The SR-71 Blackbird
December 22nd, 1964, Lockheed's Skunk Works and the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, the ultra-secret Strategic Reconnaissance SR-71, first took to the skies! She was designed with a minimal radar cross section, loaded with electronic countermeasures, and a deep black paint to increase her internal heat emission and act as nighttime camouflage. The stealthy, sleek air breather came to be known by her nickname...the Blackbird!
The Blackbird was known as the fastest aircraft around, with speeds over Mach 3 at 80,000 feet, but that is the official release. Those who flew her knew she could go faster and higher.She carried no weapons but did not need any. Her best defence was extreme speed that enabled Blackbird crews to quickly egress any area or situation the crew did not like.
The SR was as unique as an aircraft could possibly be, with specially designed tires created by B.F. Goodrich to endure the unusually high landing speed of 170kts. The tires contained aluminum and were filled with nitrogen at a cost of $2,300 and only lasted 20 touchdowns. Her cooling was carried out by cycling fuel behind the titanium surfaces in the chines. The special windscreen of the cockpit was made of quartz and was fused ultrasonically to the titanium frame to act as thermal armour against the extreme atmospheric friction. On landing, the canopy temperature regularly reached over 572°F.
The Blackbird also incorporated corrugated skin that allowed expansion vertically and horizontally and increased longitudinal strength. As a matter of fact, the Blackbird landed 6 inches longer than before takeoff. Before taking flight, the aircraft spewed fuel from every crack and crevasse due to her specially designed, loosely fitted fuselage panels. This was no design mistake, as it was the only way to allow the Blackbird to do what only she could do. After takeoff, the crew would purposely accelerate to cook the aircraft's surface and expand the airframe to achieve proper sealing and panel alignment.
The Blackbird also incorporated corrugated skin that allowed expansion vertically and horizontally and increased longitudinal strength. As a matter of fact, the Blackbird landed 6 inches longer than before takeoff. Before taking flight, the aircraft spewed fuel from every crack and crevasse due to her specially designed, loosely fitted fuselage panels. This was no design mistake, as it was the only way to allow the Blackbird to do what only she could do. After takeoff, the crew would purposely accelerate to cook the aircraft's surface and expand the airframe to achieve proper sealing and panel alignment.
The SR-71 also incorporated unique pointed, movable cones at the front of each inlet, called a "spike," which was locked in its full forward position on the ground and during subsonic flight. When the aircraft accelerated past Mach 1.6, an internal jackscrew moved the spike up to 26 inches to cruise at over Mach 3.2 while keeping airflow into the engines at steady subsonic speeds. In a situation where the spikes were incorrectly positioned, a resultant shock wave would blow out the front of the inlet, called an "Inlet Unstart," causing an afterburner extinction, and an asymmetrical thrust condition would yaw the Blackbird violently to one side. The extreme off-angle would reduce airflow in the opposite engine and stimulate "sympathetic stalls." This generated a rapid counter-yawing, coupled with loud "banging" noises, that would smack the crews' helmets against their cockpit canopies.
Specialized pressurized suits were produced by David Clark for the SR-71 to help keep the crew safe at over 80,000 feet. The cockpit was pressurized to an altitude of 10,000 or 26,000 ft during flight, while a powerful cooling system maintained a survivable temperature environment inside, during cruise at Mach 3.2. At speed, the aircraft's external surface was beyond 500°F, and in an emergency ejection at Mach 3.2, crews would be subjected to temperatures in excess of 450°F.
Pictured: The view from the SR-71 as she climbs through 73,000 feet ( Flight Level 730)
"The jet is performing perfectly now, flying better than she has in weeks. She seems to know where she is. She likes the high Mach, as we penetrate deeper into Libyan airspace. Leaving the footprint of our sonic boom across Benghazi, I sit motionless, with stilled hands on throttles and the pitch control, my eyes glued to the gages. Only the Mach indicator is moving, steadily increasing in hundredths, in a rhythmic consistency similar to the long distance runner who has caught his second wind and picked up the pace. The jet was made for this kind of performance and she wasn't about to let an errant inlet door make her miss the show. With the power of forty locomotives, we puncture the quiet African sky and continue farther south across a bleak landscape."
- Brian Shul USAF
The Blackbird was designed to be at its optimal flight efficiency at Mach 3.2 The design was so efficient that pilot Brian Shul discovered on one mission that the SR-71 was even more efficient at speeds higher than Mach 3.2 in terms of pounds of fuel burned per nautical mile travelled, depending on outside air temperature as he was trying to evade incoming SAMs. She burned less the faster she flew!In her years of operation, the Blackbird completed over 3,551 Mission Sorties Flown,17,300 Sorties, 53,490 Total Flight Hours, and over 11,675 hours of Mach 3 Time.... in all her years of service, she only lost one crew member.
When the SR-71 was retired in 1990, one Blackbird was flown from its birthplace at United States Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, to go on exhibit at what is now the Smithsonian Institution's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. On 6 March 1990, Lt. Col. Raymond E. Yeilding and Lt. Col. Joseph T. Vida piloted SR-71 S/N 61-7972 on its final Senior Crown flight and set four new speed records in the process:Los Angeles, California, to Washington, D.C., distance 2,299.7 miles, average speed 2,144.8 miles per hour, and an elapsed time of 64 minutes 20 seconds.
West Coast to East Coast, distance 2,404 miles, average speed 2,124.5 miles per hour, and an elapsed time of 67 minutes 54 seconds.
Kansas City, Missouri, to Washington, D.C., distance 942 miles, average speed 2,176 miles per hour, and an elapsed time of 25 minutes 59 seconds.
St. Louis, Missouri, to Cincinnati, Ohio, distance 311.4 miles, average speed 2,189.9 miles per hour, and an elapsed time of 8 minutes 32 seconds.
These four speed records were accepted by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), the recognized body for aviation records in the United States. Additionally, Air & Space/Smithsonian reported that the Air Force clocked the SR-71 at one point in its flight reaching 2,242.48 miles per hour.
Blackbird #972 touched down at Dulles after her final flight. Her engines wound down and her titanium surface cooled on the ramp at Washington-Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, DC. From there she would be quietly rolled into the Smithsonian Institution's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Aviation Museum, where she remains to this day.
Finally, in one great last demonstration of her unique abilities...on October 9th 1999: At the Edwards Air Force Base Open House air show, NASA Research Pilot Rogers E. Smith and Flight Test Engineer Robert R. Meyer, Jr., flew #61-7980, NASA 844, on what would be the very last flight of a Blackbird. The crowd was treated to a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle...a high-speed pass at no less than Mach 3.2, 80,000ft over their heads.
"You know the part in 'High Flight where it talks about putting out your hand to touch the face of God? Well, when we're at speed and altitude in the SR, we have to slow down and descend in order to do that."
USAF Lt. Col. Gil Bertelson, SR-71 pilot
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