The SR-71 Blackbird
The SR-71 Blackbird, a plane that could travel more than three times faster than the sound made by its own engines, was created in the 1960s by the US Air Force (USAF).
The SR-71 spy plane held the record for being the fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft in the world for about 24 years. At a speed of Mach 3+, it could cover 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour while flying above 80,000 feet. And on the off chance that an enemy tried to shoot it down with a missile, all the Blackbird had to do was speed up and outrun it.
Marta Bohn-Meyer, the only woman who flew aboard the legendary SR-71 Blackbird as a crewmember
The photos in this post feature Marta Bohn-Meyer, the only female crew member of the legendary SR-71 Blackbird.
Marta Bohn-Meyer, who was born in 1957, started working in aerospace as a student in the late 1970s while attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. She took part in a cooperative research and education program held by the school at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for three years, according to Cosmosphere Blog.
She began working as an aeronautical research and operations engineer at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (then Dryden) as soon as she finished school. After 22 years at this same place, she would finally rise to the position of chief engineer after holding a number of greater responsibilities, such as:
- Project manager for the F-16 XL Supersonic Laminar Flow Control
- Deputy director of aerospace projects
- Director of safety and mission assurance
- Director of Flight Operations
Time in the SR-71B with the stick piloting the iconic HABU
Bohn-Meyer became the first female crew member of the triple-sonic SR-71 Blackbird in 1991. She had worked for NASA for twelve years before she was appointed as a flight engineer. Her job was to assist NASA in gathering data at high altitudes and speeds to enhance the design of the next aircraft. The only other woman to have flown in the famously fast plane was Congresswoman Beverly Byron, who rode as a VIP guest in 1985.
Bohn-Meyer (who was married to NASA test pilot Bob Mayer) not only flew the Blackbird as Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO) but she also had time in the SR-71B with the stick piloting the iconic HABU.
Only one woman who flew aboard the legendary SR-71 Blackbird as a crewmember passed away
Widely known as a precision aerobatic pilot, Bohn-Meyer died on Sep. 18, 2005, when the Giles G-300 she flew in an aerobatic practice routine crashed near Oklahoma City. Former NASA deputy administrator Fred Gregory remembers being the first person to be assigned as a mentor to her when she first started as a student at Langley:
“She was smart, detail-oriented, opinionated, and professional well beyond her age.”
Kevin Petersen, director of Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center at the time of her passing, remarked on Bohn-Meyer’s “strength and her commitment to all she pursued.”
“We committed our lives to this person’s judgment every day; she was the last line of defense against complacency. And she never let me—or Dryden—down.”
Check out Habubrat’s Twitter profile and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder‘s Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.
Photo by NASA