amount of trust between the primary crew and the mobile crew. On several occasions, because of time constraints, crews literally started both engines immediately after getting into the cockpit; they had complete confidence in the mobile crew’s ability to set all the cockpit switches in their correct positions and to check out every single item.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

SR-71

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft.

During its operational lifetime, the SR-71 provided intelligence about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the US raid on Libya in 1986 and the revelation of Iranian Silkworm missile batteries in 1987. The USAF ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. Thus, achieving a radar lock on it was extremely difficult for any hostile fighter.

SR-71 Vs F-14 Vs F-15

Nevertheless, according to former Blackbird driver Col. Richard H. Graham, USAF (Ret.), tells in his book The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated Profile of Every Aircraft, Crew, and Breakthrough of the World’s Fastest Stealth Jet, there were two fighters that could achieve (simulated) SR-71 kills, but only under certain conditions.

“Don [Don Emmons was Graham Reconnaissance System Officer or RSO, the Blackbird back seater] and I, as well as many other crewmembers, had flown numerous ‘Tomcat Chase’ and ‘Eagle Bait’ sorties against our best fighters – the Navy’s F-14s and the Air Force’s F-15s. We flew the SR-71 to provide the fighters practice at finding, tracking, locking on, intercepting, and simulated firing of their sophisticated F-14 Phoenix missiles and the F-15’s Sparrow missiles at a high altitude, high speed target. The Tomcat Chase missions were flown over the Pacific Ocean and Eagle Bait missions in the Nellis AFB training area, north of Las Vegas, Nevada.”

Graham continues. “To maximize scarce, high altitude/high-speed intercept practice for the fighters against the SR-71, we stacked the deck in their favor to avoid a multitude of missed intercepts, and consequently, wasted time. The intercepts were conducted in a very controlled environment, favoring a successful outcome by the fighters. […] Even under these highly controlled flying conditions, the F-14s and F-15s had extreme difficulty achieving a satisfactory SR-71 kill.

American fighter pilots were able to lock on the SR-71 only after the Blackbird crew turned off their defensive countermeasures.

It was just about impossible to achieve a lock on the SR-71 unless she had some kind of malfunction.

F-15 radar couldn’t find the Blackbird

SR-71 pilot Dave Peters adds some interesting and hilarious details.

‘One of the interesting discoveries from those missions, especially the Eagle Bait, was that they couldn’t even find us when everything was shut down and we told them exactly where we were. It was then realized that the F-15 had a speed gate on their radar at 1500 kts. We were casually warping along from 1850 to 2000. So, for them, we didn’t exist. We flew them fairly regularly from about 82 and they were still doing them after I retired in 86. We flew the Eagle Bait with the F-15s and Tomcat Chase with the F-14s. The 14s could find us but they couldn’t do anything until we modified and gave them times, route of flight, speed and altitude beforehand so they could have a pre-planned setup. The 15s didn’t do that well for quite some time.

‘Another mission we flew that was interesting was to come in over the California coast at speed and altitude to give the air traffic controllers an idea of what they would see on a space shuttle approach.

Animosity

‘There was some animosity at first with both the Eagles and the Tomcats because they kept accusing us of not showing up. It was fun in the vain as the LA speed story, except it’s true, because we were on the same frequency with them and could listen to all the bitching because we didn’t show up. They got a little huffy because nobody told them we weren’t coming.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

The Blackbird

Developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft, the first flight of the SR-71 Mach 3 + spy plane took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first aircraft to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

It could fly over Vietnam in eight minutes, its electronic counter measures were so advanced that they are still in use today on other airplanes and remain top-secret, had tires filled with nitrogen, and was made from one of the most expensive metals on earth. And, it’s still the world’s fastest plane.

SR-71 nicknamed the “Sled”

The SR-71 was unofficially known as the “Blackbird” and nicknamed the “Sled.”

According to the book Velocity Speed With Direction – The Professional Career of Gen. Jerome F. O’Malley by Aloysius G Casey and Patrick A Casey, the Lead Sled was an unaffectionate name.

The SR-71 was nicknamed the Sled* by a few people after Jerry O’Malley and Ed Payne dropped 60,000 feet over Vietnam in 1968.

O’Malley and Payne have the distinction of logging the second combat sortie for their Blackbird. (They also have the honor of having the first successful combat sortie.) After refueling, they coasted near Saigon and headed north to cross the DMZ into North Vietnam. Near the end of their run, a message was received to abort the remainder of the mission based on confusion in the command chain on exactly what President Johnson meant in a speech he made that day about restricting “strike” aircraft flights north of the 19th Parallel over Vietnam.

As O’Malley eased back on the throttles, both engines rumbled in a compression stall and immediately flamed out! Jerry pushed the nose down to get to the denser air needed for an air start of the big engines. They decided that if they could not achieve an air start at 23,000 feet, they would call it “MAYDAY” and bail out at 14,000 feet. Attempts at 40,000 and 30,000 feet failed, and Ed Payne noted 26,000 feet. As he made ready for the call, he called out, “MAY. . .” the aircraft shook, and O’Malley said one engine had started. By the time they made 20,000 feet, Jerry had both engines “turning and burning.”

U-2 pilots

Jerry headed south and prepared for the descent. Jerry discussed at length the data he wanted Ed to record as they flew the normal profile back to the home base. When it came time to ease back on the throttles, the engines spooled down normally, and they landed back at Kadena without further incident.

The double-engine flameout was the precursor to several similar incidents that followed over Laos and served to reinforce the undesired nickname of Lead Sled …. back at the SAC Reconnaissance Center.

Later, as time went on, the term sled was used in an affectionate way.

*According to The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird by Richard H. Graham, the Blackbird was dubbed ‘Sled’ because the U-2 pilots didn’t like calling the SR-71 by its proper nickname, so they came up with a derogatory name of their own, calling it the ‘Sled.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin

Blackbird

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 Blackbird remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

It could fly over Vietnam in eight minutes, its electronic counter measures were so advanced that they are still in use today on other airplanes and remain top-secret, had tires filled with nitrogen, and was made from one of the most expensive metals on earth. And, it’s still the world’s fastest plane.

During its operational lifetime, the SR-71 provided intelligence about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the US raid on Libya in 1986 and the revelation of Iranian Silkworm missile batteries in 1987. The USAF ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990.

For speed, innovation and secrecy, no aircraft of its era came close to the SR-71 Blackbird.

SR-71 crews training in anti-SAM tactics

In 1968 the SR-71 crewmembers spent most of their time in the crew lounge, discussing anti-SAM tactics.

As told by Paul Crickmore in his book SR-71 Blackbird (Combat Legends), as the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing approached the time when they would be flying out of the country at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa.

The plan was to penetrate enemy airspace at Mach 3. If fired upon, the pilot would accelerate to Mach 3.2 and climb, thereby forcing the missile’s guiding system to re-calculate the intercept solution. One idea was also to dump fuel to become lighter, thereby increasing the climb rate.

5-mile-long contrail in the stratosphere

A crew ended that debate during a Sortie over Montana by dumping fuel for 10 seconds to see if the afterburner would ignite the fuel trail. Instead, this turned instantly into an ice cloud in the fridge -55° C stratosphere and left a 5-mile-long contrail finger pointing directly at the aircraft.

The pilot reported that he could see the trail for hundreds of miles after turning back towards the west. That plan was scratched. That was the opposite effect, but they wanted regardless, the SR-71 was the first attempt at stealth in an airplane.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: David Bushell / Microsoft Flight Simulator X

The world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft

The SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft was the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft and the most advanced member of the Blackbird family developed by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s clandestine “Skunk Works” division. 

During its operational lifetime, the SR-71 provided intelligence about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the US raid on Libya in 1986 and the revelation of Iranian Silkworm missile batteries in 1987. The USAF ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990.

The Blackbird was in a different category from anything that had come before. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” Skunk Works legendary aircraft designer Kelly Johnson recalled in an interesting article appeared on Lockheed Martin website.

Russia selling titanium to US to build SR-71 Blackbird

The speed of the SR-71 exceeded 2,000 mph. Other planes of the era could, in theory, approximate that speed but only in short, after-burner-driven bursts. The Blackbird maintained a record-setting speed for hours at a time. At such velocity, friction with the atmosphere generates temperatures that would melt the conventional airframe.

With temperatures on the aircraft’s leading edges exceeding 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, dealing with the heat raised a host of seemingly insurmountable design and material challenges. Titanium alloy was the only option for the airframe —providing the strength of stainless steel, a relatively light weight, and durability at the excessive temperatures.

Titanium, however, proved to be a particularly sensitive material from which to build an airplane. The brittle alloy shattered if mishandled, which meant great frustration on the Skunk Works assembly line, and new training classes for Lockheed’s machinists. Conventional cadmium-plated steel tools, it was soon learned, embrittled the titanium on contact; so new tools were designed and fabricated—out of titanium.

But most important the US did not have the necessary ore. The world’s largest supplier of it was the Soviet Union, America’s enemy during the Cold War.

Spy planes that could avoid detection

Titanium procurement during the Cold War was so vital to the US’ goal of defeating the Soviet Union that it had to secretly buy the metal from the very country it sought to vanquish. It was 1960 and Washington needed spy planes that could avoid detection in Soviet airspace by flying to the heavens. To make what would become the vaunted SR-71 Blackbird, Lockheed knew it had to build a light plane, but one that was strong enough to hold extra fuel to give it expansive range. The only metal that would do the job was titanium. The only place to get titanium in the needed quantities was the Soviet Union.

The US worked through Third World countries and fake companies and finally was able to ship the ore to the US to build the SR-71.

“The airplane is 92% titanium inside and out. Back when they were building the airplane the United States didn’t have the ore supplies – an ore called rutile ore. It’s a very sandy soil and it’s only found in very few parts of the world. The major supplier of the ore was the USSR. Working through Third World countries and bogus operations, they were able to get the rutile ore shipped to the United States to build the SR-71,” famous former SR-71 pilot Colonel Rich Graham said in an interesting article appeared on BBC.

According to the following video, one of the bogus operations mentioned by Graham saw the US asking Soviets for titanium because they needed it for pizza ovens.

The titanium for the SR-71 Blackbird and pizza ovens

And Russians easily believed that the US needed titanium for thousands of pizza ovens. After all, they fraudulently possibly told their comrades that the United States was a lazy country that probably couldn’t even cook for itself. They need it to go out to buy pizza…

This was a pivotal moment between two great powers that desperately wanted to defeat the other. Ultimately, through third parties and fake companies, the US, “managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world’s leading exporters – the Soviet Union,” according to the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich, a Lockheed Martin engineer who worked on the SR-71. “The Russians never had an inkling of how they were actually contributing to the creation of the airplane being rushed into construction to spy on their homeland.”

Andriy Brodskyy contributed to this article.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and CIA

SR-71 Absolute Speed Record

The SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft was the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft and the most advanced member of the Blackbird family developed by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s clandestine “Skunk Works” division. 

During its operational lifetime, the SR-71 provided intelligence about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the US raid on Libya in 1986 and the revelation of Iranian Silkworm missile batteries in 1987. The USAF ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990.

The SR-71 Blackbird was also the aircraft of choice to celebrate the United States’ bicentennial birthday in 1976. In fact, to celebrate, officials decided to attempt to break some records by means of the iconic reconnaissance aircraft.

As told by Angela Woolen in the article SR-71 pilots, crew relive absolute speed record, on Jul. 28, of that year, retired Maj. Gen. Eldon (Al) Joersz, the pilot, and retired Lt. Col. George Morgan, the reconnaissance systems officer (RSO), set the world absolute speed record for jet-powered airplanes with a speed of 2,193 mph.

The record still stands today.

Inlet unstart

Today, SR-71 #958, the Blackbird that made the speed record run is on display at the Museum of Aviation near Warner Robins, GA.

Noteworthy, during the record-breaking event, Joersz and Morgan experienced an inlet unstart that however didn’t prevent the iconic Blackbird to set the absolute speed record.

SR-71 pilot David Peters explains;

‘If Joersz and Morgan had just a normal unstart without a burner blow out if probably didn’t slow them down much but they certainly would have had the record higher without it.’

If it weren’t for the inlet unstart that temporarily jammed up an engine, they could have gone faster than 2,193 mph. In fact, they could have stayed under Mach3.3.

This note is from George Morgan: ‘Al and I had the ACTUAL speed record. 2200 indicated in our equipment aboard 958!

‘Theirs…. 2193….NAH!’

Peters explains;

“Just to clear up a couple of points. First an unstart does not usually cause the engine to shut down. In this case it was just an unstart of the inlet which can be recovered rather quickly. Second unstarts were much more likely in the 2.6 to 2.9 range especially in the climb. High Mach unstarts were much more rare.”

The most reliable crew

It is true that any SR-71 with any crew could’ve made that record-breaking run. But the commander would’ve picked his most reliable crew that he had. And he picked Al Joersz and George Morgan to make the flight. In the early days of the SR-71 they really didn’t want to call any attention to the Blackbird. In the spirit of the bicentennial 200-year anniversary of the United States, President Ford asked if an SR could make the speed run. SR-71 commanders never said no to a President.

The plane flew through the first of its two passes at a much, much higher speed than what was required to set the record. Just before start of the second pass, one of the engines shut down. Before the engine could be restarted, the plane was well beyond the start line. The engine did recover from the unstart.

Capt. Al Joersz, the record-setting pilot, said, “By the time we’d gone through the checklist, we’d already passed the second gate thus officially starting the run. Still, we exited the gate at Mach 3.2.”

Higher record speed

Peters concludes:

“If they hadn’t had the unstart when they were going through the gate, the record speed would’ve been higher. Their goal was to make 2200 mph.”

However, after the inlet unstart, Joersz and Morgan could’ve pushed the Blackbird to the limit and gone Mach 3.3, but in 1976 they really didn’t want anyone to know how fast the SR-71 could go. It was still classified. For this reason, the US Air Force (USAF) chose to set the speed record “very carefully” avoiding to disclose how fast the SR-71 could really go.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin

SR-71

The SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft was the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft and the most advanced member of the Blackbird family developed by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s clandestine “Skunk Works” division. 

During its operational lifetime, the SR-71 provided intelligence about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the US raid on Libya in 1986 and the revelation of Iranian Silkworm missile batteries in 1987. The USAF ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990.

One of the most entertaining stories about flying the Blackbird comes from Lt. Colonel William Burk Jr., who shares about a particular mission he flew [according to SR-71 pilot Stormy Boudreaux, Tom Henichek was Burk’s RSO for that mission] over Lebanon back in 1983 in the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich.

SR-71 over Lebanon

‘In the fall of ’83, I flew from Mildenhall on a mission over Lebanon in response to the Marine barracks bombing. President Reagan ordered photo coverage of all the terrorist bases in the region. The French refused to allow us overfly, so our mission profile was to refuel off the south coast of England, a Mach 3 cruise leg down the coast of Portugal and Spain, left turn through the Straits of Gibraltar, refuel in the Western Mediterranean, right turn into Lebanon and fly right down main street Beirut, exit along the southern Mediterranean with another refueling over Malta, supersonic back out the straits, and return to England.

‘Because Syria had a Soviet SA-5 missile system just west of Damascus that we would be penetrating (we were unsure of Syria’s intentions in this conflict), we programmed to fly above 80,000 feet and at Mach 3 plus to be on the safe side, knowing that this advanced missile had the range and speed to nail us.

‘As we entered Lebanon’s airspace my Recon Systems Officer in the rear cockpit informed me that our defensive systems display showed we were being tracked by that SA-5. About 15 seconds later we got a warning of active guidance signals from the SA-5 site. We couldn’t tell whether there was an actual launch or the missile was still on the rails, but they were actively tracking us. We didn’t waste any time wondering, but climbed and pushed that throttle, and said a couple of “Hail Kellys.”

Blackbird crew flipping off a French Air Force Mirage III Pilot

‘We completed our pass over Beirut and turned toward Malta, when I got a warning low-oil-pressure light on my right engine.  Even though the engine was running fine I slowed down and lowered our altitude and made a direct line for England. We decided to cross France without clearance instead of going the roundabout way.

‘We made it almost across, when I looked out the left window and saw a French Mirage III sitting ten feet off my left wing. He came up on our frequency and asked us for our Diplomatic Clearance Number. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I told him to stand by. I ask my backseater, who said, “Don’t worry about it. I just gave it to him.” What he had given him was “the bird” with his middle finger: I lit the afterburners and left that Mirage standing still. Two minutes later, we were crossing the Channel.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and French Air Force Via FAST Museum Twitter Account

Oxcart

CIA developed the highly secret A-12 OXCART as the U-2 spy plane’s successor, intended to meet the nation’s need for a very fast, very high-flying reconnaissance aircraft that could avoid Soviet air defenses.

CIA awarded the OXCART contract to Lockheed (builder of the U-2) in 1959. In meeting the A-12’s extreme speed and altitude requirements, Lockheed–led by legendary engineer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson–overcame numerous technical challenges with cutting-edge innovations in titanium fabrication, lubricants, jet engines, fuel, navigation, flight control, electronic countermeasures, radar stealthiness, and pilot life-support systems.

Five years after work began on the A-11, on Feb. 29, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson told reporters that the aircraft (by that time modified to the A-12 Oxcart production version with a reduced radar cross section) had attained speeds of over 2,000 mph and altitudes of more than 70,000 feet in tests at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB).

Noteworthy, according to Col. Richard H. Graham’s book The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated Profile of Every Aircraft, Crew, and Breakthrough of the World’s Fastest Stealth Jet, during the first three years of pre-operational testing, three A-12s crashed – two from mechanical malfunctions and one because of ground crew error. All pilots ejected safely.

A-12 crash in Utah and F-105 cover story

On May 24, 1963, A-12 number 926 involved in a subsonic engine test flight and piloted by Ken Collins, crashed fourteen miles south of Wendover, Utah. While testing an inertial navigation system, Collins flew into heavy clouds above thirty thousand feet and began noticing erroneous and confusing airspeed and altitude readings just before the A-12 pitched up, stalled, and went into an inverted spin. Unable to regain control, he ejected at around twenty-five thousand feet and was unhurt. A press cover story referred to the crashed aircraft as being a Republic F-105.

It was first thought that it was a pilot error but later confirmed that it was an inadequate pitot tube design that had caused the air data computer to fail.

Because his sortie was low altitude, Collins was not in his pressure suit, so it added to the credence that the crash was an F-105.

‘With an ironic twist of faith sometime after the loss of Article 123, an F-105 from Nellis was lost and members of the Oxcart (code word of A-12) program were involved in the search for the crash site,’ A-12 pilot Frank Murray recalls in Paul Crickmore‘s latest book “Lockheed Blackbird Beyond the Secret Missions.

