The Blackbird
The SR-71, commonly referred to as the “Blackbird,” is an advanced strategic reconnaissance aircraft designed for long-range missions, based on the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A models. The first flight of the SR-71 occurred on December 22, 1964, and the first operational SR-71 was delivered to the 4200th (which later became the 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base in California, in January 1966.
Over its almost 24-year service, the SR-71 held the title of the fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft in the world. At an altitude of 80,000 feet, it had the ability to survey 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface every hour.
On March 8, 1968, Lieutenant Colonel Buddy Brown and RSO Major Dave Jensen piloted the inaugural SR-71 Blackbird (#978) out of the United States to Kadena Air Base in Japan, referred to as the OL (operational location).
Buddy transitioned from the U-2 program to the SR-71, where he experienced numerous risky adventures. He was selected for this prestigious role because he served as the chief of Standardization during that period.
SR-71 landed at Kadena two hours before taking off from Beale
Buddy and Dave experienced quite a few problems with the SR-71 as the airplane was not used to the weather in the tropics. The following story is an excerpt taken from Buddy Brown’s memoirs.
‘The first leg of the first flight of the SR-71 across the Pacific was to Hawaii. And then on to Kadena, it took five hours. When I flew the U-2 on this same flight, it took five days (that included resting). Speed is good! On the third leg of the flight, we encountered another small problem; my left generation went offline and I couldn’t reset it. This was a NO-GO situation which means I should land as soon as practical… my decision was to continue on because we were only 1000 miles (less than 30 minutes) from Kadena. At this time on the high-frequency radio using our code at callsign I contacted mama [Kadena’s Command post] and informed them ‘’I was lost, but was making good time’’ [because despite the problem, Buddy’s SR-71 was flying REALLY fast].
‘We landed our SR-71 at Kadena with no further problems.
‘We took off from Beale at 11:00 AM and arrived at Kadena at 9:00 AM, two hours before we took off from Beale we beat the Sun!
‘For the first few weeks, we would be using the hangars next to the CIA hangars; that’s where the A-12s were. A couple of the CIA pilots briefed us on the missions they were flying, what to expect when flying some of our missions. They were very helpful.
One of the major US strongholds of the Far East
‘Kadena was one of the major US strongholds of the Far East. Since I had flown the U-2 a few years before out of Kadena, I was very familiar with the Far East.
‘Dave and I had over a week to target study the route of flight and survival techniques in case we were shot down, refueling emergency recovery HF procedures. Dave and I were planning to fly the first mission operational.
‘My back up crew was Jerry O’Malley and Ed Payne, they were briefed on the mission also.
‘The following day March 21, 1968 the routine was normal during our taxi out at the end of the runway for the engine run up and trim [but] the ANS system froze on us. This of course was a NO-GO situation which caused us to abort the mission.
‘Our back up crew, O’Malley and Payne, they flew the first operational Sortie in aircraft # 976.’
This is just a small part of Buddy Brown’s memoirs. Stay tuned for future episodes.
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Photo by U.S. Air Force