First mission
Maj Jerry O’Malley and his
reconnaissance systems operator
(RSO) Capt Ed Payne completed the
first operational mission of the Senior
Crown program from OL-8 in aircraft
serial 61-7976 (976), on March 21, 1968.
Operational missions from the Kadena
det were codenamed Giant Scale.
Standard operating procedure required
O’Malley to rendezvous with a specially
modified KC-135Q tanker at 25,000ft
shortly after take-off and top up the jet’s
tanks with specially developed JP-7 fuel.
This purged the tanks of air, and as the
fuel was burned the resulting void was
filled with gaseous nitrogen (LN2) to
prevent inadvertent fuel vapor ignition
from the hot, wet tanks. O’Malley then
accelerated and climbed 976 to Mach 3
and 80,000ft before penetrating North
Vietnamese airspace in a so-called ‘front
door’ entry over the port of Haiphong. The
aircraft routed over Hanoi before exiting
near Dien Bien Phu, having spent just 12
minutes in ‘denied’ airspace. Decelerating,
O’Malley descended into the designated
refueling track in Thailand. A successful
split fuel load from the two primary
tankers ensured that the services of a third,
airborne spare wouldn’t be required.
O’Malley repeated the climb and
acceleration profile up to the prescribed
altitude, on track for the second and
final ‘take’ of the mission. This route was
flown over the demilitarized zone (DMZ),
between North and South Vietnam; the
primary objective was to locate the heavy
artillery and supporting infrastructure thatLeft top to bottom:
Maj Ed Yeilding
(left) and his
RSO Maj Curt
Osterheld are
driven out to their
waiting aircraft in
the physiological
support division
(PSD) ‘bread-van’.
Maj Doug Soifer
(center) is one of
two members of
the mobile crew
who conducted
the aircraft’s
walk-round
inspection prior to
the crews’ arrival
at the ‘barn’.
Curt Osterheld
Maj Jerry O’Malley
(right), and RSO
Capt Ed Payne
completed the
first operational
‘Habu’ mission
in aircraft 976 on
March 21, 1968.
They are wearing
David Clark
Company S-970
full-pressure
suits. USAF
Below: SR-71A
976 at Kadena
undergoing final
take-off external
checks by ground
technicians and
the aircraft’s crew
chief. USAF via
Lindsay PeacockFEATURE ARTICLE // ‘SKUNK WORKS’ AT 75
102 April 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
100-109 SR-71 Skunk C.indd 102 16/02/2018 10:12