A-12 pilot looking for crashed F-105

Frank Murray and Dr. Roger Anderson were airborne in a Cessna searching for the crashed F-105 when they located the crash near a small lake with the adjoining property of one of the brothels in the area known as Ash Meadow Ranch. The brothel provided a small dirt runway graded out to allow its customers the option of air travel into the facility.

‘We taxied into Ash Meadow Ranch and we explained that we were here looking for the crash site and we had located it,’ Murray explains.

‘By then it was lunchtime and the Madame got the cook to rustle up some lunch. There was some polite conversation with the Madame and my aviation curiosity got the better of me.

Brothel with Runway

‘I asked her what was the largest aircraft ever to use the landing strip.

‘She replied the largest was an Army C- 7A Caribou full of GIs from an army base in California! ‘Mind you” she added mischievously they weren’t looking for any downed airplanes!’

Murray concludes;

‘After lunch, the three of us said our goodbyes and departed for our lives back at our Ranch [“Groom Lake,” “The Ranch,” “Area 51,” and “Dreamland” are all names that have been associated with the Groom Lake facility in the Nevada desert]. ‘

I had heard when I was a girl growing up in California that brothels were legal in Nevada. These kinds of rumors were hard for me to believe, but I believe them now!

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter X Page Habubrats SR-71, Instagram Page SR71Habubrats and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: A1C SHERYL D. BARNETT and Kenji Thuloweit / U.S. Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency

Oxcart

CIA developed the highly secret A-12 Oxcart as the U-2’s successor, intended to meet the nation’s need for a very fast, very high-flying reconnaissance aircraft that could avoid Soviet air defenses.

The A-12 represented the Genesis of Stealth.

Lockheed’s chief engineer, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, had almost an impossible task.

On paper, the specifications read like works of pure fantasy: a spy plane capable of taking crystal-clear photographs from 70,000 feet. A Mach-3 aircraft that could fly continuously for hours on end and literally outrun missiles. An attack aircraft that rendered itself invisible to enemy radar.

RCS

The A-12 represented Lockheed’s initial efforts at developing a spy plane capable of evading enemy detection and anti-aircraft fire. It was the first attempt at a “stealth” aircraft through the exterior design, minimizing its radar cross-section (RCS). The black paint helped increase the emission of internal heat and paint was used with little balls of iron to further escalate the very beginning of stealth.

Before the discovery of carbon-fiber-based building materials, titanium was the best choice available for the A-12 while it was being developed. Only about 85% of the manufactured A-12 was made from titanium, and the titanium was used mostly on components that were exposed to the highest temperatures. The other 15% of the aircraft was made from polymer composite materials. The new radar-absorbing materials (RAM) were in fact another improvement in RCS. They replaced the fillets and the were made from iron ferrite and silicon laminate, both combined with asbestos to absorb radar returns and make the aircraft more stealthy.

The SR-71 that started to replace the A-12 in 1968 featured RAM too. Radar-absorbing materials helped reducing the Blackbird RCS too.

SR-71 RCS at subsonic speeds and at Mach 3+

Jim Goodall, former Master Sergeant at US Air Force and author of the book Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated History of America’s Legendary Mach 3 Spy Plane, explained to me;

‘In a sit down with Bob Gilliland [the first man to fly the SR-71] many decades ago, I asked him what the Radar Cross Section was for the SR-71. He said that at subsonic speeds, the RCS was about 20 square inches. At Mach 3.2, the RCS was about ten square miles.

‘How’s that possible you ask? As the Blackbird moves through the air at over 3200 feet per second, the air around the Blackbird is ionized, and the ionized air is reflective causing a fuzzy ball RCS that looks like a teardrop, and is about ten miles long.

‘It’s not sharp enough for targeting a SAM, but big enough for the enemy to heighten security.

‘And during the Vietnam War, the Chinese knew the RCS of the A-12 and the SR-71, but couldn’t figure out what the RCS of the D-21 was and they really never found out. I asked how he knew that Bob just smiled and said…”We have our ways.”’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter X Page Habubrats SR-71, Instagram Page SR71Habubrats and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Lockheed Martin

The world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 Blackbird remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

It could fly over Vietnam in eight minutes, its electronic counter measures were so advanced that they are still in use today on other airplanes and remain top-secret, had tires filled with nitrogen, and was made from one of the most expensive metals on earth. And, it’s still the world’s fastest plane.

For speed, innovation and secrecy, no aircraft of its era came close to the SR-71 Blackbird.

First public display since the record-setting speed record

As told by Paul Crickmore in his book Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions – The Missing Chapters, in 1977, Blackbird pilot Buz Carpenter and RSO John Murphy’s TDY at Mildenhall, United Kingdom, was extended to support the air tattoo celebration of the Queen’s silver jubilee open house. This would be the first public display of an SR-71 since the record-setting speed record in 1976 from New York to London in under two hours.

Carpenter recalls;

‘The SR-71 would be part of the static display but roped off so that people could not touch the aircraft. We were advised that, indeed, the Russians were coming. To prevent the Russians or anybody else from exploiting the display. No sensors were left on the aircraft, all fuel had been removed from the tanks, and the plane was heat-soaked to an ambient temperature to prevent infrared cameras from discovering the aircraft’s secrets, internal structure, and support systems. We four crewmembers Buz Carpenter, John Murphy, JT Vida, and Tom Alison were standing around the aircraft, answering questions from the crowd when sure enough the Russians showed up in numbers. They took numerous regular and infrared photos. Some of the Russians even had hidden microscopes.

‘They were a site to see coming up like a convey of quails.

Bringing an SR-71 Blackbird at Vladivostok

‘It looks like the Salvation Army had outed them. Their dress sense was from a 1930s movie about American mobsters. They were wearing double-breasted suits made from a rougher cloth than one normally sees.

‘The head of the Soviet delegation is a former MiG-23 fighter pilot who’s quite relaxed and talkative in his demeanor. He asked John and me to drop in on Vladivostok (the USSR) as a gesture of peaceful relationship.

‘We just quipped “please forward that request to our state department.” Buz Carpenter.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: NASA and U.S. Air Force

The Dragon Lady

The following is a very interesting story that my friend and former SR-71 Blackbird pilot Dave Peters told me that I just have to share.

In complete secrecy, a team headed by Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson at Lockheed’s “Skunk Works” in Burbank, Calif., designed and built the U-2 Dragon Lady to fly surveillance missions. With sailplane-like wings suited for the thin atmosphere above 55,000 feet (over 70,000 feet for later models), this single-engine aircraft made its first flight in August 1955. Entering operational service in 1956, its use remained secret until May 1, 1960, when a surface-to-air missile shot down a civilian-piloted U-2 on a reconnaissance flight over Soviet territory.

One of the most important U-2 missions took place on Oct. 14, 1962, when a U-2 piloted by Maj. Richard S. Heyser obtained the first photographs of Soviet offensive missile sites in Cuba. Eight days later, Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr. was killed on a similar mission when his U-2 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. U-2s have also been used for programs as diverse as mapping studies, atmospheric sampling and collecting crop and land management photographic data for the Department of Energy.

The first six CIA U-2 spy planes

There’s an urban legend surrounding the contract for the first six U-2s purchased by CIA.

Kelly Johnson was at his office and got a call from the CIA. He was told to meet a man at a certain restaurant in downtown Georgetown. They said he would be in the back and he would have a pink carnation one his lapel. They gave him a date and time. So, Johnson showed up and sure enough there is a shady looking character sitting in booth in the back.

The guy has on a fedora and a trench coat with a pink carnation in the lapel.

So, Johnson says he goes over and sits down and the guy just stares at him for about a minute. Then he says “we will take six for 30 million.” They just stare at each other then Johnson feels something against his leg and looks down. There is a large brown paper bag under the table and when he looks up the guy is gone. So, he looks in the bag and is bundles of 100,000 dollar bills. Johnson said his first thought was “Kelly you’re a*s is dead.” Downtown Georgetown (Washington DC) brown bag with 30 million in cash.

Unvouchered Government money

The CIA Director was the only federal government employee who can spend unvouchered Government money.

Peters recalls; ‘I obviously can’t prove the story but Kelly told it to me when I was just starting the program. He and Bill Parks were there for a ceremony dedicating Kelly Johnson Street at Beale. My backseater Ed Bethart and I were assigned to escort them. The only time he was under control was the actual ceremony. So, Ed and I had the unbelievable pleasure of escorting them anywhere Kelly wanted to go for about nine hours. The majority of that time the four of us alone.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and David Peters

The world’s fastest aircraft

The SR-71 spy plane, the most advanced member of the Blackbird family that included the A-12 and YF-12, was designed by a team of Lockheed personnel led by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, then vice president of Lockheed’s Advanced Development Company Projects, commonly known as the “Skunk Works” and now a part of Lockheed Martin. The Blackbird completed its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

SR-71 pilot Jim Shelton and SR-71 RSO Gary Coleman received the 1973 Trophy for the recon and crew of the for flying the longest Blackbird operational sortie ever: 11 hours and 19 minutes during the Yom Kippur War.

Before they took off on that long flight, they had to get the Blackbird from Beale to Griffiss Air ForceBase (AFB).

SR-71 Blackbird making a shockwave from Indiana to New York State

Shelton recalls in Rich Graham’s book SR-71 Blackbird: Stories, Tales, and Legends;

‘On short notice, we took off in SR-71 #979 and headed for Griffiss Air Force Base with one in-flight refueling over Nevada as we headed east at Mach 3 at 80,000 feet. Our route took us south of Chicago and north of Indianapolis. Passing south of Chicago, I said to Gary, “I can see the lights of Chicago out the left window.” The lights of Indianapolis on the right were so clear that we must have been creating quite a sonic boom that was touching the ground and disturbing many people.

‘However, it turned out to be worse than I thought, as indicated by the articles that appeared in the newspaper on October 12, 1973, when the shockwave stretched from Indiana to New York State.’

Jim says he laughed at the media quotes when Dr. Alexander, a Penn State Expert, said it was conceivable it could’ve been a meteorite entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

‘Do you think that we were going to tell the world that they were wrong that it was really an SR-71 going to Griffith Air Force Base?’

Sonic booms

Shelton concludes;

‘At Beale there was an office that handled sonic boom complaints on a full-time basis. The office received boom complaints from everyone and anyone farmers claimed that their cows would not give milk anymore, chickens wouldn’t lay eggs.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force

The Blackbird

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966. The U.S. Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 spy plane remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. Flying at Mach 3+ from 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. And in the off chance an enemy tried to shoot it down with a missile, all the Blackbird had to do was speed up and outrun it.

Its engineering was so cutting edge that even the tools to build the SR-71 needed to be designed from scratch.

Flying the world’s fastest plane

Spencer Hall interviewed for SBNation former SR-71 Blackbird pilot Rick McCrary about what it’s like to fly the world’s fastest plane.

McCrary explained;

‘You waddle out there in your spacesuit, carrying your little cooler because it gets quite hot in that spacesuit. You go out to a van with some La-Z-Boys in it, these big recliners, and they drive you out to the airplane. It’s sitting there with all the cables hooked up to it, just like a space launch. It’s outgassing stuff, people are checking it, and then people start unhooking it and leaving and then it’s just you and the crew chief. You get into the seat, close the hatch, and you’re in your cocoon.

‘Startup was also a unique thing. It had this special fuel, because the temperatures during flight got up to over 600 degrees Fahrenheit when you’re at speed. The worry is that normal fuel, which you want to explode quickly during flight and have a low flashpoint, well…you wanted the exact opposite with the Blackbird. You’re carrying so much fuel that the last thing you want to worry about is it self-igniting.

‘You’d burn 80,000 pounds of fuel in about an hour and twenty minutes. That’s a lot of gas. You’re on the boom a lot, and that was why in-flight refueling experience was such a critical part of the screening process. You didn’t have a lot of time to do it, and you had to get it right the first time. Three refuelings was common, but on longer missions you’d refuel six or eight times. Those were long days.

Last flight on the SR-71

‘You’d light up the afterburner right after that first refueling, and take it to full power for the next hour. That’s pretty amazing, because no other plane can fly in full afterburner continuously. All other planes have either a three minute limit, or five minute limit on that, but you’d be going at full afterburner for an hour, hour and a half.’

When Hall asked McCrary if he remembered when his last SR-71 Blackbird flight took place, he answered;

‘The answer is kind of an interesting yes and no. There came the time to move on, and we had a good deal. We got to take it to the National Air Show in Washington, DC and put it on display there. That was going to be our last flight.

SR-71 dumping fuel on Maryland

‘As we took off from there and came back around for a pass, the right engine exploded. We had to dump gas, and set about thirteen acres of Maryland on fire as we did that. That was kind of interesting, just spewing flaming fuel and titanium pieces around.’

McCrary explained that this wasn’t rural Maryland;

‘Actually, we were pointed at the White House out of Andrews Air Force Base. It was funny listening back to the voice tape because I start by saying “Well, we’ll go out over the bay here and dump this fuel.” About thirty seconds later I say “Screw it” and just dump it. We defoliated southern Maryland, but we got it back on the ground, which was great. After all that happened, I absolutely remember shutting it down. My legs started shaking uncontrollably with the adrenaline from it all when I knew it was over with. My co-pilot never flew again, either.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

A unique design

The SR-71 is best known for its world record speeds, many of which were set without pushing its full capabilities. From 80,000 feet, these aircraft could survey 100,000 square miles of the earth’s surface per hour. Notice the aircraft’s unique design, it is different from every other aircraft in the gallery. This strange, spaceship-like shape enables it to reach the mind-blowing speeds that have made the Blackbird famous.

Its engineering was so cutting edge that even the tools to build the SR-71 needed to be designed from scratch.

The SR-71 Blackbird fuel

In fact, given that the Blackbird became so hot because it cruised at a speed of Mach 3.2 conventional jet fuel could not be used in it. A jet fuel with a high flash point, and high thermal stability was required. To satisfy this requirement Shell produced a special blend of fuel called JP-7.

Specifically, JP-7 fuel (referred to as Jet Propellant 7 prior to MIL-DTL-38219) was developed for the Blackbird’s Pratt & Whitney J58 (JT11D-20) turbojet engine. During flight, the SR-71 could attain speeds in excess of Mach 3+, which was the most efficient cruising speed for the J58 engines. However, very high skin temperatures were generated at this speed due to friction with the air. A new jet fuel was needed that was not affected by the heat, so JP-7 jet fuel, with a high flash point and high thermal stability, was developed for this purpose.

Nationwide shortage of bug spray

According to the SR-71A Flight Manual, “The operating envelope of the [J58] JT11D-20 engine requires special fuel. The fuel is not only the source of energy but is also used in the engine hydraulic system. During high Mach flight, the fuel is also a heat sink for the various aircraft and engine accessories which would otherwise overheat at the high temperatures encountered. This requires a fuel having high thermal stability so that it will not break down and deposit coke and varnishes in the fuel system passages. A high luminometer number (brightness of flame index) is required to minimize transfer of heat to the burner parts. Other items are also significant, such as the amount of sulfur impurities tolerated. Advanced fuels, JP-7 (PWA 535) and PWA 523E, were developed to meet the above requirements.”

Flit mosquito repellant

Noteworthy, JP-7 production caused a nationwide shortage of bug spray.

Shell Oil developed JP-7 in 1955. Manufacturing several hundred thousand gallons of the new fuel required the petroleum byproducts Shell normally used to make its Flit insecticide, causing a nationwide shortage of that product!

One of the ingredients in JP-7 just so happened to be a crucial part of Flit mosquito repellant. Bearing in mind the huge amount of fuel we’re talking about here, Shell didn’t exactly have enough supply to meet the newly increased demand, so mosquitos everywhere caught a lucky break!

JP-7 had a high flashpoint. It was not flammable and every time an SR-71 needed fuel, tankers were always there, they were terrific and deserve high praise.

SR-71 Blackbird fuel used by the Boeing X-51 Waverider

Today the JP-7 fuel is used by the Boeing X-51 Waverider in its Pratt & Whitney SJY61 scramjet engine, with fuel capacity of some 270 pounds (120 kg). As with the SR-71, the X-51A design super-cools this fuel (cooled by extended subsonic flight in the stratosphere; prior to acceleration to supersonic speeds); then, when in supersonic flight, the fuel is heated by its circulation through heat exchangers which transfer to it the heat load of the interior spaces of the airframe. The fuel is then pumped through rotating mechanical parts of the engines and auxiliary mechanical equipment, providing both lubrication and cooling. Finally, at a temperature of nearly 550 °F (290 °C), it is pumped into the fuel nozzles of the engines.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

The Russian Nuclear Satellite that crashed in Canada

On 24 January 1978, Cosmos 954, a Soviet nuclear-powered surveillance satellite, crashed in the Northwest Territories. The crash scattered an enormous amount of radioactivity over a 124,000 square kilometer area in Canada’s north, stretching southward from Great Slave Lake into northern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

My father, Colonel Richard “Butch” Sheffield, wrote the following in his book “Ohio to Supersonic,” available to order here.

This was when Dad was Chief of Space at the Pentagon from 1976 to 1980.

Before he was at the Pentagon, he was a missile wing commander at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. He would leave Minot to go to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to launch missiles.

This might have been where they got the plot for the movie “Space Cowboys.”

He recalls;

‘The Russians had orbited a lab that had a nuclear power plant. They had lost control of the lab, and the lab was going to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere somewhere.
‘The satellite was intended for long-term on-orbit observation, but by December 1977, it had deviated from its designed orbit, and its flight path was becoming increasingly erratic.

Cosmos 954

‘In mid-December, the North American Aerospace Defense Command [NORAD], which had assigned the satellite the Satellite Catalog Number 10361, noticed Cosmos 954 making erratic manoeuvres, changing its orbit by up to 50 miles, as its Soviet operators struggled to control their failing spacecraft. In secret meetings, Soviet officials warned their US counterparts that they had lost control over the vehicle, and that the system which was intended to propel the spent reactor core into a safe disposal orbit had failed.’

According to Cosmos 954’s Wikipedia entry, which we quote;

‘At 11:53 GMT on 24 January 1978, Cosmos 954 reentered the Earth’s atmosphere while travelling on a northeastward track over western Canada. At first, the USSR claimed that the satellite had been completely destroyed during re-entry, but later searches showed debris from the satellite had been deposited on Canadian territory along a 600-kilometre (370 mi) path from Great Slave Lake to Baker Lake. The area spans portions of the Northwest Territories, present-day Nunavut, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.’

Radioactive materials over the US

The clean-up operation was a coordinated event between the United States and Canada. Dubbed “Operation Morning Light”, the clean-up effort continued into October 1978 and resulted, according to the Atomic Energy Control Board (now the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission), in the estimated recovery of about 0.1 percent of COSMOS 954’s power source.

