[BITList] SR-71 Blackbird

[John Feltham]

>
> Subject: SR-71 Blackbird
>
>
> One of these is on display at the AF museum in Dayton and another at  
> Pima Air Museum in Tucson .
>
> This was once a highly sensitive program at Norton AFB.
>
>
>
>
> SR-71 Blackbird
>
>
>
>
>
> In April 1986, following an attack on American
>
> soldiers in a Berlin disco, President Reagan
>
> ordered the bombing of Muammar Qaddafi's
>
> terrorist camps in Libya . My duty was to fly
>
> over Libya and take photos recording the
>
> damage our F-111's had inflicted.. Qaddafi
>
> had established a 'line of death,' a territorial
>
> marking across the Gulf of Sidra , swearing
>
> to shoot down any intruder that crossed the
>
> boundary. On the morning of April 15,
>
> I rocketed past the line at 2,125 mph.
>
>
>
> I was piloting the SR-71 spy plane, the world's
>
> fastest jet, accompanied by a Marine Major (Walt),
>
> the aircraft's reconnaissance systems officer (RSO).
>
> We had crossed into Libya and were approaching
>
> our final turn over the bleak desert landscape when
>
> Walt informed me that he was receiving missile
>
> launch signals. I quickly increased our speed,
>
> calculating the time it would take for the
>
> weapons-most likely SA-2 and SA-4 surface-to-air
>
> missiles capable of Mach 5 - to reach our altitude.
>
> I estimated that we could beat the rocket-powered
>
> missiles to the turn and stayed our course, betting
>
> our lives on the plane's performance.
>
>
>
> After several agonizingly long seconds, we made
>
> the turn and blasted toward the Mediterranean .
>
> 'You might want to pull it back,' Walt suggested.
>
> It was then that I noticed I still had the throttles
>
> full forward. The plane was flying a mile every 1.6
>
> seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit. It was
>
> the fastest we would ever fly. I pulled the throttles
>
> to idle just south of Sicily , but we still overran
>
> the refuelling tanker awaiting us over Gibraltar ..
>
>
>
> Scores of significant aircraft have been produced
>
> in the 100 years of flight, following the achievements
>
> of the Wright brothers, which we celebrate in
>
> December. Aircraft such as the Boeing 707,
>
> the F-86 Sabre Jet, and the P-51 Mustang are
>
> among the important machines that have flown
>
> our skies. But the SR-71, also known as the
>
> Blackbird, stands alone as a significant contributor
>
> to Cold War victory and as the fastest plane
>
> ever-and only 93 Air Force pilots ever steered
>
> the 'sled,' as we called our aircraft.
>
>
>
>
> The SR-71 was the brainchild of Kelly Johnson,
>
> the famed Lockheed designer who created the
>
> P-38, the F-104 Starfighter, and the U-2. After
>
> the Soviets shot down Gary Powers' U-2 in 1960,
>
> Johnson began to develop an aircraft that would
>
> fly three miles higher and five times faster than
>
> the spy plane-and still be capable of photographing
>
> your license plate. However, flying at 2,000 mph
>
> would create intense heat on the aircraft's skin.
>
> Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy to
>
> construct more than 90 percent of the SR-71,
>
> creating special tools and manufacturing
>
> procedures to hand-build each of the 40 planes.
>
> Special heat-resistant fuel, oil, and hydraulic
>
> fluids that would function at 85,000 feet and
>
> higher also had to be developed.
>
>
>
> In 1962, the first Blackbird successfully flew, and
>
> in 1966, the same year I graduated from high school,
>
> the Air Force began flying operational SR-71 missions.
>
> I came to the program in 1983 with a sterling record
>
> and a recommendation from my commander,
>
> completing the weeklong interview and meeting
>
> Walt, my partner for the next four years He would
>
> ride four feet behind me, working all the cameras,
>
> radios, and electronic jamming equipment. I joked
>
> that if we were ever captured, he was the spy and
>
> I was just the driver. He told me to keep the pointy
>
> end forward.
>
> We trained for a year, flying out of Beale AFB in
>
> California , Kadena Airbase in Okinawa , and RAF
>
> Mildenhall in England . On a typical training mission,
>
> we would take off near Sacramento , refuel over
>
> Nevada, accelerate into Montana , obtain high Mach
>
> over Colorado , turn right over New Mexico , speed
>
> across the Los Angeles Basin , run up the West Coast,
>
> turn right at Seattle , then return to Beale. Total flight
>
> time: two hours and 40 minutes.
>
> One day, high above Arizona , we were monitoring
>
> the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us.
>
> First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers
>
> to check his ground speed. 'Ninety knots,' ATC replied.
>
> A Bonanza soon made the same request.
