I got forwarded a little number the other day that I thought DT readers would get a kick out of. I gotta tell you, I still have a thing for the SR-71. I mean, it conjures up all kinds of images of pirated space alien technology, super secret dealings, Cold War spying and raw, unadulterated speed…Shelby Cobra-type speed.
So when I saw this excerpt from a book about SR-71 pilots, my retro hackles tingled.
One day, high above Arizona, we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. Ninety knots, ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. One-twenty on the ground, was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was. Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground, ATC responded.
The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walters mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground. We did not hear another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.
And another…
Odd are the thoughts that wander through ones mind in times like these. I found myself recalling the words of former SR-71 pilots who were fired upon while flying missions over North Vietnam. They said the few errant missile detonations they were able to observe from the cockpit looked like implosions rather than explosions. This was due to the great speed at which the jet was hurling away from the exploding missile.
Just an opportunity to get inside one of these jets in a literary way satisfies my curiosity. Any former Blackbird drivers out there that can add anything to this?
(Gouge: CM)
– Christian
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Christian,
Thanks for the post, anytime I hear of information about the greatest aircraft ever flown and ever known (at least officially), I tune in. I look forward to reading the book and the comments to follow.
Christian, tell us more about the book… is it worth buying?
Um… $427.00 Is Lockheed printing these things?
Quite a few years ago, before the Blackbird went public, we worked underground in a tunnel in a gold mine along the Idaho side of the Snake River. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but for a while, once a day, or so, there would be such a loud sonic boom that we could feel it in the walls of the tunnel, 640 feet inside the mountain!
One of the coolest lines in aviation:
SR-71 pilot’s prayer:
“For though I fly through the shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil for I am at 70,000 feet and climbing.”
I’ve heard that one of the records held by the SR-71 is the greatest percentage of planes lost in accidents of any operational US plane (30% or something?) – can anyone confirm if this is true?
A-12 Blackbirds: built 13 lost 5
M-21 Blackbirds: built 2 lost 1
YF-12A Blackbirds: buil 3 lost 2
SR-71A Blackbirds: built 29 lost 11
SR-71B Blackbirds: built 2 lost 1
i’m a blackbird driver..yeah right! Thanks for the good read.
Just a simple matter like printing this article for later reading I could not accomplish. Your site kept me from printing it. Why?
I find something about an aircraft that can out-run an AA missile freaking awesome. Got to love Clinton for canceling them.
Cancelled initially under George the First; re-activated; then cancelled again by Clinton
My feature wife and I were sitting at the end of a runway at Tinker AFB in 68, one took off at nite, wild wild wild…….. she was mad after she quit screaming..
I was assigned to the 9th at Beale AFB, CA in ’72-’73 when I came back from Vietnam. It was a real change from what I was used to. I was a structure mechanic and the airframe was totally different than anything I had experienced. A lot of titanium and monel. I have seen several of the books about the airplane and am amazed that so many unauthorized pictures were taken early in the program and people got away with it.
I got snowed in at RAF Mildenhall while waiting for a hop back to FRG. There were some Blackbirds in the ‘O’ Club bar they felt sorry for a poor dumb ground pounder and were filling me with drinks and regaling me with stories. The best was a mission along the Sino-Soviet border. Both sides put up their fastest and they stayed just slow enough so they could come close just as they got a launch indicator the pilot just pulled away and they watched as the missiles fell behind and below. I asked how high and how fast. The pilot grinned and said I was over 75,000 and in excess of 2,400. Don’t know if it was the scotch or the truth but I think it was the truth.
The starters for the jet engines on the SR-71 were custom made at a speed shop in southern Calif. Wasn’t unheard of to blow out one of those starters.
As to why they canceled the SR-71 program, it may have been due to laser weapons being tested successfully by the bad guys. Hard to out fly a laser beam.
The Sunday after the AF announced the SR-71 would be taken off line, I mentioned the story to a friend that I knew was the 1st Sergeant of an SR-71 squadron in his 1st career. His response surprised me – (I paraphrase) “It’s probably a pretty good idea because they take a lot of maintenance”.
Another way of looking at it: The Federation of American Scientists reports that the Russian S-300PMU SAM (NATO code SA-10 & SA-N-6) can take down targets flying up to 2270 knots & 98,000 feet. It has been in service in Russia, China, India & Cyprus(!) for almost 10 years.
As a young A1C (3P031)stationed at Kadena AB, I had the opportunity many times to see the SR-71 fly. One particular day I remember very well, because it happened to be when the Okinawans held their annual, “I want you to leave, or I want you to stay” demonstrations, I can’t remember exactly which one. Well the SR-71 was flying, and when it took off I watched it for about 30 seconds before I lost sight of it, but it seemed like an eternity before I couldn’t hear it. It broke the sound barrier which was amazing in itself, but being a young “jeep” I didn’t know what it was.