Sheffield continues;

‘There was a chance that the radioactive materials could come down over the US, so the Carter Administration was worried.

‘One day, Mr. Gus Weiss came to see me. He was a former aide to Nixon and had worked for the CIA; he was on the National Security Council, he had been appointed by the Administration to monitor the lab and to predict where it would return to Earth.

‘He said that while NASA was good at launching things into space, they didn’t know much about predicting where things would come back to Earth because it had little to no experience doing that.

Predicting a re-entry of Cosmos 954

‘He asked for my help.

‘I had working for me the only two people in Washington, DC, who knew how to predict a re-entry of space objects, Lynn Tatum and Dennis Eagan. I called them in my office and told them to do whatever Gus asked them to do. They worked on it until the Russian space lab re-entered.

‘They predicted the point within one half orbit, and it came down over Canada.’

He concludes;

‘Gus and I met a couple of times a year from then on. He became a good friend, and his insights into Washington policies were very enlightening.’

Weiss later died mysteriously in Washington, DC on Nov. 25, 2003.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Federal Government of the United States

Sea Shadow

Drawing inspiration from his work on the F-117 stealth aircraft, Ben Rich, then head of Lockheed’s Skunk Works, proposed applying the technology concepts he and his colleagues had learned for aircraft to submarines, with the idea of making these vessels undetectable via sonar. Initial tests on a small model suggested the stealth gains could be on the order of a thousandfold, albeit with a cost of speed due to the design.

The Department of Defense did not show interest in this line of investigation until Rich, with input from a colleague, adapted the idea to apply to surface ships. This led to a DARPA contract to apply stealth concepts and materials to surface vessels and to test the effects of seawater on the radar-absorbing materials.

At the time, one of the biggest threats against US surface vessels was the Soviet RORS satellite, which used X-band radar. Knowing that shape was the key to defeating such radar, Rich and team designed the ship using severe flat planes of 45-degree angles that bore a strong resemblance to the Nighthawk. The engineer team, led by Ugo Coty, tested their concept by taking the ship to an ancient lake bed deep within Death Valley, Calif. There, they filled a 100 by 80-foot plastic swimming pool and rigged a radar system that duplicated the Soviet radar satellite. Testing proved successful, resulting in additional funding by the Navy to create the prototype of the Sea Shadow.

Four-man crew

However, the Ocean Division of Lockheed caught wind of the project and managed to convince Rich to pass the project to them, as they were in dire need of new work at the time. Part of this agreement allowed chief engineer Ugo Coty to continue with the program to ensure the ship builders didn’t compromise stealth for performance.

Developed in great secrecy, a prototype, the Sea Shadow (also designated as IX-529) was assembled out of sight within a submersible barge (the Hughes Mining Barge 1) in Redwood City, Calif.

Ben Rich recalls in his book Skunk Works;

‘The Sea Shadow was made of very strong welded steel, displaced 560 tons, and was 70 feet wide. Our ship had a four-man crew—commander, helmsman, navigator, and engineer.

‘By contrast, a frigate doing a similar job had more than three hundred crewmen.

‘Viewed from head-on the ship looked like Darth Vader’s helmet. Some Navy brass who saw her clenched their teeth in disgust at the sight of the most futuristic ship ever to ply the seas. A future commander resented having only a four-man crew to boss around on a ship that was so secret.

‘Our stealth ship might be able to blast out of the sky a sizable Soviet attack force, but in terms of an officer’s future status and promotion prospects, it was about as glamorous as commanding a tugboat.

18 Sea Shadow stealth ships protecting the US Navy carrier fleet

‘We could arm it with 64 Patriot-type missiles and send it out 300 miles ahead of the carrier task force as an invisible, amphibious SAM missile site. We’d shoot down the Soviet attack aircraft before they got within missile range of the fleet. And because they couldn’t see the stealth ship electronically, they’d literally never know what hit them. We did an analysis and determined that the entire US Navy carrier fleet could be protected by only eighteen of our stealth defenders armed with SAMs. Since our ship would knock out most of the incoming air armada trying to attack our carriers, we would make the Aegis more effective by dramatically decreasing the number of incoming missiles it would be called upon to try to destroy at one time.

‘And we had compelling test data to prove our contentions. To accurately measure the low radar cross-section of a model ship under realistic ocean conditions, Ugo Coty went to one of the most remote areas of the western desert. There, within hailing distance of Death Valley, he built himself a miniature ocean. The place was about two days from Edwards Air Force Base by mule pack or by jeep crawling through deeply rutted roads. It was an ancient lake bed sitting at the foot of an 8,500-foot mountain, on top of which Ugo Coty planned to mount a radar system.’

The miniature ocean

Coty took my father, SR-71 Blackbird RSO Col. Richard “Butch” Sheffield, to see the miniature ocean.

Butch recalls in his book Ohio to Supersonic;

‘Ugo Coty was a real “Skunk.” This is a compliment to anyone who works in the Skunk Works. Ugo was an engineer who was considered brilliant by many. He worked on about 12 programs at the Skunk Works, and he kept them undercover from almost everybody there.
‘For some reason, he liked me and cleared me into all of his programs.

‘Ugo took me out to someplace north of Edwards Air Force Base and drove us high in the mountains on a narrow one-lane road. I was sitting in the front passenger seat and when I looked out of the window, all I could see was space. The road was just as wide as the vehicle. The road circled the mountain several times. When we reached the top, a large radar antenna was sitting on top of the mountain. He walked me over to the edge and pointed down on the desert floor thousands of feet below was an artificial lake with boats floating in it. The boats were about 10 to 20 feet long. Were in all shapes.’

Trials

The Sea Shadow’s first trials in 1981 proved greatly disappointing because the ship’s wake was unexpectedly huge and detectable with sonar and from the air. After discovering that the problem was due the motor propellers, which had been installed backwards, the project moved forward. The vessel was completed in 1984 and underwent night trials in 1985 and 1986.

Even so, the Sea Shadow never made it beyond the testing phase, though engineers applied lessons learned in such applications as submarine periscopes and some newer Navy destroyers, including the DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class ships.

The Navy was not impressed with this futuristic ship and it proved difficult for Ben Rich to work with the service. Legendary Lockheed Skunk Works founder Kelly Johnson who had 14 formally written management principles, but his unofficial 15th rule was blunt: “Starve before doing business with the damned Navy.”

In 1993, the public got it first view of the stealth ship, which eventually was scrapped in 2006.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy

Blackbird Mach 3+ spy plane

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, Mach 3+, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft.

The Blackbird design originated in secrecy during the late 1950s with the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 and remained classified until 1976. President Lyndon Johnson publicly announced the existence of the YF-12A interceptor variant on Feb. 29, 1964, more than half a year after its maiden flight. The SR-71 completed its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. On Jul. 28, 1976, an SR-71 set two world records for its class — an absolute speed record of 2,193.167 mph and an absolute altitude record of 85,068.997 feet.

The Blackbird was in a different category from anything that had come before. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” Skunk Works legendary aircraft designer Kelly Johnson recalled in an interesting article appeared on Lockheed Martin website.

Production of the SR-71 was done at the Skunk Works plant, in Burbank, California, as the photos in this post show [the image were taken in 1965 and show some of the first SR-71 under construction: featured in the pictures are the first B models (957 and 956) under construction with an A-model (955). My dad Richard “Butch“ Sheffield told me that he watched these airplanes under construction at the Skunk Works plant at Burbank].

SR-71 aircraft built almost entirely of titanium

The airframes were built almost entirely of titanium and other exotic alloys to withstand heat generated by sustained high-speed flight: in fact, the Blackbirds were designed to cruise at Mach 3 continuously for more than one hour at altitudes up to 85,000 feet.

Blackbird’s engineers had a perplexing problem as to why some of the titanium was corroding. However, they figured out the reason. It was chlorine in the water!

According to Wisconsin Metal Tech, the engineers of the SR-71 were among the first people in history to make real use of the material. In that process, they ended up throwing away a lot of material, some through necessity, some through error. At times the engineers were perplexed as to what was causing problems, but thankfully they documented and cataloged everything, which helped find trends in their failures.

Spot welded parts made in summer corroded, those made in winter didn’t

They discovered that spot welded parts made in the summer were failing very early in their life, but those welded in winter were fine. They eventually tracked the problem to the fact that the Burbank water treatment facility was adding chlorine to the water they used to clean the parts to prevent algae blooms in summer, but took it out in winter. Chlorine reacts with titanium, so they began using distilled water from this point on.

They discovered that their cadmium plated tools were leaving trace amounts of cadmium on bolts, which would cause galvanic corrosion and cause the bolts to fail. This discovery led to all cadmium tools to be removed from the workshop.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Lockheed photos via Tony Landis and CIA

The Blackbird

The SR-71 Blackbird was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude.

The Blackbird design originated in secrecy during the late 1950s with the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 and remained classified until 1976. President Lyndon Johnson publicly announced the existence of the YF-12A interceptor variant on Feb. 29, 1964, more than half a year after its maiden flight. The SR-71 completed its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

SR-71 high-performance takeoff

So, it comes as no surprise if, thanks to its astonishing flight characteristics, the aircraft has set numerous speed and altitude records throughout its career.

An SR-71 Blackbird mechanic who wishes to remain anonymous tells the following story;

‘I won’t say Who, I won’t say when, but I did see the SR go vertical ONCE and that was at Kadena [Air Base]. The F-4 jocks used to tell us when they were going to do a high-performance takeoff during an FCF (Functional Check Flight) so we could watch a “real takeoff”!

‘Our DET Commander had chewed his lip long enough and the stage was set. We finally had the kind of flight scheduled where the plan could be put in to action.

Shut the F-4 lads up

‘All sensors were removed and replaced with ballast. That included the ballast nose. This didn’t lighten the aircraft, but removed sensitive equipment, gyros and such. On the morning of the launch, the Fighter wing was notified. The SR did its thing getting ready to launch. Brakes released, burners on and once it was up, it accelerated just above the runway. And then, IT HAPPENED. It went vertical in full afterburner. It was loud AND impressive! Needless to say, it shut the F-4 lads up for a while.

‘Written by somebody who knew.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Linda Sheffield Miller, Boeing and U.S. Navy

The Foxbat

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (“Foxbat”) was one of the fastest and most feared combat aircraft ever built. Entering Soviet service in 1970, it was designed as a high-speed interceptor and reconnaissance platform capable of reaching Mach 2.83. The MiG-25’s capabilities were so impressive that they instilled a sense of urgency within the American defense establishment during the Cold War.

They were not discovered until 1976 when Viktor Belenko, a Soviet MiG-25 pilot, defected to Japan. Subsequent analysis revealed a simple-yet-functional design with vacuum-tube electronics, two massive turbojet engines, and sparing use of advanced materials such as titanium.

A capable interceptor, the MiG-25 was widely exported by the Soviet Union. This aircraft could outrun any fighter in the air, and indeed any military aircraft other than the SR-71 Blackbird.

Loaded with two R-40 missiles (NATO reporting name AA-6 ‘Acrid’), the Foxbat could reach 78,000 feet, but with its full complement of four missiles, it was limited to 68,900 feet. By contrast the Habu flew at cruise speeds above Mach 3 at over 80,000 feet.

MiG-25 shooting down an SR-71 Blackbird

Nevertheless, once an SR-71 Blackbird flown by Col. Darrel Cobb was fired on by a MiG-25, as Cobb himself recalls in this interview given to his son Chris;

Col. Cobb’s SR-71 Blackbird fired on by a MiG-25.

‘Operational missions.

‘First let me assure you; we never broke President Eisenhower’s promise to cease overflying the Soviet Union. We remained over international water – 12 mi offshore.

‘All of my operational flying was from Kadena, Okinawa. Area of interest was Vietnam; Korea; Vladivostok, USSR; China. Later, we flew transatlantic & return from Seymour Johnson, NC supporting the Israel Arab war. After I left the program, the SR flew from Mildenhall, England & Bodo, Norway.

‘We already touched on missions against Vietnam & the only night mission.

‘Today let’s cover “north missions.”

‘Take off, refuel & head into the Sea of Japan; between Japan & south Korea. Accelerated to operational speed – 3.20. Head directly at Vladivostok. headquarters of USSR air defense; and test/r & d of new radar & intercept development. 2200 mph guaranteed to light up all the radar & intercept systems they had.

‘A MiG-25 interceptor squadron was based just outside of Vladivostok. The “holy grail” of the soviet air defense system was to shoot down an SR-71.

‘Turn north up the Sea of Japan & make a U-turn back down the USSR coast (12 mi offshore) with ELINT & SIGINT recorders going full bore. Photo cameras looking oblique into the USSR, updating the interceptor air order of battle. Head south east till past Vladivostok then turn slightly left then right to cross Korea at the DMZ. Photo cameras updating N. Korea force readiness to resume hostilities against S. Korea.

Missile fired at a Blackbird

‘Continue down the yellow sea coast of China. All sensors evaluating China’s threat to Taiwan. Turn left- decel & land at Kadena. I flew this profile several times during the 4 years I flew ops missions. One of these got very, very thrilling. Southbound, passing Vladivostok, Reg (my RSO) announced;

‘”We’ve got a fighter locked on – it’s gotta be a MiG-25″

‘”Our DEF [Defensive Electronic Gear, DEF. It Provided ground-to-air and air-to-air missile protection. Still Classified. Def systems were labeled DEF A,B,C,E and G. Later modifications to the DEF Systems resulted in DEF A2, C2, H and M systems. Nearing retirement of the SR-71, a programmable DEF labeled A2C could defeat all known threats to the Blackbirds] is blanketing all beautifully.”

‘”Oops – he just fired – – we’ve got a missile locked on”

‘”Our def has shifted to its missile magic”

‘”There – lock’s broken. Missile’s back in search”

‘”That’s weird – sounds like the missile’s locked on – but not locked on us”

‘”He’s gone – coming up on the “s” turn to the DMZ.”’

Fast forward to late 1976 Col. Cobb retired from the Air Force.

MiG-25 at risk of being shot down by its missile

Cobb continues;

‘I’m retired! Learning that retirement means no days off; no vacation; no holidays; big pay cut.

‘I find the aircraft TV channel & history channel. Lots & lots of SR-71 films. I avidly watch at every opportunity. In my den, glued to the TV & today’s SR-71 show, & who do I see comparing the MiG-25 with the SR-71??

‘You’re right – – Lt Victor Belenko!

‘He was totally gobsmacked; his MiG-25 burned up the engines getting to Mach 3 yet the SR’s cruise speed was greater than 3.0.

‘Belenko is the one who said that the Holy Grail of soviet air defense was to shoot down an SR.

‘He told of how they would pre-position ahead of the SR’s radar track and had to zoom up to get a lock on & fire their missile.

‘Belenko stressed how quickly & precisely they had to perform because the window of opportunity was so very short.

‘Their target was traveling at 3600 ft/sec. Faster than a speeding bullet.

‘He described in detail how precise the post firing breakaway had to be executed to avoid getting shot down by their own missile; talking as though they found this out the “hard way.”’

Cobb Concludes;

‘Man talk about intense attention – – I’m quickly mentally replaying that tape from the inter-phone – –

‘”We’ve got a fighter locked on – it’s gotta be a MiG-25.″

‘”Our DEF is blanketing all beautifully.”

‘”Oops – he just fired – – we’ve got a missile locked on”

‘”Our def has shifted to its missile magic”

‘”There – lock’s broken. Missile’s back in search.

‘”That’s weird – sounds like the missile’s locked on – but not locked on us.”’

What happened to the missile fired by the MiG-25?

What happened to the missile fired by the MiG-25? Could it have locked onto the Foxbat itself? Could the SR-71 DEF have deceived it? We’ll never know.

However, we can assume that given that SR-71 had a cruise speed faster than the top speed of the MiG-25’s Acrid missiles, the Blackbird simply outran the AA-6. There was no chance a Foxbat could conduct a tail-chase interception of an SR-71 (the MiG-25 couldn’t carry out a head-on intercept of a Blackbird too: in fact, the Foxbat’s radar and fire control system was not sophisticated enough to solve the problems of a head-on intercept at closing speeds that would exceed Mach 5).

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Dmitriy Pichugin via Wikimedia and U.S. Air Force

Blackbird

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, Mach 3+, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft.

The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.

The Blackbird was in a different category from anything that had come before. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” Skunk Works legendary aircraft designer Kelly Johnson recalled in an interesting article appeared on Lockheed Martin website.

Emergency Landing

For instance, the SR-71 was conceived without a boarding ladder. So, how did SR-71 crews get out of the plane when they landed in emergency?

SR-71 Blackbird pilot Stormy Boudreaux explained to me;

‘Yes, SR-71 was designed without a boarding ladder, but the crew could disembark the aircraft without a ladder, with a little bit of gymnastics.

‘They would first open the canopy. The canopy was manually opened, by unlocking and pushing it up until it latched in open position.

‘Then they would unstrap, and remove their spurs. Now they could climb over the side, slide down the chine, hang from the edge of the chine and drop a short distance to the ground.

‘(In an extreme emergency – say if aircraft was on fire they could even eject while the plane was stopped on the ground but they must do that before unstrapping. The normal D-ring or an alternate ejection T-handle could be pulled to initiate ejection.)

SR-71 hanging and jumping down from the chine to get out of the plane

‘But under normal situations the procedure went like this: the RSO would open his canopy, unstrap, climb down the chine, sit on edge of chine reverse turn and hang from chine and drop to the ground. He had a spare set of landing gear pins that he would install then signal the pilot he could shutdown. The pilot would hold the brakes and keep the engines running until the pins were installed and chocks were installed to keep the jet from rolling.

Boudreaux concludes;

‘Quite often even at a “land-away base” someone responding to the SR-71 landing would have a 6 or 8’ step ladder in their truck that could be used instead of hanging/jumping down from the chine.’

I often wondered how my father and others were able to get out of the airplane without assistance.

Jump? And now I know – they would open their canopies and slide down the chines until they reached the edge then hang down for a short drop to the ground. Getting back in though – it was necessary to use the local base’s ladders or moveable platforms such as a B-4 stand to get back into the cockpit.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Crew photo colorized by Robert D Hall lll

The world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft

The SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft was the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft and the most advanced member of the Blackbird family developed by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s clandestine “Skunk Works” division. Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. The aircraft was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude.

During its operational lifetime, the SR-71 provided intelligence about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the US raid on Libya in 1986 and the revelation of Iranian Silkworm missile batteries in 1987. The USAF ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990.

The US Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990, officially because of a decreasing defense budget and high costs of operation.

