The SR-71 remained the fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft for approximately 24 years of its life
It was a different era in 1976. Americans were waiting to buy as the Cold War with the Soviet Union was in full swing.
The country celebrated its bicentennial in the same year. To mark the event, officials made the choice to use the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird to try to break a few records.
The Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft were the basis for the long-range, high-tech, strategic reconnaissance aircraft known as the SR-71, also known as the “Blackbird.” The first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, in January 1966. The SR-71’s first flight took place on December 22, 1964.
On July 28, 1976, retired Lt. Col. George Morgan (the reconnaissance systems officer [RSO]) and retired Maj. Gen. Eldon Joersz (the pilot), flying a jet-powered aircraft, set the absolute speed record for jet-powered aircraft at 2,193 mph.
Even now, the record stands.
“We never dreamed, I guess we never gave it much thought, how long the record would last,” Joersz said.
Currently, that aircraft is housed in the Robins Air Force Base Museum of Aviation, where for three days, the museum entertained Joersz, Morgan, and 12 other SR-71 program staff and pilots. On July 30, the museum welcomed about 300 guests for a free celebration honoring the flight’s 40th anniversary.
“The way we look at it, we represent the crew force, we represent the airplane and we really represent America,” Joersz said.
During their trip to the museum, both guys had the opportunity to spend some time in the cockpit of their illustrious airplane.
“It’s as impressive to me now as when I first saw it and flew it. Every time I flew it was my favorite memory,” Morgan said.
Only 85 pilots and RSOs had the necessary training to operate the SR-71. According to Buz Carpenter, a former SR-71 pilot who is currently a docent at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Chantilly, Virginia, another 40 or so people are being prepared to fly test flights for the aircraft.
The SR-71 remained the fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft for approximately 24 years of its life. It could survey 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface per hour from an altitude of 80,000 feet.
One of the event’s attendees, Tom Joyce, an SR-71 instrument and inlets technician, recalled hearing the aircraft’s start cart with its two 450-cubic-inch engines as one of his favorite recollections. From 1975 through 1988, Joyce worked on the SR-71, and he recalled his first trip to view the Blackbird.
“It was amazing. It doesn’t look like an airplane and then they put astronaut suits on the pilots,” he said, smiling.
The majority of the missions that the Blackbird performed are still secret.
“Those reconnaissance operations are what brought peace and what gave some teeth to the American front during that Cold War… Thank you from a country that could not have won the Cold War without your efforts,” Col. John Cooper, the 461st Air Control Wing commander, said during the July 30 event.
On January 26, 1990, the U.S. Air Force discontinued its fleet of SR-71 aircraft due to a shrinking defense budget and high operating expenses. With more than 2,885 hours of flight experience under its belt, the SR-71 arrived in Robins in 1990.
Source: SR-71 pilots, crew relive absolute speed record By Angela Woolen, 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs and U.S. Air Force; Photo by U.S. Air Force