After I got relieved from my typical day working O.D. or Chibana housing gates, the Flt. Chief told us that the loud boom was the SR-71, and that all of the dependants were calling the L.E. desk saying that the Okinawans were starting to throw bombs over the fence. It was pretty funny. I’m glad to say that I came in at the time the SR-71 was still in service, it’s one of my favorite planes. I still enjoy going to Lackland and looking at the one on display. I’m still serving in the Air Guard with over 20yrs in. If anyone reading this has a picture of “Team Kadena” (team Kadena was spelled out with people, and they had all the planes on display, please send me and email)
MSgt T. McCall
To add to my previous comment, my email address is tmccall67@yahoo.com.
To add to my previous comment, my email address is tmccall67@yahoo.com.
If this story is even any where near true and the ahole did as reported I hope he got his most private parts batted into at least the next county possibly state as an alternative.
Sure I might be buying into a good story as it sounds nice thing to say that did not reveal any thing that ain’t already out there , but my gut says otherwise.
If he broke comsec like that butter him up and turn him over and most of all wake that SOB up.
I have no use for all of that.
Any time you put out a data point weather it is right and gives someone a number or total BS and does the opposite you have a risk.
Each confirmation is a data point along with data developed by internal means.
I don’t have to give them what they may already think and better yet I am tell them they ain’t even got any of it right just to screw with their mind or mine if I want to live it enough.
Game playing is authorized, but truth is not…how hard is that to understand.
If the last entry was referring to me, MR. excuse me pointing and laughing, send me an email, and lets have a little talk.
I remember during a cold wintery night while working as a Security Response Team Leader at Grand Forks AFB, ND, we had an SR-71 requesting to land due to an emergency (lost power, lost hydraulics, etc.). The night was extremely foggy and the runway was slightly iced and the control tower ask the pilot if he couldn’t fly on to Beale due to the conditions. He declined and decided to land on our runway. I was sitting at Center on the West side of the field and watched as he came in blowing six of the eight tires on the Bird. I was the only one who saw where he landed and everyone else thought he had gone through the fence line at the North end of the runway. When I requested to drive out to him I was denied the right to do so but I could walk out to the Bird with the fire department and other emergency response personnel. When that pilot got out of the Bird he chewed everyone except me and thanked me and my partner for being so observant and getting everyone to him and his Bird. It was an awesome sight to watch and I hate the day we retired them. It has and will always be my favorite aircraft.
In the film “SR71 the Movie”, the pilot is shown throttling back at Mach 3 in order to maintain 80,000 ft. Simple aerodynamics – throttle controls altitude, nose controls airspeed. Hold one of them constant, and the other controls the aircraft. As a naval aviator and 26 year veteran of Lockheed, awesome is as awesome does! The Blackbird was only limited by hydraulic fluid temp and imagination. The most telling statement made by the gov’t head of the blackbird family of jets – “We built the wrong one.” He meant the A-11/-12 should have been built in large numbers, over the 36 SR-71′s.
The first time I saw a Blackbird was soon after arriving in Okinawa in ’68. I was driving down the highway just south of Kadena Circle (called “Highway 1″ in those days) and just as I drove past the end of the runway, an SR-71 came off the end of it.
WTF!?!? I thought a bomb exploded. I ran my car off the road and jumped out to watch it scream up up and up until it went through some very high clouds. Blew my mind and I’ve been in love with them ever since.
Guess I’ll never get to ride in one so I’ll have to settle for hoping for a ride on a space shuttle. :-)
Reading these comments brought me back to the days when I was stationed at Kadena AB Okinawa Japan back 1n 65-67.I was a supervisor in Base Operations and would due several runway checks for FOD(forign objects damage.I would sit and watch the F-4′s takeoff and land. On more than one occasion a hanger door would open and an SR-71 (back then we called him Habo) would taxi out to the end of the runway,never stopping and blast his after burners and be off the ground and out of sight what seemed to be less then 10 seconds.Back then there was no contact with tower, they took off on their own,a sight you could never forget.Im retired now these past 31 years but watching “HABO” is something you never forget..thanks
There are 2 books readily available..Sled Driver and The Untouchables..both by Brian Shul a former SR-71 Driver. Excellent and well worth the price. As a retired Army pilot I am not ashamed to say I envied these men. The aircraft carried a pilot and a reconissance systems officer (RSO). Brian Shul came out of the A-10 community…an example that if you played your cards right you could make dreams come true. Thank you Mr.Shul for giving us a peek inside and a first hand account of what it was like. As far as I am concerned, the astronaut wings those guys wore were well earned….they upheld the often used term, THE RIGHT STUFF.
a friend of mine and I were working on our Navy F-4 one night at Kirtland AFB, and a SR-71 was brought into our hangar for maintenance. The AP’s around it came over and asked “do you see that? We said Yesand they replied, no, you don’t.” that was before LbJ acknowledged its existance.