But as my Dad, Richard “Butch” Sheffield, former Blackbird RSO, explains in his book “Ohio to Supersonic: Flying the SR-71 Blackbird to the secret world of the Skunk Works,” these were not the true reasons behind the SR-71 program death.

“Avoiding SR-71 Blackbird retirement would hurt Lockheed chances to win the F-22 contract”

He writes;

‘Satellites could never replace the SR-71. They don’t orbit east to west. Satellites can’t collect 100,000 miles of data per hour and it is easy to predict the path of a satellite. There was new money for projects in the Air Force if they went with satellites so they did. The Air Force Chief put Lockheed out of the SR-71 business. The Chief said that Lockheed trying to keep the SR-71 alive was going to hurt their chances of winning the F-22 contract [at the time the YF-22 was competing against the YF-23 in the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program]! Contractors like Lockheed only have one customer the Department of Defense.

‘Open POM in 1985 Generals found out the cost for the first time of the SR 71. Open POM was to take classified programs such as the B-2, the F-117, and the SR-71 and reveal their cost to the air staff board so they could see what the Air Force was funding. It sounded like a good idea and probably was. The Air Force at that time had some of the new programs classified and hidden from view, but it was the kiss of death for the SR-71.’

USAF did not use the data collected by the SR-71

He continues;

‘The SR-71 funding was in trouble because first off the Air Force did not use the data collected by the SR. The users were the Navy, Army, DIA, and a little bit (ELINT) for NSA.

‘NSA never liked the SR-71 Why? Communications intelligence SR went too fast for COMINT they thought communications intelligence was the only kind of intelligence that was useful. When the Air Force Generals saw how much the SR was costing them they revolted they said more than $200 million for operating only 10 airplanes which is ridiculous.

‘U-2 funding was in the General Defense Intelligence Program DIP controlled by the DIA. The Air Staff could not get at that money or they would have.

The SR money was in Program One called Strategic Forces. The reason it was in that budget was that when it came over to the Air Force from the NRO and the SRG the budget for the SR was too big for the GPIP and would have revealed how much was being spent. To cover up the cost they put it in with Strategic Bombers and Missiles, which had a very big budget.

The haven for fighter pilots that led to Blackbird retirement

‘About the time of open POM in 1984. The Air Force became a haven for fighter pilots with the death of General O’Malley the four stars were all from Tactical Air Command (TAC) they even put a TAC General in charge of SAC! This is important because from 1955 to 1980 SAC got the highest fastest flying aircraft and the TAC was always trying to catch up. One might ask how did this affect the SR-71? The reason once this very large amount of money was being spent on satellites they no longer wanted to fund the SR-71 The SR went from a national collection platform to Tactical intelligence asset.’

Sheffield concludes;

‘The SR-71 would be flying today like the U-2 if the Air Force had not gotten the funding data. (The U-2 is supposed to be retiring again. I’ll believe it when I never see a U-2 in the air again.)’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Linda Sheffield Miller and This Day in Aviation

A fighter-interceptor version of the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft

The YF-12 “Blackbird” was an experimental fighter-interceptor version of the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft. In Air Force flight tests on May 1, 1965, the YF-12 set a speed record of 2,070.101 mph and an altitude record of 80,257.65 feet. First publicly displayed at Edwards Air Force Base in 1964, the YF-12 was never adopted by the military as an operational aircraft. It was, however, a precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane.

Work on the YF-12 began in secret in the late 1950s at the Lockheed Advanced Development Projects office, better as known the “Skunk Works,” in Burbank, Calif. Flight data remained classified long after President Lyndon Johnson announced the plane’s existence on Feb. 29, 1964. After the announcement, the plane received the Air Force designation YF-12A.

Though the aircraft performed well, the F-12 interceptor program ended in early 1968. High costs, the ongoing war in Southeast Asia, and a lower priority on air defense of the US all contributed to the cancellation.
NASA YF-12C

Taken in 1975, the interesting photos in this post show NASA Blackbirds carrying the so called “coldwall” heat transfer pod on a pylon beneath the forward fuselage.

NASA not allowed to have SR-71s

Taken in 1975, the interesting photos in this post show NASA Blackbirds carrying the so called “coldwall” heat transfer pod on a pylon beneath the forward fuselage.

The Blackbirds portrayed in these photos are usually referred to as YF-12s, but actually one of them was an SR-71: the one on the top is a YF-12 but the one on the bottom is an SR-71.

Another interesting thing about those pictures is that NASA was not allowed to have an SR-71 but they did and they passed it off as a YF-12!

In fact, the “YF-12C” was a then-secret SR-71A (serial no. 64-17951, the second production SR-71A) given the NASA tail no. 60-6937. The reason for this bit of subterfuge lay in the fact that NASA, while flying the YF-12A interceptor version of the aircraft, was not allowed to possess the strategic reconnaissance version for some time.

Noteworthy, the SR-71 differed from the YF-12A in that the YF-12A had a round nose while the SR-71 had its chine carried forward to the nose of the airplane. There were other differences in internal and external configuration, but the two aircraft shared common inlet designs, structural concepts, and subsystems.

The bogus tail number actually belonged to a Lockheed A-12 (serial no. 60-6937), but the existence of the A-12 remained classified until 1982. The tail number 06937 was selected because it followed in the sequence of tail numbers assigned to the three existing YF-12A aircraft: 06934, 06935, and 06936. Isn’t that amazing?

Coldwall project

The coldwall project, supported by Langley Research Center, consisted of a stainless steel tube equipped with thermocouples and pressure-sensors. A special insulating coating covered the tube, which was chilled with liquid nitrogen. At Mach 3, the insulation could be pyrotechnically blown away from the tube, instantly exposing it to the thermal environment. The experiment caused many inflight difficulties, such as engine unstarts, but eventually researchers got a successful flight.

Noteworthy the Flight Research Center’s involvement with the YF-12A, an interceptor version of the Lockheed A-12, began in 1967. Ames Research Center was interested in using wind tunnel data that had been generated at Ames under extreme secrecy. Also, the Office of Advanced Research and Technology (OART) saw the YF-12A as a means to advance high-speed technology, which would help in designing the Supersonic Transport (SST).

Given that the US Air Force (USAF) needed technical assistance to get the latest reconnaissance version of the A-12 family, the SR-71A, fully operational, the service offered NASA the use of two YF-12A aircraft, 60-6935 and 60-6936.

Eventually, with 146 flights between Dec. 11 1969 and Nov. 7 1979, 935 became the workhorse of the program while the second YF-12A, 936, made 62 flights. Given that this aircraft was lost in a non-fatal crash on Jun. 24 1971, it was replaced by the so-called YF-12C SR-71A 61-7951, modified with YF-12A inlets and engines and a bogus tail number 06937.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: NASA

The Blackbird

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird’s performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War.

The US Air Force (USAF) retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990, because of a decreasing defense budget and high costs of operation.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s highest-flying and fastest operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

Blackbird Top Speed

Today there are many rumors about just how fast the SR-71 could go. The J58 engine temperature limited the top speed. The speed limit for the airplane ironically had nothing to do with the airframe; it had to do with the engines. Right in front of the engine compressor was a temperature probe that reported the temperature to the pilot; when the temperature was around 427°C, 800°Fahrenheit, that’s as fast as they were allowed to go.

However, as revealed by Paul Crickmore in his new book Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions The missing chapters, during bomb damage assessment (BDA) flights of Libya in support of Operation El Dorado Canyon in April 1986, the SR-71 could go faster because the 427°C limitation was removed.

SR-71 BDA Flights

As already explained, SR-71 pilots could not exceed 427°C, which was the usual inlet max temperature. That was because the compressor inlets govern the speed limits. However, a WARTIME EMERGENCY limit was established for Operation El Dorado Canyon: instead of the usual 427°C, the max was PUSHED UP to 450°C.

In other words, for the crew’s safety, they could push the airplane faster than normal. This required extensive inspection of the first-stage compressor afterward (the mechanics would be looking for damage to the engines).

It is known from flight test experience that at Mach 3.4 the unstable air in the SR-71 Blackbird inlet reaches the engine and can cause a flame out. There were quite a few flameouts during the SR-71 career.

As we have already reported, SR-71 pilot Brian Shul claimed to have reached Mach 3.5 during a BDA flight in support of Operation El Dorado Canyon (CLICK HERE to read the full story). According to the information featured Paul Crickmore’s new book, that speed was totally feasible with the inlet max temperature pushed up to 450°C.

SR-71 Blackbird final flight

Also, during the speed run of the SR-71 #972 from California to Virginia, a Skunk Works engineer said that the limitation of 427°C could be lifted for the final flight. Sure, it might damage the engines, but it would be the last flight! The USAF refused because they didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that they were kicking out of their inventory the SR-71 Blackbird and her incredible range and speed.

Noteworthy, for the final flight a speed run could’ve been done in less than 68 minutes. My Dad Butch Sheffield, who was working for the Skunk Works Washington DC division, was in charge of the final flight.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

The Blackbird

During its career, the SR-71 Blackbird gathered intelligence in some of the world’s most hostile environments.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

The SR-71 was conceived to operate at extreme velocities, altitudes and temperatures: actually it was the first aircraft constructed with titanium, as the friction caused by air molecules passing over its surface at Mach 2.6 would melt a conventional aluminum frame.

Its engineering was so cutting edge that even the tools to build the SR-71 needed to be designed from scratch.

The first man picked for the SR-71 program

The mission of the SR-71 was to take photographs, to use its sensors to pick up electronic surveillance. To safely navigate close to the enemy’s border. The Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO) handled all of that and more.

The RSO was the Officer in the SR-71 that, ran the checklist for the Pilot. He had to know his job and the Pilot’s job. He did the Navigation in the SR-71 if the Pilot had to make an emergency landing, which happened more often than you would think he would ask his RSO’s “Where am I landing?” and get the exact coordination from him.

Before the SR-71 was taken out for its first flight, the cockpit was rearranged. It was very expensive to rearrange this cockpit but simply it wasn’t functional.

My father, then Captain Richard “Butch” Sheffield, was the first man picked for the SR-71 program. Colonel Doug Nelson hired him away from the B-58 program. He had a perfect bomb run record after flying the B-58 for five years.

After leaving Little Rock Air Force Base (AFB) arriving at Beale AFB in California, my father was then sent down to Southern California. He went to flight test school at Skunk Works in Palmdale, CA the class was taught on the top floor by a Lockheed employee and Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich.

Rearranging the SR-71 RSO cockpit

Dad, Coz Mallozzi and Tom Schmittou (the first three RSOs chosen for the program), did not like what they saw in the RSO Cockpit hence it was rearranged. It was very expensive to rearrange the cockpit but simply it wasn’t functional. So my father, Schmittou, and Mallozzi demanded that they had to redo the cockpit otherwise the program probably would’ve failed….and they did.

The following story is a small portion from my Dad Colonel Richard “Butch” Sheffield’s book Ohio to Supersonic: Flying the SR-71 Blackbird to the secret world of the Skunk Works.

‘While attending class at the Skunk Works, I saw the insides of the Navigators’ (later the RSO cockpit) of the SR-71, I asked one of the Lockheed SW engineers who designed the layout, and his response was, “NO ONE.” He went on to say, Kelly told us to put the instruments “anywhere they would fit.” What a mess! Airspeed indicators were on one side, attitude indicators were on the other, altimeter gauges were in the middle, and we couldn’t even tell what time it was. It was a nightmare. We, the first three SAC Navigators who were headed for Edwards, Beale and back to Strategic Air Command (SAC) went to see test force personnel who could see we were upset at the lack of design for the RSO human factors layout.

Funds to rearrange the RSO cockpit

‘They said that it would cost money to rearrange the RSO backseat. We said that the SAC crews would not sign off on this type of cockpit arrangement. When they saw that we were serious and would hang tough, they gave us a phone number in Washington, D.C. to ask for help obtaining the funds to rearrange the cockpit. We made a classified call and the person on the other end of the line listened and said, “I will tell the Skunk Works (SW) to do as you say”.

‘The person I was talking too was Tom Jones and he was in the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) program “D” office in Washington.

‘NOTE: IN 1976-1979, TOM AND I WORKED TOGETHER IN THE PENTAGON WHEN I WAS CHAIRMAN OF THE SPECIAL RECONNAISSANCE GROUP (SRG). THE SRG HAD REPLACED THE NRO PROGRAM “D”.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

Rapid Rabbit

On May 15, 1972, Major Tom Pugh (Pilot) and Major Ronnie Rice (RSO) were airborne in SR-71 #978 (known as the “Rapid Rabbit” because of the Playboy bunny logo she sported on both rudders throughout most of her career) whenever everything you can think of that could go wrong went wrong.

They were flying a routine giant-scale mission when Pugh became concerned about a strange hum in the interphone system. The system seemed to go back to normal. The flight continued. Pugh maintained a Mach 3.2 speed at 79,500 feet when a generator failed. This failure was a mandatory abort; just over one minute later, the other generator failed, and then they were in real trouble.

Emergency AC/DC power did not come online; the fuel pumps stopped pumping the JP7 fuel to the engines without electrical power and lacked pump pressure to pump the fuel. Both engines stopped, causing them to flame out.

To add to the crew’s grief, the inlet spikes went full forward, and the 978 began pitching and rolling; they knew that the aircraft was approaching the limits of the supersonic flight envelope.

Pugh instructed Rice to get ready to bail, but the intercom system failed.

Pugh held the stick gently while struggling to control the jet without causing further pilot-induced oscillations, while also trying to reach the all-import standby electrical switch on his right-hand panel. To get that critical switch, he had to move his left hand off the throttles and onto the control stick to free his right hand to restore some of the electrical power to the airplane. Pugh miraculously pulled the switch to retain power. Mission accomplished! Having descended to 41,000 feet slow to Mach 1.1, he got the generator back online, and both engines relit.

Crippled SR-71 OverflyingHanoi at 41k feet under Mach 1

As told by Paul F Crickmore in his book Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions (Revised Edition), Pugh crossed Laos to recover at Udorn RTAFB without further problems. Post-flight analysis showed that Pugh and Rice overflew Hanoi at 41,000 feet!

They had been fortunate, considering the number of SAMs that circled the city. It appeared that the Vietnamese radio operators and their Soviet advisors had been asleep at the switch during the 978 mid-altitude pass over one of the best-defended cities in the world.

Aftermath to this story was told by author, Jim Goodall and it is fascinating;

‘This is Col. Tom Pugh’s comments in an interview I had with him on overflying Hanoi at 41k feet under Mach 1. Tom said he was always curious why the North Vietnam air defense sector chief didn’t try to shoot him down.

‘Some twenty years later, Tom was in Washington DC for a formal function, and in attendance was the North Vietnam general in charge of the air defense sector of Hanoi during Tom’s time flying SR-71s out of Kadena.

Booby trapped with a nuclear weapon

‘Tom tracked the General down, to ask him a question. After a few minutes of just chewing the fat, Tom asked him the big question he’d had for the twenty-plus years of the overflight. “Why didn’t you shoot us down?”

‘The General replied that he and his staff just knew this was a ploy to fire at the SR-71 that was booby-trapped and loaded with a nuclear weapon. And if it was hit, the nuke would detonate directly over Hanoi.

‘Tom busted out laughing and told the General he was in a broken SR-71, was lost, as all his electronics were offline, and was flying with a ‘Pep Boys’ styled compass, and at the time, had no idea where he was; Tom said they both ended up laughing, then headed to the bar for a well-deserved toast and drink to new friends.’

Tom and Ron were each awarded air medals for successfully landing their disabled aircraft. SR-71 #978 “The Rapid Rabbit” had pulled off a lucky escape from what appeared to be an easy shootdown situation.

However, her luck wouldn’t last for long as her days were numbered. SR-71 #978 was lost on Thursday, Jul. 20, 1972, while attempting to land at Kadena AB during extreme crosswinds.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Stuart Freer and U.S. Air Force via Habu.org

The Blackbird

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird’s performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War.

During its operational lifetime, the SR-71 provided intelligence about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the US raid on Libya in 1986 and the revelation of Iranian Silkworm missile batteries in 1987. The USAF ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990.

The Blackbird was in a different category from anything that had come before. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” Skunk Works legendary aircraft designer Kelly Johnson recalled in an interesting article appeared on Lockheed Martin website.

Former SR-71 pilot, Capt. Steve “Griz” Grzebiniak writes about the revolutionary electronic countermeasures that ensured nothing except for a golden BB could lock on and then shoot down the SR-71.

Top-secret missions

Many books about the SR-71 do not include this information because it was classified. Most of the information about the SR 71 was declassified in 2007. However, there are still top-secret missions beyond that has never been discussed. My father [Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer] told me about his missions and made it clear that the other Habu’s did not know the details. This makes sense because if our enemies got a hold of one of our SR-71 crew members and interrogated them, they could only tell the enemy what they knew; there are still secrets out there.

For instance, Colonel Hal Confer selected my Dad, Butch Sheffield, and Bob Spencer for a Silver Star Award I have the paperwork. The Silver Star was turned down because the Air Force said that it never happened. I agree with my Father that if something is classified, you do not discuss it until it has been declassified like the information in this article.

Some parts of the jamming used on the SR-71 are still not allowed to be used while flying over the US. So, when another country brags that they could’ve shot down our SR-71, just remember what our jamming devices were able to do!

In a recent online discussion with me, Steve explained more about the electronic countermeasures used in the Blackbird.

This is what Steve Grzebiniak wrote:

‘This “deception jammer” used an electronic countermeasure tactic commonly known as “range-gate stealing or range-gate pull-off.” The concept is the same as described below. This tactic would cause a false target return to show up on the enemy-targeting radar scope.

The unique SR-71 ECM

‘This would force the enemy radar operator to switch from the “target tracking mode” and go back into the “target acquisition mode” and attempt to re-acquire the SR-71 before switching back to the more accurate “target tracking mode.”

‘This essentially defeated the SAM capability to successfully intercept the SR, as the window to acquire, track, and launch was very limited against a high-speed target.

‘The SR-71 was one of the first aircraft to feature a “Deception Jammer.” I think this is fascinating and so inventive since it was made in the early 60s.’

Grzebiniak concludes;

‘The device was designed to absorb and memorize an enemy radar signal as it hit the reconnaissance plane and sent back a radar single similar to the SR-71, but STRONGER then projecting away from the plane, the trick was designed to confuse the enemy radar operator by making him see a “ghost blimp on the scope!

‘Some parts of the jamming used on the SR-71 are still not allowed to be used while flying over the United States. So, when another country brags that they could’ve shot down our SR-71, just remember what our jamming devices were able to do!’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin and George Chernilevsky via Wikipedia

The Blackbird

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird’s performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War.

