88 UNITED STATES
Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB,
CA, in January 1966. It was soon deployed
around the world under a cloak of secrecy.
Piloting the Blackbird was an unforgiving
endeavour, demanding total concentration.
But pilots were giddy with their complex,
adrenaline-fuelled responsibilities. ‘At 85,000ft
and Mach 3, it was almost a religious experience’
said US Air Force Col Jim Wadkins. ‘Nothing had
prepared me to fly that fast... My God, even
now, I get goose bumps remembering’. Another
Blackbird pilot, Rick McCrary, recalls the first
time he laid eyes on one. ‘They were all in small
hangars, all closed. We unlocked the back doors,
turned on the lights, and I thought “Oh lord,
there’s a spaceship”.’
On a typical SR-71 mission the aircraft took
off with only a partial fuel load to reduce stress
on the brakes and tyres during take-off and
to ensure increased safety margins should
an engine fail. As a result, they were typically
refuelled immediately after take-off. The SR-71
also required in-flight refuelling to replenish
fuel during long duration missions. Supersonic
flights generally lasted no more than 90min
before the pilot had to find a tanker.
From the beginning of the Blackbird’s
reconnaissance missions over enemy territory
(North Vietnam, Laos, etc) in 1968, the SR-71s
averaged approximately one sortie a week,
but by 1972 they were flying nearly one sortie
every day. Two SR-71s were lost during these
missions, one in 1970 and the second aircraft
in 1972, both due to mechanical malfunctions.
Over the course of its reconnaissance missions
during the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese
fired approximately 800 SAMs at SR-71s, none
of which managed to score a hit. When anti-
aircraft weapons were fired, a warning light
glowed red on the control panel. But that would
typically be the last the pilot would see of the
attempted attack. Certain taskings became
the ‘bread and butter’ of the SR-71 force. From
Mildenhall, the aircraft kept a regular watchover Soviet Navy Northern Fleet activities,
above all those of nuclear submarines out
of Murmansk, and likewise over military
movements throughout the other Warsaw Pact
states; from Kadena, missions maintained an
eye on potentially hostile forces in the Pacific
area, especially the Korean peninsula.
In the end, the Blackbird was shot down
by politicians not missiles. The Blackbird was
initially retired in 1990, even before the fall of
the Soviet Union. Eventually, however, three of
the jets were reactivated by the US Air Force
for a brief period between 1995 and 1998.
Meanwhile, NASA flew research missions with
the aircraft until 1999.
Only a select few know the true extent of
the role the Blackbird’s intelligence played in
the Cold War, but its legacy as a game-changer
will be admired for generations.
Though the SR-71 has not left the ground
since before the turn of the century, it is still
the fastest aircraft on the planet.