There are many untold stories about the SR-71 Blackbird or Habo. Most all who were in any way associated with this wonderful flying machine could share one or two stories. I also have a brief story about the indirect supporting the Habo at Kadena AFB. Most know that the Habo was always in a hurry as it was made to do just that.
Working in the Kadena Transet Alert (T/A) facility it was our job to monitor all landings of all aircraft and if necessary ensure all aircraft made it to parking with any assistance needed. We also assisted the Habo with it
It is Habu not” Habo”.Love some of the stories posted here and have a good laugh at some.I worked in the AR shop in Beale and Okinawa(AR did heavy maintenance such as wing raises,landing gear, flight controls,tire changes and maintenance not done by the crew chiefs.
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/srvid~1.htm
I remember the SR at Mildenhall. They always lied about it. What Plane?
I got to do some Nasa Work with the SR (Photography) after they went to Nasa (see bottom of link).
SFD
That was a fine bird. Sorry she’s gone.
Another fine bird, the F-4, is history also.
I worked on the Missiles the F-4 flew.
I was at DaNang for a year ’69-’70, 366 MMS
( link http://unitpages.military.com/unitpages/unit.do?id=805151 ). Leave a comment if you were there.
While deployed to Udorn with the 308th TFS in 1972 I was tasked to supervise and help clear a hangar for a sled coming in on emergency. Job done and after the specialized mod KC-135 landed and fixed what turned out to be a pressurization problem I was given a ramp tramps eye view of a walk around of the bird as it was set up to leave. The RSO and I had been in the bar thel night before and he set me up with his ground crew supervisor for that walk around as they readied for take off. As I watched the aircrew dismount from their van and walk to the bird in their silver air conditioned ‘space suits’ my escort motioned me under the bird to see the silver colored tires, massive landing gear and the titanium skin I was in awe. Feeling something wet hit my field jacket I suddenly noticed and smelled fuel. Under the massive airframe I was stunned to see the fuel POURING out between the seams running aft…I have seen many a fuel leak on airframes but that amount of fuel coming down like a rain shower prompted me to say to my escort, “You guys can not be taking off like that!!??” Smiling, my escort told me that leakage is normal and to get my ear protection on and move to the side as the tandem buick engines whined and ROARED to life to the point where I figured they would come apart. The SR-71 engines came to life with a blue flame and it taxied out quickly taking the active and with a hell of a roar…remember the Air Force song…. accelerated to the end of the runway and headed nearly straight up and into the overcast and disappeared. I have flown in fighters and have my mach pin but nothing has ever left me so impressed as that aviation moment. The bird and its capability is still needed today but it was costly and with the current crop of congressional leadership is not likely to rise again.
It was simply the sexiest aircraft ever built, period. I still can’t believe we mothballed them – what a lot of nonsense that was. Nothing compares, now. Sure, a satellite can do the same observation, cheaper.
But it cannot make a human being stand in freaking awe.
Something to be said for that…
I read all the stories with interest. Would love to read more. Nothing beats my seeing the Bird lift off for the very first time. AWESOME doesn’t even come close
I was stationed at Beale AFB. from 1985 to 1988. It was awesome when we were on swing shift to watch the Blackbird take off. It would shake you form inside out. The power was awesome to watch. I sure miss her. Too bad that idiot Clinton shut it down.
I was wondering when someone was gong to mention what Bill McDonald Col US did. I have read all these posts about how fast they would come ot of the hangar and take off. "No more than ten seconds after the doors opened, they were in the air."
This was due to the massive amounts of fuel they would bleed on the ground. Even with all that engine the SR-71 burned (I should say lost) more fuel on the ground per minute than in the air AT ANY SPEED. The seams (actually overlapping titanium plates) would offset and come apart at the speeds it took to land, taxi and take off. Only when she was in the air cruizing at ??? (don't get me lying to you here) speed would the frame stretch out and these plates would fit togather with tolerances tighter than a Virginian prom queen. As I stated I don't know at what speed she stretched out at to the point where she stopped losing fuel, but I do know they had to in-flight re-fuel in the first 45 minutes of flight because they were so low on fuel and then boogie to stretch out their frames. Blackbird pilots also had to carefully calculate fuel for landing because of this extreme low speed fuel loss. I have read and been told of how many actual feet the aircraft stretched out to at speed vs. on the ground, it was so long ago and I don't remember for sure, but I think she stretched out 8 feet further at speed. Amazing, my hats off to good 'ole American ingenuity and Skunkworks for this work of art.