During its operational lifetime, the SR-71 provided intelligence about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the US raid on Libya in 1986 and the revelation of Iranian Silkworm missile batteries in 1987. The USAF ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990.

The Blackbird was designed to operate at extreme velocities and altitudes: in fact, from 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. Achieving a radar lock on it was extremely difficult not only for any fighter jet then in service, but also for any surface-to-air (SAM) missile.

45 degrees of bank for a high bank turn

Thus, the rumors that the SR-71 stopped flying because it could be intercepted by jet fighters then in service with neutral countries in the Baltic or by Soviet MiGs are not true. There were so many factors in place to protect the Blackbird from being fired upon, some of which cannot be discussed in detail as they are still classified.

Former SR-71 pilot David Peters confirms this statement;

‘We were allowed 45 degrees of bank for a designated high bank turn. Radius is about 60 miles at 3.2. But your change of heading is pretty rapid you are just covering a lot of ground and air doing it. Most people don’t understand the dynamics. We were not going to outmaneuver much of anything. What matters is the proximity to start with. The speed and range of the protagonist.

‘One of the real highlights of flying above Mach 3 and above 80,000 feet is nobody is up there with you. They have to see you (radar) first. How far away is significant because we are not just larking along.

‘If you are talking surface-to-air missiles, how long does it take to launch get to 80,000 feet? How long does it take, and how close does it have to get to be able to maneuver if we are not going straight ahead?

‘Very few missiles could go far enough to make up 36 or more miles per minute.

‘All this is not taking any consideration of our ECM capability.’

The only SAM that had a chance to hit the SR-71

Peters concludes;

‘The bottom line is the only surface-to-air missile that had any chance at all was the SA-10 [SA-10 Grumble, the NATO reporting name of the S-300 Soviet SAM system] if it was nuclear. That would allow them to fire it out ahead of us with an air burst at altitude, which we could possibly not circumvent. Airborne I.e. interceptors none had any chance what so ever.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Russian Ministry of Defence and Lockheed Martin

B-58 Hustler

The B-58 Hustler saw great success during its relatively short service career. It was the first supersonic bomber, the first bomber to reach Mach 2, the first aircraft made of stainless-steel honeycomb sandwich and the first aircraft to have stellar-inertial navigation. The B-58 also set more world speed records than any other type of combat aircraft.

Since the thin fuselage prevented the carrying of bombs internally, a droppable, two-component pod beneath the fuselage contained a nuclear weapon — along with extra fuel or other specialized gear. The B-58 crew consisted of a pilot, navigator/bombardier and defense systems operator.

My Dad, Richard “Butch” Sheffield, was flying the B-47 as navigator/bombardier, he volunteered for the then brand new B-58. 

He writes about it in his soon to be published book “Ohio to Supersonic.”

More bomb runs than anyone in the Hustler

‘After we got back to Ft. Worth from SOS (squadrons officer school) in early 1962, I started flying with my new B-58 pilot, Major Dick Reynolds. I soon learned he was just as aggressive as I was, and we made a great team. He would fly anywhere, anytime, and for as long as I wanted.

‘One night, after we had flown for about ten hours and made more bomb runs than anyone ever had in the B-58 on one mission, he found out that some KC-135 tankers were coming back to the area with leftover fuel on board and would be willing to give it to us.

‘He lined up about five tankers with about ten thousand pounds of fuel each and filled out tanks so we could fly six more hours, thus breaking the record for flight length in the B-58.

‘After we topped off, we headed for the bomb plot to make more bomb runs when the command post came on the air and ordered us to dump the fuel and land right away. The Wing Command heard about what we were doing and thought it might be a safety-of-flight issue. Also, higher headquarters wanted to know what we were up to when the tankers started reporting the offloads to us.

‘I thought Dick was going to be in lots of trouble over the refueling, but I never heard about it. I believe they found out just how aggressive he was, and they liked it.’

Combat Crew Training School

He continues;

‘The (43rd) wing soon checked our crew out as instructors and assigned us to the Combat Crew Training School (CCTS), where we taught all the new students coming into the B-58 Program for the next four years.

‘My job was to teach the Bombing and Navigation System (ASQ-42) for one week each month to the new Radar Navigators (RN) and one day to the Pilots and DSO’s. This was a heavy load. I had to do everything other B-58 RNs did, plus teach. Even my vacations had to be planned around the teaching load. I taught this course from 1962 to 1964.

‘Even with our crew being out of action for one week out of each month to teach in the CCTS, we still were beating all the other crews by getting the most bomb runs (with the best scores) and navigation legs per mission.

‘We were rated best crew in the wing in 1963.

‘During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the B-58 Wing did not have a group of aircraft on alert like other SAC Bomb Wings because we were still doing CATEGORY II & III tests on the new weapon system. When the President ordered the military to get ready for war, the Wing Commander, B/G Brick Holstrom, ordered the Wing to get all our B-58s ready and load them with nukes.

B-58 on alert during Cuban Missile Crisis

‘Soon, we had forty B-58s loaded and ready to go but had no targets or tanker support. When SAC Headquarters found out, they gave us targets and tankers. Carswell had B-52s and tankers on alert, so there was no place for the B-58 alert crews to stay on base.

‘We pre-flighted our aircraft, studied our target, and were sent home to await a call from the Command Post to report to the aircraft and launch. I was armed with my snub-nosed Cal. 38 handguns and wore the nuclear weapons “GO” code around my neck. I felt odd being in the house like that with the kids around.

‘Soon, our Squadrons’ Operations Building had beds and guards, so we moved onto the base. We stayed on alert for a long time, about thirty days.’

Sheffield concludes;

‘Our house was right near the flight line. I told (wife) Rosie, if you hear us taking off, put the kids in the car and drive west. She had already bought canned goods and water. It was a terrifying time for the Country and us.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Linda Sheffield Miller and U.S. Air Force

More than 5 hours above Mach 3.0: SR-71 mission during the Yom Kippur War

The SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft was the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft and the most advanced member of the Blackbird family developed by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s clandestine “Skunk Works” division. Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. The aircraft was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude.

During its operational lifetime, the SR-71 provided intelligence about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the US raid on Libya in 1986 and the revelation of Iranian Silkworm missile batteries in 1987.

On Oct. 13 Oct, 1973, Pilot Jim Shelton and RSO Gary Coleman in SR-71 Blackbird #979, departed Griffiss AFB, NY on the first of a series of flights to the Middle East. After 11.13 hours of flight time involving 6 refuelings and more than five hours of flight above Mach 3.0, Jim Shelton landed #979 back at Griffiss. The “Photo Take” was highly successful and provided Defense Analysts and the President of the United States with information about the actual Syrian military situation.

The Yom Kippur War SR-71 operation provided a series of 11.4 hour round-robin sorties to the Middle East. Plans were originally made to fly these flights from Beale AFB to the Middle East and recover at Mildenhall, United Kingdom. Upon arrival at Mildenhall to set up recovery operations, Colonel Patrick Halloran, 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing Commander, was informed that the British Government was having second thoughts about allowing the SR-71 to land in England.

They could not land at Mildenhall.

The following is in Jim Shelton‘s own words, he sent this to me a few years ago.

PM Mission Briefing

LTC. Gary Coleman (my RSO) and I (LTC James Shelton) were in the Standardization Office at Beale AFB, CA (we were the senior crew) and received a phone call from Col. Pat Halloran (the wing commander) to come to his office. When we arrived there he said, we were selected for a very important mission. It was to take off from Beale AFB and fly through the Middle East and recover at Mildenhall AB England, for an 8 ½ hour mission. Our State Department needed to know how the Yom Kippur War was going. We could not move a Spy Satellite out of the Russian orbit to cover the War area, so the SR-71 got the call.

The mission was to A/R locally, proceed to Nova Scotia for the second A/R, then proceed west of Portugal for the third A/R, then proceed through the Mediterranean abeam the island of Crete for the fourth A/R, then turn right going south and follow the Nile River south of Cairo, then make a 270 degree turn to the right around Cairo crossing the Nile River again, creating a large X over the battle area and return to the Crete A/R area and land at Mildenhall. Gary and I then went to the mission planning area and studied the route of flight and emergency landing fields. I even went to the flight simulator to practice landing approaches into Mildenhall.

11 hours and 20 minutes SR-71 mission during the Yom Kippur War

We were told to go into crew rest and return for an 11:00 PM Mission Briefing. We returned for our briefing and received a weather and intelligence briefing. I remember the intel briefer advising us to not be surprised if the Egyptians or the Israelis shoot at us because our government has not told either country that we would be flying over their areas. At about the time to go get into our pressure suits for flight, the mission was canceled and we were told to go home and get back into crew rest.

The next day I went into operation and found out the reason the mission was canceled, was that when Col. Halloran and the maintenance recovery team landed at Mildenhall AB the British said, “the SR-71 could not land there, because they relied on Middle East Oil that they wanted no part in helping us with the mission”. I was told that we would fly to Griffiss AFB that evening and would fly our mission out of Griffiss and return to Griffiss.

Now instead of an 8 ½ hour mission to just went to 11 hours and 20 minutes with 6 A/Rs. The reason Griffiss was selected as the base to fly from was that the test force’s SR-71was scheduled to fly out of Griffiss the next week to conduct low-altitude electronic evaluation missions on some new equipment, so there was a tank car with our special JP-7 fuel on a siding on base and a Lockheed maintenance team from Palmdale plant on the ground to support the test force mission.

Flying to Griffiss from Beale AFB

Now the easiest mission changes for the mission planner to make was to have us fly subsonic from Griffiss to the Nova Scotia A/R and pick up the original route and then once we left the Crete A/R the second time we would reverse our route back to the Portugal A/R, then to the Nova Scotia A/R and return to Griffiss subsonic.

Gary and I took off about 6:30 PM to fly to Griffiss from Beale AFB. Little did Gary and I know that the mission planner drew a straight line from the end of the local A/R area to the holding fix for Griffiss. Normally, the mission planners will avoid heavily populated towns and cities but not tonight. En route to the holding fix, we flew south of Chicago and north of Indianapolis and I could see both cities as it was so clear. I told Gary that we must be creating a major sonic boom because the sky was so clear.

Second Blackbird

Little known to us the second aircraft that was to follow us by 1 hour, was stopped on the runway and given another route avoiding populated areas to fly to the Griffiss holding fix, because there had been so many phone calls complaining about sonic booms and broken windows. The Air Force said they would investigate, but the next morning a professor in one of the northern states, said, “That a meteor must have created the sonic booms because it covered such a large area”. When this article came out in the local paper the Air Force stopped investigating.

As I approached the runway at Griffiss I turned on my landing light which shines down as we are landing with about 7 degrees nose up and unless I have clouds or the runway just below me I cannot see if the landing light is on. Just as I started my flare for landing I saw that the landing light was out, so I moved the switch to taxi light, which is not pointing down but straight ahead as the nose of the aircraft is on the pavement when taxing. The Lockheed maintenance personnel parked us and helped us get out of the cockpit.

Plenty of rest

Well, the Base Commander was there to meet us and he said, “SAC headquarters said there was a Highly Classified Mission coming and supply whatever they needed. He said the mission must be very secret because I did not turn my landing light on until I was over the runway”. I did not want to break his bubble, so I did not tell him that the landing light was out. I told him that Col. Halloran and the maintenance team would arrive from England soon and that we need quarter and food for our team. Gary and I went into crew rest and prepared to fly in a day or two.

In the morning after landing, I went to the Flight Surgeon’s office to get 1 sleeping table so I could make sure I got plenty of rest before the long flight. He was not going to give me the 1 sleep table I requested, so I told him to call the Flight Surgeon’s office at Beale AFB as they will approve me getting 1 pill. He finally gave me my 1 pill without calling. In our crew rest window, I took my pill and it must have worked well as Gary said, “he knew my pilot was resting because my snoring woke him up”.

Briefing for SR-71 Yom Kippur War mission

At the mission briefing, the weather man said, “We would have weather in the Nova Scotia area, but after that, the weather was good for the rest of the flight. We took off at about 11:00 PM. This would put us over the target area between 11:00 and 12:00 so the photo interpreters could determine the heights of objects by their shadows. Well, the weatherman was correct about the weather in the A/R area. The visibility was very close to our limit of 1 mile to conduct A/R’s (I don’t know anyone that did not press ahead to the tanker). Once on the tanker boom, it was so turbulent that the Stick Shaker started activating, and at that point, I strangled the control stick to make sure I would not be bounced off the boom.

The weather improved as I finished refueling and climbing through 45,000 feet on my way to the Portugal A/R. The mission was planned to cruise at Mach 3.00 to make sure we have fuel enough for the mission. I had already flown a 10 ½-hour training sortie at Mach 3.00 and I was beat when I got out of the aircraft, because every time the Mach varied plus or missus by .02 Mach I would make a power adjustment, so on this flight, I let the Mach vary by .05 Mach before I would make a power adjustment. I knew I had to pace myself.

Plastic tube

Once I made contact with the tanker at the Portugal A/R, the tanker pilot said that the Air Controller for Portugal keep advising him that there was an aircraft in his vicinity and did he see it, of course, he said, “ no contact”. Once we completed our A/R, we headed for the Mediterranean, I got a little hungry (I had 2 tubes of apricot paste) so I opened one. I forgot my science about pressure. The tube looks like a tube of toothpaste with a seal on the end.

We are given a plastic tube (which fits into the feed port in our helmet) that screws onto the tube and as you make the final turn connecting the tube, it breaks the seal and the apricot begins to flow. As I said, forgot my science about pressures and altitudes”. The tubes are manufactured at Sea Level, but when we are flying at altitude, our cabin altitude is 26,000 feet, a considerable difference in pressure. Well, when I broke the seal on the tube food, I had an apricot spraying out like crazy, so I stuck the plastic tube into a pocket in my pressure suit to catch it. I only lost about 1/4th of the tube’s continence.

SAM sites

When I made contact with the tanker at the Crete A/R the tanker pilot said, “That the Air Traffic control at the base in Spain delayed his take-off 30 minutes, so when he arrived at the A/R point he only had time to make 1 orbit made contact”. Had I been about 2 minutes early, I may have missed the refueling and would have had to land in Crete. The tankers are normally at the A/R point 30 minutes before the scheduled A/R time. Well, we got our fuel and headed to the Nile River. Once we reached the river we were at Mach 3.15, the Egyptian SAM sites started tracking us for a short distance.

I also saw some aircraft condensation trails far below but lost them and the tracking just before it was time to make my 270 degrees right turn around Cairo, when I straighten out the SAM site started tracking us again and as I headed N.E., I saw more contrails below me. I don’t know if they were Egyptian or Israel. Once I was out of the Israel area we started down toward the Crete A/R. Our tankers had to go to an air base in Turkey to fill up with our JP-7 fuel, but they could not fly an operational mission there, they had to go to the base in Spain, refuel, and then fly the operational mission from there.

Back down the Mediterranean

From this Crete A/R, it back down the Mediterranean to the Portugal A/R and then on to the Nova Scotia A/R. From the first Nova Scotia to this one our filed flight plan stated we were Visual Flight Rules on Top, for almost 6 hours so no Air Traffic Control had any idea where we were going. At the final and 6th A/R at Nova Scotia, we went subsonic back to Griffiss AFB. The weather was clear at Griffiss so, I pushed the throttles up to military power (just before the After Burner range) to have the aircraft go Mach .98 to .99. This way I would use more fuel as I did not need the fuel to proceed to an alternate base, because of the clear weather.

As I went from each Canadian Air Traffic center, the center would ask me what type aircraft we were in. This call was through me, so I responded “As filed”. Again at the next control center, they asked the same question and again I responded, “As filed”. When I got back on the ground, during the mission debriefing, I asked the mission planner what type of aircraft did you file our flight as? He said, “a KC-135”. Now it was clear why the Canadian Air Controller wanted to know what type of aircraft we were because a KC-135 is about a Mach .7 (7 or 8 miles a minute) aircraft and we were going Mach .98 (10 or 11 miles a minute).

DFC

Needless to say Gary and I were tired when we landed but adrenalin keep us going during the mission and it took me a while to unwind before I could take a nap. Within 4 days Admiral Moore (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) invited Gary and me to the Pentagon to say, “Thank you for a job well done”. We saw staffers carrying blown-up photos from our mission briefing other staff agencies. They showed destroyed or damaged tanks, guns, and other armaments. The State Department wanted to see the destroyed equipment as the U.S. promised to replace all the destroyed equipment.

Gary and I received a Distinguish Flying Cross for this mission due to the importance of the photo intelligence received and we were named the 15th Air Force Reconnaissance Crew for 1973.

This mission was declassified in the early 1990s.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin

B-58 Hustler

The B-58 Hustler saw great success during its relatively short service career. It was the first supersonic bomber, the first bomber to reach Mach 2, the first aircraft made of stainless-steel honeycomb sandwich and the first aircraft to have stellar-inertial navigation. The B-58 also set more world speed records than any other type of combat aircraft.

Since the thin fuselage prevented the carrying of bombs internally, a droppable, two-component pod beneath the fuselage contained a nuclear weapon — along with extra fuel or other specialized gear. The B-58 crew consisted of a pilot, navigator/bombardier and defense systems operator.

My Dad, Richard “Butch” Sheffield, was flying the B-47 as navigator/bombardier, he volunteered for the then brand new B-58. 

Training at five hundred feet and six hundred knots

As he explains in his soon to be published book “Ohio to Supersonic,” the USAF needed a long-range, low-level reconnaissance system. This became apparent during the Cuban missile crisis. General Powers, CINCSAC, ordered the 43rd Bomb Wing to do it, and we did.

He recalls;

‘Our crew was selected. Only six crews in the wing were made “Mainline crews.” They are the best crews in the wing.

‘We trained at five hundred feet and six hundred knots. The radar was almost useless at the low altitude, so we had to navigate by dead reckoning and map reading. It was exhilarating flying that fast at those low levels. I don’t believe most SAC personnel knew about this capability.

‘The B-58 reconnaissance crew’s code name was “Mainline.” The fact of that the B-58 had a reconnaissance capability was kept close hold so our adversaries did not know.

‘Our crew was selected to fly to the UK with the reconnaissance pod on board. The flight was uneventful. A far cry from the first time I had crossed the Atlantic all by myself shooting stars the whole time. The B-58’s navigation system was almost automatic. It had a star tracker for heading, Doppler for ground speed and inertial for all movement of the airframe.

‘After we landed, another crew took the aircraft to France and then back home to Carswell. The B-58 program did not treat its crews well like the program I was heading for did [the SR-71 Blackbird program]. They could have arranged a better way for us to return home, but did not.’

