Kelly Johnson named Robert J. “Bob” Gilliland chief test pilot when he began designing the advanced SR-71 Blackbird for the US Air Force
Lockheed test pilot Robert J. “Bob” Gilliland stepped into an odd-looking aircraft on the morning of December 22, 1964, at a small, heavily guarded airstrip in the California desert town of Palmdale, and he promptly made aviation history.
The technological marvel that was the SR-71 Blackbird was developed at the super-secret Skunk Works. In fact, the Mach-3-plus titanium wonder created by Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson is still the fastest jet in the world, even after more than 50 years.
To make the maiden flight of the SR-71, a test pilot needed to possess the perfect blend of intelligence, talent, and nerve, and Gilliland, who was thirty-eight years old, had spent much of his life pushing the boundaries.
After being recruited by Lockheed in 1961, Gilliland worked as a protégé of renowned aircraft designer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson at Skunk Works. Operating from the highly classified Area 51 located in the Nevada desert, he began the testing of an innovative aircraft that could reach heights of up to 85,000 feet and exceed Mach 3.2 in speed. This aircraft, the A-12, was the first in the Blackbird family and was created for the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret Oxcart program.
Gilliland was named chief test pilot by Johnson when he started designing, for the US Air Force’s (USAF), an advanced version of the SR-71. Robert, the son of Gilliland, was raised on stories about courageous men who went on perilous missions.
According to Bob Gilliland and Keith Dunnavant’s story in the book Speed, the son began to ask questions about the Skunk Works days, particularly in later years once the SR-71 Blackbird’s secrecy was revealed. “Did you ever fly the Blackbird upside down?” he asked once.
Bob looked at this boy and smiled.
“Yes, I did,” he said. Robert’s eyes grew brighter as his father began to tell in great detail about an incident in which they went up in the back seat with Dick Miller, the SR-71 program’s chief engineer and program manager, and briefly rolled the aircraft on its belly.
“But weren’t you concerned about Kelly finding out?”
“Oh, I turned off the instrumentation,” the old pilot said with a hearty laugh.
In such instances, the son saw brief flashes of the rebel, who never much cared for rules and liked to push the edge but was too wise to allow himself to become reckless. Bob Gilliland passed away on July 4, 2019.
Speed is published by Casemate Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by Robert J. “Bob” Gilliland / Robert Gilliland, Jr.