>
> 'One-twenty on the ground,' was the reply. To our
>
> surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a
>
> ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was
>
> doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator
>
> in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the
>
> bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed
>
> was 'Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,'
>
> ATC responded.
>
>
>
>
> The situation was too ripe. I heard
>
> the click of Walt's mike button in the rear seat.
>
> In his most innocent voice, Walt startled the
>
> controller by asking for a ground speed check
>
> from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace.
>
> In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied,
>
> ' Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.'
>
> We did not hear another transmission on that
>
> frequency all the way to the coast.
>
>
> < /SPAN>
>
> The Blackbird always showed us something new,
>
> each aircraft possessing its own unique personality.
>
> In time, we realized we were flying a national
>
> treasure. When we taxied out of our revetments
>
> for takeoff, people took notice. Traffic congregated
>
> near the airfield fences, because everyone wanted
>
> to see and hear the mighty SR-71 You could not be
>
> a part of this program and not come to love the
>
> airplane. Slowly, she revealed her secrets to us as
>
> we earned her trust.
>
> One moonless night, while flying a routine training
>
> mission over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky
>
> would look like from 84,000 feet if the cockpit lighting
>
> were dark. While heading home on a straight course,
>
> I slowly turned down all of the lighting, reducing the
>
> glare and revealing the night sky.
>
>
>
>
>
> Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful that the jet  
> would
>
> know and somehow punish me. But my desire to see
>
> the sky overruled my caution, I dimmed the lighting
>
> again. To my amazement, I saw a bright light outside
>
> my window. As my eyes adjusted to the view, I
>
> realized that the brilliance was the broad expanse
>
> of the Milky Way, now a gleaming stripe across the
>
> sky.
>
>
>
>
>
> Where dark spaces in the sky had usually
>
> existed, there were now dense clusters of sparkling
>
> stars. Shooting stars flashed across the canvas every
>
> few seconds. It was like a fireworks display with no
>
> sound.
>
>
>
>
>
> I knew I had to get my eyes back on the
>
> instruments, and reluctantly I brought my attention
>
> back inside. To my surprise, with the cockpit lighting
>
> still off, I could see every gauge, lit by starlight. In
>
> the plane's mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of
>
> my gold spacesuit incandescently illuminated in a
>
> celestial glow. I stole one last glance out the window.
>
> Despite our speed, we seemed still before the
>
> heavens, humbled in the radiance of a much greater
>
> power. For those few moments, I felt a part of
>
> something far more significant than anything we
>
> were doing in the plane. The sharp sound of Walt's
>
> voice on the radio brought me back to the tasks at
>
> hand as I prepared for our descent.
>
>
>
> San Diego Aerospace Museum
>
> The SR-71 was an expensive aircraft to operate.
>
> The most significant cost was tanker support, and
>
> in 1990, confronted with budget cutbacks, the Air
>
> Force retired the SR-71.
>
>
>
>
>
> The SR-71 served six presidents, protecting America
>
> for a quarter of a century. Unbeknownst to most
>
> of the country, the plane flew over North Vietnam ,
>
> Red China , North Korea , the Middle East , South
>
> Africa , Cuba , Nicaragua , Iran , Libya , and the
>
> Falkland Islands . On a weekly basis, the SR-71
>
> kept watch over every Soviet nuclear submarine
>
> and mobile missile site, and all of their troop
>
> movements. It was a key factor in winning the
>
> Cold War.
>
> I am proud to say I flew about 500 hours in this
>
> aircraft. I knew her well. She gave way to no plane,
>
> proudly dragging her sonic boom through enemy
>
> backyards with great impunity. She defeated every
>
> missile, outran every MiG, and always brought us
>
> home. In the first 100 years of manned flight, no
>
> aircraft was more remarkable.
>
>
>
>
>
> The Blackbird had outrun nearly 4,000 missiles,
>
> not once taking a scratch from enemy fire.
>
> On her final flight, the Blackbird , destined for
>
> the Smithsonian National Air and Space
>
> Museum, sped from Los Angeles to Washington
>
> in 64 minutes, averaging 2,145 mph and
>
> setting four speed records.
>
>
>


ooroo

Bad typists of the word, untie.




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