B-58 Dropping Mark-53 nuclear bomb

He continues;

‘SAC had a program called “Dual Exhaust.” The program was to test the reliability of the real nuclear weapons SAC possessed. We were selected to drop a real Mark-53 nuclear weapon at White Sands test range in New Mexico with the nuclear pit removed [Plutonium].

‘We dropped it at five hundred feet about the ground and at six hundred and twenty-eight knots. After release, we pitched up into a forty-five-degree bank and watched it go off. It looked just like a nuke explosion.

‘We decided to fly back to Carswell subsonic with altitude hold off, to see how high the aircraft would go without the pod on it. It just keeps climbing, higher and higher, we finally stopped the climb at about *forty seven thousand feet. This was the only time I was never in a B-58 without the pod; it sure flew like a bird without one.’

At dinner with Doolittle Raiders and Jimmy Stewart

Dad continues;

‘Our Wing Commander, B/G Brick Holstrom, was a “Doolittle Raider.” He was one of the first pilots to take off from the aircraft carrier Hornet to bomb Tokyo; he was as fine of a gentleman as I ever knew. He really liked our crew, I think it was because of Dick Reynolds and his can do attitude.

‘On April 18, 1964, the “Raiders” all got together in Ft. Worth for one of their annual reunions and we got to attend. Jimmy Stewart was master of ceremonies. General Doolittle was there and all the living raiders. It was a fine affair.’

Dad stayed with the B-58s until he was hired away to the SR-71 program in 1964. After he passed the astronaut physical with no problems at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, he arrived at Beale Air Force Base, home of the USAF Blackbird fleet, in early March 1965.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Linda Sheffield Miller and U.S. Air Force

SR-71

The SR-71 Blackbird was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude.

The Blackbird design originated in secrecy during the late 1950s with the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 and remained classified until 1976. President Lyndon Johnson publicly announced the existence of the YF-12A interceptor variant on Feb. 29, 1964, more than half a year after its maiden flight. The SR-71 completed its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964.

The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts because the SR-71 could operate safely at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth flying at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3.

Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp

In 1981 a group of women, angered by the decision to site cruise missiles (guided nuclear missiles) in the UK, organised a protest march from Cardiff, Wales to RAF Greenham Common near Newbury in Berkshire. Here they set up what became known as the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp.

According to Imperial War Museum, between 1981 and 1983 the protesters attempted to disrupt construction work at the base. Their methods included blockading the base and cutting down parts of the fence. In December 1982 more than 30,000 women gathered at Greenham to join hands around the base at the ‘Embrace the Base’ event.

International Air Tattoo (IAT) 1983 was also held at RAF Greenham Common.

Posted by SR-71 pilot BC Thomas on his YouTube channel, the video in this post shows a Blackbird (flown by Thomas himself with John G. Morgan as RSO) arriving at Greenham Common for the 1983 International Air Tattoo.

Thomas recalls in the video description;

‘I was the pilot in this video, but did not fly the SR-71 out of RAF Greehnam Common. I was the “mobile control” officer when the aircraft departed and the pilot was Maj Jim Jiggens, a USAF Thunderbird pilot and formally a US Army helicopter combat pilot in Vietnam.

Protest women throws paint on Blackbird

‘On the evening of the air show featured in this video, women, who were protesting President Reagan’s decision to station intermediate nuclear missiles in England, broke into the security cordon around the air show aircraft and threw paint on several, including this SR-71.

‘Owing to the unique metals associated with the SR-71, the removing of the paint required special maintenance procedures to assure that no “hot spot” would develop on subsequent flights. It was quite a hassle and we were not amused over this incident. Jim and I planned a farewell departure for the protesters who were encamped in a squalor of tents just outside the main gate.

SR-71 buzzes Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp

‘Jim obtained clearance for a “closed pattern” and turned to a downwind leg, descended to about 50 feet above the ground, and flew directly over the protestors’ encampment. It was early and probably most were asleep, but not for long. Jim was flying about 250 knots and selected afterburner in both engines as he was approaching the tents. As the SR-71 accelerated to 350-400 knots, he pulled up and focused the plume (and noise) directly on the protesters. It was a magnificent sight.’

Thomas concludes;

‘As we were leaving the base immediately after Jim’s departure, the gate guard (British) said to me: “I say, that was a jolly good show, but next time, please warn me before you do it.” I also had the honor to prefer charges against the women, but the British government later declined to prosecute.’

In 1987 US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which paved the way for the removal of cruise missiles from Greenham.

Today Greenham no longer belongs to the military. Part of it is a business park and the rest is common land.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Robin Harbour

SR-71 Blackbird with just one engine in full afterburner

The SR-71 Blackbird was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude.

The Blackbird design originated in secrecy during the late 1950s with the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 and remained classified until 1976. President Lyndon Johnson publicly announced the existence of the YF-12A interceptor variant on Feb. 29, 1964, more than half a year after its maiden flight. The SR-71 completed its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964.

The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts because the SR-71 could operate safely at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth flying at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3.

The cool photo in this post features an SR-71 Blackbird flying with just one engine in full afterburner.

Why is that?

Stormy Boudreaux, SR-71 Blackbird pilot, explains;

‘This is a photo of a practice Single-engine go-around. In this photo the left engine is in idle, the right engine is in full afterburner. Pilot has pushed in full left rudder and is just starting into a right bank – all to keep the aircraft going straight. Additionally, he has retracted the landing gear. A very unique design feature for the SR was that both the left or right hydraulic systems could retract the gear.

Two methods to retract the gear

‘During a Single-engine failure if the pilot decides to either continue the takeoff if the engine failure occurs while taking off or if he has to execute a go-around and not land – both incidents as the massive thrust on only one of widely spaced engines will force the airplane into a significant yaw. Besides banking into the good engine and full rudder against the yaw, it was critical to retract the gear. Why? Because the nose gear down with the aircraft flying in a huge yaw, the nose gear acted like a canard or a fin stuck out in the airflow causing the yaw to become even greater.

‘It would quickly be out of control if the gear could not be raised, specifically the nose gear. During certain low speed conditions in this situation the recovery would not be possible if the nose gear could not be retracted. So, the SR-71 is the only aircraft I know of that has 2 methods (using hydraulics of either side) to retract the gear. Most aircraft have a normal and an emergency method to lower the gear but only one system to retract the gear.

‘But it was so critical to get that nose gear retracted at low speeds during single engine operations that Lockheed designed it so that if either engine failed the landing gear could still be retracted. However, it is noted that the SR only had one hydraulic system to lower the gear, if that failed there was a manual method to unlock the gear and allow it to free fall as the backup.

An Interesting story

‘This is a very Interesting story – what are the odds that during a practice single-engine approach was made even more exciting by having the engine that was to power the practice single-engine approach and go-around blowup! This made the practice turn into a real single engine go around!’

Boudreaux concludes;

‘The Blackbird pilot rapidly brought up the idled engine and used it for the power needed (full afterburner) I’ll bet he was praying that the idled engine would smoothly and flawlessly go from idle to full afterburner when the other engine blew up. I’m sure there was puckered seat cushions before this was under control – amazing story!’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: HAEAHDDANCER7

B-58

The B-58 Hustler saw great success during its relatively short service career. It was the first supersonic bomber, the first bomber to reach Mach 2, the first aircraft made of stainless-steel honeycomb sandwich and the first aircraft to have stellar-inertial navigation. The B-58 also set more world speed records than any other type of combat aircraft.

When my Dad, Richard “Butch” Sheffield, was flying the B-47 as navigator/bombardier, he volunteered for the then brand new B-58. He lost his spot promotion and had to go back to being a lieutenant. He writes about it in his soon to be published book “Ohio to Supersonic.”

‘I entered the B-58 Combat Crew Training School (CCTS) as a student. The school was about two months long with academics and simulators. I was crewed with Captain Sparks (Sparky), aircraft Commander (AC), and Lt. Patrick, Defense Systems Officer (DSO).

Passing Central Evaluations Group

‘We soon started flying, and I loved the B-58. The bombing and navigation system, plus the cockpit, were excellent. We became combat-ready fast and were one of the first crews checked out in the aircraft, number fourteen, I believe.

‘General LeMay wanted all SAC crews to be changeable. Each crew and crew position were to have procedures alike for the aircraft they were flying in. The Central Evaluations Group (CEG) visited each wing and tested and evaluated the crew force to see if all wings performed the same procedures. To pass CEG was a big deal in B-47’s.

‘The CEG people wanted to get their foot in the door on this new program, so they decided that they should come in and give a check ride to one of the crews. We were selected.

‘It was a joke; they didn’t know anything about the aircraft, but they went through the motions and checked us; it was a piece of cake; we passed. So, we became the first B-58 crew ever to pass CEG.’

B-58 Hustler nose-high stall

He continues;

‘About six months after we became combat-ready, we flew a Mach 2 bomb run on Dallas at night. When the run was over, and we went to start our descent from fifty thousand feet, Capt. Sparks pulled back the power but FORGOT to take the altitude hold off.

‘The aircraft went into a nose-high stall, and we began to drop quickly; the engine’s compressor stalled, and the generators all went offline. We lost all electrical power; I had only a tiny battery-powered light in the cockpit. The only thing I could see was the airspeed and altimeter. I called the pilot, who said the flight controls had locked up.

‘It took one hundred and fifteen pounds of pressure to override the autopilot. He was a petite guy trying to override it, not knowing that altitude hold was on. It was a wild ride down. We were falling tail first with very little forward motion.

‘I decided to eject at fifteen thousand feet as we were trained. At about twenty thousand feet, I felt the nose of the aircraft starting to drop, and he said, I think I have got it (he had overridden the autopilot). Once the nose came down, the engines could be re-started, and we recovered at about ten thousand feet; we landed at Carswell. No one said a thing.’

The pilot turns in his wings

Sheffield concludes;

‘The following day, when I went into the Squadron, everyone was saying, did you hear about “Sparky?” I said no. They said he went into the commander (CO) office this morning and threw his wings on his desk, and said, “I quit!” He then went around the Squadron bad-mouthing the B-58 and telling the other crews they should quit the program, too, because the aircraft was unsafe; the CO told him to get out.’

Dad stayed with the B-58s until he was hired away to the SR-71 program in 1964. He had to pass the astronaut physical at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas and then he arrived at Beale Air Force Base in 1965.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: David Peters and U.S. Air Force

SR-71 Blackbird

The SR-71 Blackbird was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude.

The Blackbird design originated in secrecy during the late 1950s with the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 and remained classified until 1976. President Lyndon Johnson publicly announced the existence of the YF-12A interceptor variant on Feb. 29, 1964, more than half a year after its maiden flight. The SR-71 completed its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964.

The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts because the SR-71 could operate safely at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth flying at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3.

A fabulous story

To give a real perspective of the incredible speed the iconic Blackbird could attain, SR-71 pilot David Peters tells the following, fabulous story.

To give a real perspective of the incredible speed the iconic Blackbird could attain, SR-71 pilot David Peters tells the following, fabulous story.

‘I am really tired of hearing the “LA speed story” so I thought I would relay a mission that gives real perspective to the speed of the Blackbird.

‘We were TDY to Det. 1 at Kadena AB, Okinawa. One of the birds was scheduled for swap out and my back seater, Ed Bethart, and I were to fly it home. The replacement came in on Friday and we were to leave Saturday morning. So, in true Habu tradition we welcomed the incoming crew and went to happy hour Friday evening at the officers club.

‘We got up Saturday morning and got ready to go home. Departure was scheduled for 1000. Everything went well and we departed right on time. Headed out to do a pass through the Korean DMZ then into the tankers in the Sea of Japan. Good refueling and climb out headed for the Sea of Okhotsk and the Kamchatka peninsula of Russia and from there to more tankers off of Adak in the Aleutian Islands.

So fast that landed at Beale Before Taking off from Kadena

‘Another good refueling and on to Beale AFB California. We arrived with a low approach pulled up into a closed pattern and landed. Following de-suiting and debrief we deposited our classified flight documents jumped in a car and arrived at the officers club for Friday night happy hour at 1630 17 1/2 hours before we left Kadena.

‘Try that in any aircraft other than the SR-71. Besides this is actually a true story.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: David Peters and U.S. Air Force

The Stratojet

The B-47 was the world’s first swept wing bomber and the first to use a bicycle arrangement landing gear, which was necessary because of the thin wings. It was also the first plane built solely for the delivery of nuclear weapons.

A total of 1,260 B-47s were built as bombers and 600 were built as trainers and reconnaissance aircraft. The B-47 first flew on December 17, 1947 and the first B-47A was delivered to the USAF in 1951.

As a result of its capabilities, the B-47 Stratojet became an essential component of the SAC during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as a nuclear bomber and a reconnaissance aircraft.

Since the B-47 did not have the range of SAC’s heavy bombers (the B-36 and later the B-52), Stratojet units regularly deployed to forward air bases around the world on temporary duty, as my father Richard “Butch” Sheffield (former B-47 bombardier/navigator (B/N), former B-58 navigator/bombardier and former SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO)) recalls in his soon to be unpublished book “Ohio to Supersonic: Flying the SR-71 Blackbird to the secret world of the Skunk Works.”

B-47 flying the largest Nuclear Bomb ever built to Spain

‘In the summer of 1959, our Wing moved its overseas operating location from Fairford, Royal Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom (UK) to a Spanish Air Force Base at Moron, Spain near Seville.

‘In order to get our nuclear weapons to Spain we just flew them in our B-47’s. This way we did not have to down load them from our alert status in the UK. Our primary weapon was the Mark 36. It weighed twenty thousand pounds, completely filled the B-47 bomb bay and had a seven-megaton yield. This was the largest nuclear bomb ever produced.

‘The normal way of moving nuclear weapons was by Military Air Lift. The weapons were safe, off loaded from the bombers, place into heavy lift aircraft like C-130, C-97 or later, C-5’s.

‘So, flying them in the bomber was very unusual. Also, when the B-47 was full of fuel, with tip tanks fully loaded and the Mark 36 loaded our center of gravity (CG) was far aft of normal. We could not land with the bomb onboard and fuel in the tip tanks. We have to burn the fuel out of the tip tanks or drop the bomb to get the CG forward to land.

‘The route to Moron took us right over the Capital City of Spain, Madrid. As I flew over Madrid with this very large Hydrogen bomb, I could help but think, what do those people on the ground think is flying over them today? We even made a simulated bomb run on them.’

Flying home over Bermuda Triangle

‘Dad used to have a perplexed look on his face when he would talk about flying through the Bermuda triangle telling me that there really was something strange about it.

‘When it came time to rotate back home to Little Rock, my CO-pilot, Jim McCracken, and I came up with a way to get home sooner than normal. We would land at the Azores; refuel than were going to fly all the way home on one tank of gas going over Bermuda.

‘Everything was going well, right on fuel plans until we passed Bermuda, than we ran into the jet stream, two hundred-knot head winds, that were not forecast. We were lucky to make it to the East Coast. I have never seen, before or sense, headwinds like that. The jet stream never goes that far South.

‘We landed at Hunter, AFB, SC. on the East Coast. Flew home to Little Rock the next day.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Linda Sheffield Miller

Lockheed Skunk Works Most Secret Program

At Beale Air Force Base (AFB), in California, you would think that the SR-71 Blackbird program would be the biggest blackest deepest secret.

But you would be wrong.

The biggest secret was Project Tagboard/Senior Bowl, as the unique photos released by Lockheed Martin on its social media show.

Project Tagboard/Senior Bowl is a relatively unknown project in the history of Area 51 reconnaissance A-12 aircraft. This project was Top Secret from its inception and during the Senior Bowl part of the project, there were less than 100 personnel cleared to work on it.

According to Air Force Test Center History Office documents, all manned flights over the Soviet Union were discontinued by President Dwight Eisenhower after Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane was shot down May 1, 1960. However even if the US government was planning on using satellites for reconnaissance, the technology was still a few years away and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) determined unmanned drones could fill the gap until satellites became viable.

For this reason, in the 1960s the famed Lockheed “Skunk Works” developed the D-21 a highly-advanced, remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) designed to carry out high-speed, high-altitude strategic reconnaissance missions over hostile territory.

Building and operating a technological marvel like the D-21 drone in the early 1960s—not to mention doing it covertly so that the outside world knew nothing of its existence until more than a decade later—required a rather unique combination of engineering vision and talent, savvy program management, special authorities, and streamlined contracting practices, and, of course, a vital national security requirement.

Lockheed Skunk Works Most Secret Program: M-21/D-21

According to the document Project Tagboard/Senior Bowl Overview by Road Runners Internationale, Project Tagboard/Senior Bowl was the brain child of Lockheed’s Skunk Works’ Kelly Johnson. It consisted of a drone (D-21) mated to a modified A-12 aircraft (M-21), the combination known as MD-21 (mother/daughter).

The project was first conceived in 1962 when Lockheed’s Kelly Johnson got approval from the CIA to add two aircraft to the existing A-12 assembly line. Known as M-21’s, these aircraft were built with a second crew station for the Launch Control Officer (LCO) and structurally enhanced aft fuselage with a large dorsal pylon to carry the new drone atop the rear fuselage. When attached, the wingtips of the D-21 would have only six inches of clearance with the tops of the vertical stabilizers of the mother ship. This combination was known as the MD-21 (mother/daughter).

The D-21 would be launched from the back of the M-21. Ideally, after conducting its reconnaissance mission it would eject a hatch with photo equipment to be recovered either mid-air or after the hatch landed.

However, on the fourth flight test, the D-21 experienced an “asymmetric unstart” as it passed through the bow wake of the M-21 causing the mothership to pitch up and collide with the D-21 at Mach 3.25. Crewmembers Bill Park and Ray Torick ejected from the M-21, but Torick opened his helmet visor by mistake and his suit filled up with water causing him to drown.

Modified B-52s

After the accident and after the death of Ray Torick, a test flight engineer, the M-21 launch program was cancelled but testers still believed the D-21 would make a valuable reconnaissance vehicle and decided to launch the drone from B-52Hs under a top-secret test program named Tagboard. The new code name for the D-21 project became Senior Bowl.

It was Kelly Johnson, President of Skunk Works, who suggested to use the B-52. As a result of Johnson’s advice two B-52’s were modified: 61#0021 and 60#0036. Both B-52’s are still in the US Air Force (USAF) inventory. The ultra-secret 4200 test squadron was formed at Beale.

Only a few of the men that flew the SR-71 had been read into the program: out of necessity one of the few included my father Richard “Butch” Sheffield, SR-71 RSO who had already been read into Oxcart in 1965. In his unpublished book he writes that on the flightline he was with Bob Spencer, SR-71 pilot. They were taxing out when they saw the B-52 with a drone underneath it. Spencer asked ‘What is that under that B-52?’ My Dad responded ‘I have no idea.’ He couldn’t tell Bob Spencer the truth.

These two B-52‘s were kept away at the end of the runway apart from any other operations.

The D-21s were used on four flights over communist China but none of these missions fully succeeded.

Two flights were successful; however, the imagery could not be recovered from the D-21’s hatch. The other two operational flights ended with one being lost in a heavily defended area and the other D-21 simply disappeared after launch.

D-21 over China

The main mission of the D-21 was to fly over China and take pictures of its nuclear weapons test facility in the remote west central of the country near Lop Nor.

The pictures were supposed to be dropped in the ocean and recovered by the Navy. During the Cold War this information was necessary for the defense of the US.

The fourth and final mission of the D-21 drone took place on Mar. 20, 1971 and was undertaken by D-21 #527. Experts at the 4200th Support Squadron and at Skunk Works concluded that #527 must have malfunctioned. It was thought to have gone down near Lop Nor. This drone is on display in China at their national aviation museum. So, we know that it got close to the target.

Senior Bowl lasted from January 1968 until Jul. 15, 1971. Interestingly, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Ben Rich (then retired president of Lockheed’s Skunk Works) finally had an opportunity to tour Russia himself. While in Moscow, the KGB presented Rich with a gift of what they thought were the remains of a stealth fighter that had crashed in their territory. As it turned out, the wreckage was actually pieces and parts of the lost D-21 Drone!

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force

Conceived to operate at extreme velocities, altitudes and temperatures

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966. The U.S. Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990.

The SR-71 was conceived to operate at extreme velocities, altitudes and temperatures: actually, it was the first aircraft constructed with titanium, as the friction caused by air molecules passing over its surface at Mach 2.6 would melt a conventional aluminum frame.

Its engineering was so cutting edge that even the tools to build the SR-71 needed to be designed from scratch.

SA- 5 Missile Signal

My Dad and former SR-71 RSO Richard “Butch” Sheffield (Butch was his nickname because of his haircut that he had back in the 60s) he used to point to the nose of the SR-71 Blackbird when we would meet him at the Udvar Air and Space Smithsonian Museum in Virginia. He would point to the dimples and say “This is really important but I can’t talk about it.”

He would smile.

I could just tell he wanted to tell me but he didn’t.

My father and Bob Spencer flew in one of the most important missions in the SR-71 when they got the SA- 5 Missile Signal flying within inches of the Russian border. Getting that signal was very important for the defense of the SR-71.

No one ever shot down an SR-71 they never even got close. Speed and defense made it impossible.

According to former Blackbird pilot Col. Richard H. Graham’s book SR-71 The Complete Illustrated History of THE BLACKBIRD The World’s Highest , Fastest Plane, the nose section allowed the SR-71 to have radar-imaging capability with the advanced synthetic aperture radar system (ASARS), photographic imagery with the optical bar camera (OBC), or a ballast installed. The nose section was held on by faun-massive fasteners.

However, my doubt remained unanswered.

The Dents that prevented SAMs from Scoring any Hit on the SR-71

What are those two little dents on the nose of the SR-71 Blackbird?

‘I’m assuming you’re talking about the two “dents” in the chines at the front part of the nose, one on each side? Those aren’t dents, those were put there on purpose for the more advanced ECM systems the Blackbird got in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s,’ says Kelly Pedron, an aviation expert, on Quora.

‘There weren’t any good places to put the ECM receivers in the front of the aircraft, so those “dents” were put in the chine to allow the installation of ECM receivers there. If you’ll notice, the flat part of the “dent” is facing about 60 degrees forward, in order to cover that quadrant of the airspace around the aircraft. Earlier models of the SR, including the A-12, were more concerned with attack radar signals from the rear, so front-mounted ECM receivers weren’t as necessary at the time. With the advent of more advanced Soviet SAM systems, like the S-200 and S-300, a forward warning receiver and jammer were required, hence the development of the so-called ECM “dents” in the nose.’

Pedron concludes;

‘So, yes, those were put there on purpose; nobody accidentally taxied an SR-71 into a solid object.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Linda Sheffield Miller and U.S. Air Force

SR-71

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.

The Blackbird design originated in secrecy during the late 1950s with the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 and remained classified until 1976. President Lyndon Johnson publicly announced the existence of the YF-12A interceptor variant on Feb. 29, 1964, more than half a year after its maiden flight. The SR-71 completed its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

Like a cowboy putting on an old familiar leather glove

Col. David P. Dempster, Blackbird Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO) who was also part of the first US Air Force (USAF) contingent to fly operational SR-71 reconnaissance sorties from Okinawa into “denied areas” (the term “denied area” was referred to a specific area over or around a foreign country where you could encounter anything and everything … from MiGs to SAMs), recalls in Richard H. Graham’s book SR-71 Blackbird Stories, Tales and Legends:

“Jim Watkins was a great pilot to be crewed with in the Blackbird. A Texas cow-boy who raised horses in his off time, Jim loved, breathed, and lived for flying.

“But, like his horses, he ‘felt’ and handled them with cowboy common sense. Imagine checking out in the Blackbird, a World War II B-24 pilot who flew fighters, transports, KC-97 tankers, and KC-135 tankers at Beale. In tanker, Jim was on the initial OXCART team and provided the air refueling support for the A-12s flying from the Ranch. Jim checked out in the SR-71 like a cowboy putting on an old familiar leather glove!

“We were honored to be among the four SR-71 crews selected to deploy for the first time to Okinawa in March 1968. On 21 March, the first operational sortie flew and the crew encountered a double-engine flameout during descent to their tanker as they exited the target area. After refueling, they returned to Okinawa. A week later the second operational sortie flew, and again, with a different crew and different Blackbird, they encountered the same double-engine flameout at the start of their descent. They landed in Thailand due to the left generator not working. 

Blackbird Double-Engine Flameout

“What was happening? Both planes checked out good on the ground after landing and we had lots of jaw-boning among ourselves and with Lockheed tech reps, with no conclusions.

“Then, on 19 April 1968, Jim and I launched on the third operational sortie (the first for us and Crew Chief Technical Sergeant Bud Martin’s #974). We zipped through the target area with no problems and began the start descent checklist. As Jim pulled the throttle back to the rpm setting called for in our procedures, we had a double-engine flameout. Excitement, adrenaline pumping, and we dropped like a rock into Northern Laos! Jim got both engines started around 30,000 feet, and we headed south.

“Our [KC-135Q Stratotanker] tanker, the real hero of this story, saw our rate of closure on him stop. He knew what had happened and headed north immediately, unprotected, into enemy territory and rendezvoused with us. Refueling with him, we headed back into Thailand and proceeded to our preplanned end refueling point.

“What to do now? We were scheduled to go back to the target area for another ‘hot loop.’ Over the intercom, I heard this commonsense cowboy say, ‘Dave, I think if when we start our descent, we hold a higher-than-normal rpm we can avoid the flameouts. Want to give it a try?’ ‘Sure,’ I answered. We accelerated back to Mach 3-plus and on course into the target area. We eyeballed adding about 30 miles to the start descent range and when the time came Jim’s theory worked perfectly. No flameouts and a smooth descent.

How to save a Blackbird after a Double-Engine Flameout

“What was the secret and why did this work? The answer turned out to be the way the engine’s fuel controls were programmed. They used standard adiabatic lapse rates, which engineers all over the world assumed depicted the height of the tropopause and outside air temperatures at varying altitudes. WRONG! What we discovered was that in Southeast Asia, the tropopause (and magnificent thunderstorms we would look down on) could go as high as 65,000 feet, rather than the textbook 55,000 feet. Moreover, the air was much colder. Lockheed and Pratt & Whitney Co. eventually reprogrammed the fuel controls correctly and the problem went away. In the interim however, all of the crews adopted the cowboy’s technique and the flameout problems disappeared.

“The day after this flight Jim, Technical Sergeant. Bud Martin, and I proudly stenciled the first Habu on the side of #974, which went on to be so successful that it was dubbed ‘Ichiban,’ the ‘number one’ Habu in the 1968 period on Okinawa.”

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

Photographing all of the SA-2 SAM Sites in North Korea in One Mission

My Dad, Richard “Butch” Sheffield, was at Wheaton College near Chicago (the same college that Billy Graham went to) when he got a call from his mother that he had been drafted for the Korean War. He planned on being in the military for just a few years, so when they asked him to volunteer as a navigator, he said why not?

Years later, he flew over North Korea as an SR-71 RSO and photographed all of the SA-2 missile sites in North Korea.

The following comes from my father‘s unpublished book “The Very First.”

North Korea SA-2 SAMs Vs SR-71

North Korea, Nov. 22, 1969, SR-71 number, 972

-First SR-71 to overfly North Korea and first to land in South Korea.

Some years later General Minter told me that Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC), Admiral McCain (father of the Senator McCain of Arizona), requested this mission. He had visited Kadena and was briefed on the SR and the missions we were flying over North Vietnam. He told General Minter that he was more worried about North Korea than he was about Vietnam.

General Minter had his staff draw up a mission to over fly every surface to air missile (SA-2) site in North Korea on one mission and submitted it to CINCPAC. It was approved and we flew it. It was a perfect day for flying a reconnaissance mission, not a cloud in the sky. I believe that North Korea had about thirty SA-2 sites scattered all around the country. Several of the sites were along the China border and we flew right over the sites. Because Korea is a narrow country with Japan on one side and China on the other, we had to make 180-degree turns over the water after each pass over Korea. It seemed like we were in a turn the whole mission. We flew over every missile site in North Korea.

F-4 Phantom II with an engine out

On the last pass we turned south to head back to Kadena when the generator fail light came on. I looked out the left window and could see Kunsan, South Korea, below us. We were flying at Mach 3+ and it would only take about forty-five minutes to be on the ground at Kadena and after we debated for a few seconds to land or go on, we decided to shut the engine down, and started our descent to Kunsan.

We called the tower at Kunsan and told them we were an F-4 with an engine out and needed to land right away. They cleared the traffic pattern for us and when we came into view someone said over UHF radio that they would get us some flying suits to wear. It was a flight surgeon that had been stationed at Beale and he knew we were in full pressure suits and would need something to wear. He was in the ambulance on the flight line responding to our emergency.

No hangar big enough for the Blackbird

Kunsan is located along the West Coast of Korea and fairly close to North Korea. From time to time, the North Koreans would come in boats and attack the base with weapons launched from the boats. Apparently, when we gave the call over HF to Kadena that we were going to land at Kunsan, they had called and told Kunsan to park us in a hangar and give us maximum security. They did not have a hangar that was big enough for us and the only really secure area was the F-4 nuclear alerts area where F-4’s with nuclear weapons loaded stood on alert. This area was surrounded by large land filled bunkers and high chain link fences. They opened the gate and we taxied right in, the F-4’s could not get out so we shut down the nuclear capability of Kunsan.

The SR-71 in South Korea

The idea was to hide us so no one would know a SR was in Korea. Parking the SR in this area where no one could get into would keep people and the press from knowing what had landed. The only problem was you could see our rudders sticking up from behind the bunkers all over the place. In no time, the base people and the press knew the first SR to land in Korea had arrived.

After we deplaned, we got out of our pressure suits and into our non-descriptor no markings flying suits. Bob said we needed to go to the Base Exchange and get some “shiny stuff,” or brass items that the Koreans specialize in making. We got someone to take us to the exchange and we walked in expecting no one to know whom we were. All of the sudden people were pointing at us and talking. They knew who we were because of the white boots we were wearing.

North Korea tracked the SR-71 Blackbird

Because of the threat to the SR and the intelligence we had on our sensors, getting us out of Korea quickly and safely became a high priority throughout PACAF. Soon C-130’s began to arrive with equipment, a new engine and to pick up the sensors. A KC-135’s arrived with JP-7 fuel for us. They put us up for the night in the VIP quarters and even the Base Commander had dinner for us at the club. The next morning the aircraft was ready to go and we left. We took off to the North, went out a few miles and came back over the base, lit the afterburners and went straight up.

The North Koreans had tracked our aircraft throughout the flight. I knew because our defense’s systems had told me, yet the Government of North Korea did not object because they did not want their own people to know that we were spying on them and they couldn’t do anything about it.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Lockheed Martin, U.S. Air Force and Linda Sheffield Miller

Obliterating North Vietnamese military targets

From December 18 to 29, with Christmas Day as the only break, B-52s out of U-Tapao, Thailand and Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) in Guam proceeded to obliterate North Vietnamese military targets. America, quite simply, had had enough with North Vietnam. Most impressive, one might argue, was that Operation Linebacker II actually came together as planned.

It is difficult to imagine now, but unlike the Thailand-based bombers with their direct four-hour flights to targets, Guam’s B-52s took off weighing a maximum 452,000 pounds and then flew a circuitous 3,000-4,000 miles over open water toward Southeast Asia. Next they cut directly into North Vietnamese airspace, one of the most heavily defended locations in the world at the time. The longest round-trip flights of the campaign were 8,200 miles and more than eighteen hours long.

Worse, despite flying at tremendous heights, the B-52s were in range of North Vietnam’s plentiful Surface to Air Missiles, which ultimately downed fifteen US bombers during the campaign – a 2 percent loss rate. The most arduous night was December 20 — the third night of Linebacker II operations — when North Vietnam launched more than 220 SAMs that knocked six B-52s out of the sky.

SR-71 Blackbird mission during Operation Linebacker II

During Operation Linebacker II, USAF SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3+ spy planes not only provided invaluable reconnaissance data but also protected B-52 crews.

The following story was sent to me by Chris Cobb about his father, Colonel Darrel Cobb (SR-71 pilot) and Reg Blackwell (SR-71 RSO).

‘My Dad passed away four years ago. . .. but boy, did we hear some of the stories in the latter years. For example, in this mission, my Dad said that he was watching the SAMs coming toward him and took his eye off the speed. He checked with Reg, the RSO, what speed he showed, and he replied 2150 KTAS [which translates to 2474 mph or Mach 3.22].

‘Essentially, this mission blinded the North Vietnamese radar by the SR ECM. And within one month, the Paris peace talks were held, and the was over.

‘An hour before midnight on 27 December 1972, Giant Scale mission GS663 got underway when SR-71 975 lifted off Kadena runway on what would prove to be the only Habu night sortie of the entire Vietnam War.

‘Col. Darrel Cobb and RSO Capt Reggie Blackwell’s mission objective was to conduct a coordinated EMR/HRR [Electronic Measurement and Release and High Resolution Radar] sortie to determine if the North Vietnamese had acquired new equipment or employed updated procedures for the SA-2s that was responsible for generating such high B-52 losses. To achieve this, the SR-71’s arrival over the Haiphong/Hanoi areas was timed at precisely the exact moment that 60 B-52s were to begin dropping their bombs on the rail yards at Lang Dang, Duc Noi, and Trung Quant, the Van Dien supply center, and three missile sites.

Blinding ECM blanket

‘With the North’s defensive radar systems running at full stretch to cope with the raid, intelligence planners reasoned that this would be an ideal time for such a sortie. In addition, the SR-71, with its unmatched ECM suite, would provide additional electronic support for the bombers.

‘As they arrived at the collection area on schedule, Cobb and Blackwell observed numerous SA-2 firings. During the fleeting moments when they were crossing the immediate target area, they were able to radiate a blinding ECM blanket. During the course of the raid, only one Guam-based B-52 was lost.

‘Darrel and Reggie landed back at Kadena at 0239 hours. The next day they learned that their mission had produced a wealth of intelligence data.

‘The two 60-bomber raids launched on the final two nights of Linebacker II saw all B-52s arrive back at their bases safely. Following the action on the night of 29/30 December, the North Vietnamese government expressed a willingness to return to the negotiating table.’

Chris Cobb concludes;

‘The Habus had faithfully recorded a record of Linebacker’s enormous level of destruction. The conflict in Vietnam ended for the United States when the Paris Agreement was enacted on 27 January 1973.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Facebook Pages Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

The Blackbird

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966. The US Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

Taken on Nov. 1, 1981 by US Air Force (USAF) Scene Camera Operator Ken Hackman, the interesting photos in this post feature an SR-71 Blackbird flying with just one engine in full afterburner, using just one rudder.

SR-71 with just one engine in full afterburner

Why is that?

‘That is what we called a “single-engine go around,”’ says Stormy Boudreaux, SR-71 Blackbird pilot. ‘It was a practiced emergency procedure. It simulated what you had to do if you were making a single engine approach to land and for a variety of reasons something made the runway or the landing impossible so you “went around” on only one engine. The tremendous thrust with one engine in full afterburner and the other in idle was eye-opening! To counter the yaw from that engine required full rudder as well as banking the aircraft into the good engine in order to maintain your flight direction down the runway.

‘Most twin engine aircraft have to do something similar but it’s darn right frightening the first time you try it in the SR-71. That one engine in AB is really pushing the nose around trying to turn the jet away from that engine and the amount of bank angle when at low speed makes you glad you are strapped tightly in the seat. It’s almost a knife edge pass!’

Single engine go around

Boudreaux is echoed by David Peters, another SR-71 pilot.

‘As Stormy said the picture[s] indicate a single engine go around. Thrust was never an issue. What became imperative was the ability to point the airplane. Under most conditions full opposite rudder and a slight bank into the operating engine was enough. By under certain conditions other factors came into play. Minimum control speed being most important.

‘We had a couple of missions out of Mildenhall that went hot to the tankers. That required a heavy takeoff using a 65,000-pound yo-yo fuel load. In the winter time with freezing temperatures in England min control speed was a huge factor. Once the burners lit if you lost an engine on takeoff once the burners were lit your only option was to eject. Why you ask.

SR-71 with just one engine in full afterburner: the most dangerous operation

‘Well the runway there is only 8,000 feet. There was so much thrust developed in the cold, heavy air climate that your speed combined with gross weight would not allow you to abort since you couldn’t stop the airplane. There was plenty of thrust available to fly on one engine but there was so much thrust you could not control it below min control speed which in those cases was generally around 260 knots. So, the only thing you could do was pull both engines to idle pop the chute and eject.

‘I always felt that was perhaps our most dangerous operation.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Facebook Pages Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Scene Camera Operator Ken Hackman / U.S. Air Force

The world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966. The US Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

However, in 1965 Blackbird pilot Capt. Pete Collins flew the SR-71 up beyond 90,000 feet with no simulator time to prepare him and no checklist!

The SR-71 pilot who flew the Blackbird beyond 90,000 feet

Stories about Pete Collins SR-71 Pilot from his son, Charles W “Petie” Collins Jr.

I had the honor of talking to the son of Charles W “Pete” Collins on the telephone a couple of times. “Petie” as he was called as a child was to differentiate between his father and himself.

During an early test flight, Kelly Johnson asked Pete to take the SR-71 up beyond 80,000 feet to at least 90,000 feet probably over that to see how it flew.

You have to remember that there was no checklist.

There was NO simulator time. The simulator was not yet ready.

It took one heck of a pilot using his exceptional skills to take it up to 90,000 feet and beyond and then later lose an engine and safely land. Kelly trusted this man Pete Collins with his multimillion-dollar baby.
Pete told his son Pete Jr. there wasn’t enough air at that altitude to keep the airplane steady.

Then it became wobbly.

He brought it back down and gave his report to Kelly. All of the men who were carefully selected, to fly the SR-71 in either cockpit had to pass the astronaut-like physical, which was extensive.

What most people may not know is that during the physical if they found out anything physically wrong with the men, they would be permanently grounded from flying, so it was risky.

Superstar

All of the men who passed and flew the SR-71 were stars in the Air Force.
Of all these stars Charles “W” “Pete” Collins was a superstar. Everyone thought highly of Pete.

Pete proved again how proficient and extraordinary his flying skills were along with his RSO/ navigator “Connie” Seagroves when they lost an engine. This was the first time this happened losing an engine early in the program.

This showed Kelly Johnson and the rest of the Air Force that the magnificent Blackbird could lose an engine and land safely. When the engine blew out, Pete and Connie were relieved to see that the turbine blades broke up and flew out the back of the engine without damaging the airplane.’

Richard “Butch” Sheffield, Charles W “Pete” Collins and Conrad “Connie” Seagroves, the heroes of the early SR 71 program have passed away. However, they are not forgotten.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Facebook Pages Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin

The SR-71 Blackbird

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, Mach 3+, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft.

The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.

The Blackbird was in a different category from anything that had come before.

The speed of the SR-71 exceeded 2,000 mph. Other planes of the era could, in theory, approximate that speed but only in short, after-burner-driven bursts. The Blackbird maintained a record-setting speed for hours at a time.

SR-71 RSO F-101 pilot

The following story comes from my Dad’s unpublished book, “The Very First” by Colonel Richard “Butch” Sheffield, SR-71 Blackbird Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO).

‘Sometime, early in the program, in January 1967, I believe, we aborted and landed at Buckley Air National Guard (ANG) Base near Denver. The base was home to an F-101 squadron. The F-101 was an interceptor assigned to defend the US in case of war. The fighter community considered it a “hot” aircraft.

‘After we got out of our pressure suits and arranged for the take-off the next day, we went to the Officer’s Club wearing loaned flying suits and our white pressure suit boots. The fighter pilots who came around wanted to know all about our aircraft, like; how fast, how high, and the rate of climb. What they really wanted was to race us as we climbed out after takeoff. We declined all offers of information and races.

‘The next day, on takeoff roll, an F-101 came upon our wing; he was going to race us whether we wanted to or not. Apparently, the F-101 had been orbiting the field just waiting for our take-off.

‘The SR could climb fast but was no match for the F-101 at those altitudes. He stayed right on our wing up to 25,000 feet where we leveled off to hit a tanker that we always did. About the time we leveled off, someone from the F-101 came on UHF and said, “You guys aren’t so hot.” So I replied, “How fast can you climb above 80,000 feet?” The F-101 made a quick exit.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Facebook Pages Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

U-2 Vs SR-71

At Lockheed’s advanced development group, the legendary Skunk Works in Burbank, work on a revolutionary intelligence aircraft had already begun before the shooting down of Gary Power’s U-2. This innovative aircraft had to fly faster than any aircraft before or since, at greater altitude, and with a minimal radar cross section (RCS).

Developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft, the SR-71 (unofficially known as the “Blackbird”) performed its maiden flight on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.

With a top speed of Mach 3+, throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

By contrast the U-2 Dragon Lady has a top speed of 410mph and can fly above 70,000 feet.

Still, the U-2 is still in active service today while the US Air Force (USAF) retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990.

Which was easier to track by radar and infrared, the much faster and higher-flying SR-71 with afterburner on or the much slower and high-flying U-2 which has no afterburner and wouldn’t show up as much on infrared?

Both easy to track with radar

Damien Leimbach, former US Air Force (USAF) U-2 Avionics Technician, explains on Quora;

‘Either plane is pretty easy to track with radar.

‘While there were some aspects of the SR-71’s shape that may have made it less observable by Radar than planes of comparable size from that era, it was still clearly visible on Radar. The shape was a function of its purpose, any reduction in RCS was mere serendipity. It was fired on hundreds of times (some estimates as many as 800) over places like Vietnam and Libya. While I can say that it was never shot down, that is also not to say that it was never hit.

‘And you don’t shoot 800 Radar guided missiles at something difficult to see with Radar. We even added a special compound to the JP-7 fuel that was supposed to ionize in the exhaust and scatter Radar waves but that was ended after just a few years. They realized the rest of the plane was still pretty visible so there was no point.

‘The seven U-2’s that were shot down with Radar guided SAM’s expose that particular aircrafts vulnerability to Radar guided missiles all too well.

‘There were attempts to make the U-2 less vulnerable to SAMs of course. Paint with iron balls mixed in, or active jamming signals were all tried but, in those days, they were not very successful. These days we have much more compact and powerful computers so now it is much easier to spoof the missile than it is to try to make the plane invisible to Radar. Our U-2’s still flies over some very nasty spots with very nasty missiles, but none have been shot down since 1969. There is a reason for that.

IRST

‘Infra-red tracking was simply not a thing the way you make it sound.

‘First, there really aren’t any high altitude, Infra-red guided SAMs. They do have some fairly long-range air-to-air missiles that are IR guided, but those only reach their max range when they have the advantage of being launched at Mach 1 and 50,000 feet. Shooting from the ground, fighting thicker air and gravity is going to severely cut their capabilities. And they are all modern designs.

‘The SR-71 was retired in the 90’s, and IRST (Infra-Red Search and Track) was in its infancy. Back then it would have had a max detection range of about ten miles. Since the U-2 and SR-71 fly higher than that, it wouldn’t have been a concern. So afterburner or not, you weren’t going to track either of them on IR in the 90’s or before.

SR-71 easier to spot on IRST than the U-2

‘Today, if the SR-71 was still flying, it would be much easier to spot on IR. Modern IRST missiles have 100NM range, especially with a rear-aspect view. The plane gets unbelievably hot regardless. Temps in the wheel wells exceed 400 degrees F during a high-speed dash, which is why aluminum had to be mixed with the latex in the tires. Otherwise they’d melt.

‘The U-2 is the opposite. It comes down freezing cold.’

Leimbach concludes;

‘If you look at this picture carefully, you can see the outline of the inboard and outboard fuel tanks traced in frost. The fuel in the wings gets colder than 32 F, and when the plane dips down into warm moist air water will condense on the wings and freeze.

‘That one is going to be much harder to see on IRST, but not impossible.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Unknown and Screenshot from YouTube video

The world’s first operational

The F-117A Nighthawk is the world’s first operational aircraft designed to exploit low-observable stealth technology. This precision-strike aircraft penetrates high-threat airspace and uses laser-guided weapons against critical targets.

The first F-117A flew on Jun. 18, 1981, and the first F-117A unit, the 4450th Tactical Group (renamed the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing in October 1989), achieved initial operating capability in October 1983.

F-117 Nighthawk RCS

The F-117A program demonstrated that stealth aircraft with a low radar cross section (RCS) could be conceived, designed and developed, as the following story that appears in Ben Rich’s Book “Skunk Works” proves.

Rich (who served as the second vice president of Lockheed’s Skunk Works after Kelly Johnson) recalls that time Denys Overholser, engineer and radar specialist for Lockheed’s Skunk Works, spoke to him about the first completely stealthy airframe, the F-117.

Hopeless Diamond

“Boss,” he said, handing me the diamond-shaped sketch, “Meet the Hopeless Diamond.”

“How good are your radar-cross-section numbers on this one?” I asked.

“Pretty good.” Denys Overholser grinned impishly. “Ask me, ‘How good?’”

I asked him and he told me. “This shape is one thousand times less visible than the least visible shape previously produced at the Skunk Works.”

“Whoa!” I exclaimed. “Are you telling me that this shape is a thousand times less visible than the D-21 drone?”

“You’ve got it!” Denys exclaimed.

“If we made this shape into a full-size tactical fighter, what would be its equivalent radar signature… as big as what—a Piper Cub, a T-38 trainer… what?”

Denys shook his head vigorously. “Ben, understand, we are talking about a major, major, big-time revolution here. We are talking infinitesimal.”

F-117 Nighthawk RCS: As big as an eagle’s eyeball

“Well,” I persisted, “what does that mean? On a radar screen it would appear as a… what? As big as a condor, an eagle, an owl, a what?”

“Ben,” he replied with a loud guffaw, “try as big as an eagle’s eyeball.”

The F-117 was officially retired from operations in 2008.

Although officially retired, several F-117s remain airworthy and are used to support limited research and training missions based on overall cost effectiveness and their ability to offer unique capabilities.

As of January 2021, the USAF had 48 F-117s remaining in its inventory, and is disposing of approximately four aircraft each year. As airframes are disposed, they are offered to museums though the USAF Strategic Basing program and the National Museum of the USAF.

However, as already reported, according to a Request For Information (RFI) published on Oct. 3, 2022, the Air Force Test Center is looking for suppliers with experience and capabilities to keep the F-117 Nighthawk flying until 2034.

A total of 59 F-117As were built between 1981 and 1990.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force

The Blackbird

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, Mach 3+, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft.

The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.

The Blackbird was in a different category from anything that had come before. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” Skunk Works legendary aircraft designer Kelly Johnson recalled in an interesting article appeared on Lockheed Martin website.

SR-71 Astroinertial Navigation System

Piloting the Blackbird was an unforgiving endeavor, demanding total concentration. But pilots were giddy with their complex, adrenaline-fueled responsibilities. “At 85,000 feet and Mach 3, it was almost a religious experience,” said Air Force Colonel Jim Wadkins. “Nothing had prepared me to fly that fast… My God, even now, I get goose bumps remembering.”

But once the SR-71 reached ‘cruising speed and altitude, it was time to focus on the mission, which was to collect information about hostile and potentially hostile nations using cameras and sensors.

The pilot’s job was to handle the aircraft and watch over the automatic systems to make sure they were doing their jobs properly. Meanwhile, the RSO handled the cameras, sensors, and the all-important Astroinertial Navigation System (ANS). The ANS was the 1960’s version of GPS, but instead of using satellites to locate itself, the ANS used the stars.

This is because before the invention of the modern satnav networks there wasn’t a way to navigate the SR-71 in the areas where it operated. The SR-71 needed to be able to fix its position within 1,885 feet (575 m) and within 300 ft (91 m) of the center of its flight path while traveling at high speeds for up to ten hours in the air.

On Jul. 2, 1967 Blackbird crew Jim Watkins and Dave Dempster flew the first international sortie in SR-71A #17972 when the ANS failed on a training mission and they accidentally flew in to Mexican airspace.

R2-D2

The ANS works by tracking at least two stars at a time listed in an onboard catalog, and with the aid of a chronometer, calculates a fix of the SR-71 over the ground. It was programmed before each flight and the aircraft’s primary alignment and the flight plan was recorded on a punched tape that told the aircraft where to go, when to turn, and when to turn the sensors on and off. The stars were sighted through a special quartz window (located behind the RSO cockpit) and there was a special star tracker that could see the stars even in daylight.

Later on after the Star Wars movie came out in 1977, the ANS was affectionately called R2-D2.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Own Work via Wikipedia

Designed to fly at the same speed

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft.

CIA developed the highly secret A-12 Oxcart as the U-2 spy plane’s successor, intended to meet the nation’s need for a very fast, very high-flying reconnaissance aircraft that could avoid Soviet air defenses. It became operational on Nov.12, 1965.

Not only did the A-12 prove its worth during its short operational life, but the overall Oxcart project produced the second-longest-lasting aerial reconnaissance platform in US intelligence history: the SR-71.

Jim Goodall, former Master Sergeant at U.S. Air Force and author of the book Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated History of America’s Legendary Mach 3 Spy Plane, highlights similarities and differences between the A-12, YF- 12 and the SR-71.

‘The Lockheed A-12 Blackbird (15 built that included two M-21s) was a single place spy plane.

‘All three manned Blackbird types were designed to fly at the same speed, the optimal speed on all Blackbirds is and was Mach 3.24.

Second crew member

‘At the time the SR-71 (AKA…. the R-12) was in its design phase, SAC Commander, General Curtis LeMay, said it needed an additional crew member. The area that was used on the A-12 for their very big Type 1 and Type 4 cameras was pressurized and refrigerated making the conversion for the RSO station much easier.

‘SAC also wanted to add additional cameras, so the solid nose of the A-12 was modified to add a removable nose section for ASAR Radar nose; OBC, AKA as the 24″ Optical Bar Camera and ballast nose.

‘By adding the second crew member station, the RSOs, plus straightening the airframe, the gross weight of the SR-71 versus the A-12 was about 4,000 to 6,000 pounds heavier. This extra weight would limit the SR’s maximum altitude to about 87,000 feet. While the much lighter A-12 had a maximum altitude of just over 90,000 feet.

‘I was told by Jim Eastham (first guy to fly the YF-12) that A-12 #128 flew at 92,500 straight and level on at least one occasion.

‘With the addition to the second crew member, the structural improvements and the addition of cameras and sensor in the chine bays, Lockheed had to increase the fuel load from about 80k pounds of JP7 used on the A-12 to a bit over 100k pounds of JP7 on the SR. The additional fuel was used to get the SR through transonic to supersonic transition speeds. This added even more weight.’

YF-12 Blackbird AN/ASG-18 Radar

The YF-12 was developed in the 1960s as a high-altitude, Mach 3 interceptor to defend against supersonic bombers. Based on the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft, the YF-12A became the forerunner of the highly-sophisticated SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft.

Goodall explains;

‘As for the YF-12A, it was used to test and verify the Hughes AN/ASG-18 fire-control radar originally developed for the XF-108 Rapier. The YF-12 was a derivative of the A-12 where the main changes involved modifying the A-12’s nose by cutting back the chines to accommodate the huge Hughes AN/ASG-18 fire-control radar, raising the height of the cockpit and adding IR sensors to the chine cut back area.

‘At Mach 3+ speeds, it was determined that an IR sensor on an aircraft where the average temperature was about 520 degrees f, was nothing short of worthless and was never considered as an operational option.

YF-12 Blackbird AN/ASG-18 Radar cooking chickens

‘The Hughes AN/ASG-18 pulse doppler radar’s antenna was a massive 42 inches. And when they were testing the radar at Area 51, just for laughs sometimes they would hang store brought whole chickens* on a wooden structure out on the radar range and cook them in about two to three seconds. It would freak out the guys on the ground.

‘The Hughes missile used on the YF-12 was sometimes referred to the Super Falcon and carried the designation of AIM-47A. It was the grandfather of the Hughes designed and built US Navy AIM-54 Phoenix. The AIM-47 had a semi-active seeker, whereas the Phoenix AIM-54 had a fully active seeker. The AIM-47 carried a 245kt nuclear warhead as where the AIM-54 carried just a conventional high explosive warhead.

‘Three were built stating with serial number 60–6934/1001 to 60–6936/1003. Kelly Johnson offer the build 100 F-12Bs for the Air Force at a unit cost of $14 million dollars not counting government supplied equipment such as the Pratt & Whitney J-58s, the weapons and fire control systems and such.’

He concludes;

‘If the F-12B had been built, there were to be two wings of 45 F-12Bs each, with each squadron having 15 F-12Bs. The bases that were to be part of the expanded F-12 program were; Otis AFB, Cape Cod, and Paine Field, Everett, WA. Robert Strange McNamara, then Sec of Defense, cancelled that proposal as un-needed.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin

The Blackbird

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966. The US Air Force (USAF) retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. Thus, achieving a radar lock on it was extremely difficult for any hostile fighter.

SR-71 Vs F-14 Vs F-15

Nevertheless, according to former Blackbird driver Col. Richard H. Graham, USAF (Ret.), tells in his book The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated Profile of Every Aircraft, Crew, and Breakthrough of the World’s Fastest Stealth Jet, there were two fighters that could achieve (simulated) SR-71 kills, but only under certain conditions.

“Don [Don Emmons was Graham Reconnaissance System Officer or RSO, the Blackbird back seater] and I, as well as many other crewmembers, had flown numerous ‘Tomcat Chase’ and ‘Eagle Bait’ sorties against our best fighters – the Navy’s F-14s and the Air Force’s F-15s. We flew the SR-71 to provide the fighters practice at finding, tracking, locking on, intercepting, and simulated firing of their sophisticated F-14 Phoenix missiles and the F-15’s Sparrow missiles at a high altitude, high speed target. The Tomcat Chase missions were flown over the Pacific Ocean and Eagle Bait missions in the Nellis AFB training area, north of Las Vegas, Nevada.”

Graham continues. “To maximize scarce, high altitude/high-speed intercept practice for the fighters against the SR-71, we stacked the deck in their favor to avoid a multitude of missed intercepts, and consequently, wasted time. The intercepts were conducted in a very controlled environment, favoring a successful outcome by the fighters. […] Even under these highly controlled flying conditions, the F-14s and F-15s had extreme difficulty achieving a satisfactory SR-71 kill.

American fighter pilots were able to lock on the SR-71 only after the Blackbird crew turned off their defensive countermeasures.

It was just about impossible to achieve a lock on the SR-71 unless she had some kind of malfunction.

F-15 radar couldn’t find the SR-71

SR-71 pilot Dave Peters adds some interesting and hilarious details.

‘One of the interesting discoveries from those missions, especially the Eagle Bait, was that they couldn’t even find us when everything was shut down and we told them exactly where we were. It was then realized that the F-15 had a speed gate on their radar at 1500 kts. We were casually warping along from 1850 to 2000. So, for them, we didn’t exist. We flew them fairly regularly from about 82 and they were still doing them after I retired in 86. We flew the Eagle Bait with the F-15s and Tomcat Chase with the F-14s. The 14s could find us but they couldn’t do anything until we modified and gave them times, route of flight, speed and altitude beforehand so they could have a pre-planned setup. The 15s didn’t do that well for quite some time.

‘Another mission we flew that was interesting was to come in over the California coast at speed and altitude to give the air traffic controllers an idea of what they would see on a space shuttle approach.

Animosity

‘There was some animosity at first with both the Eagles and the Tomcats because they kept accusing us of not showing up. It was fun in the vain as the LA speed story, except it’s true, because we were on the same frequency with them and could listen to all the bitching because we didn’t show up. They got a little huffy because nobody told them we weren’t coming.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force