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blackbird

When a KC-135Q crew flew through a thunderstorm with their tanker’s throttles frozen to refuel a Blackbird

by Till Daisd May 3, 2024

The KC-135Q

It’s impossible to overemphasize the essential role played by the KC-135Q tanker crews, without whom successful prosecution of the SR-71 Blackbird mission would have been impossible. As told by Paul F. Crickmore in his book Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions (Revised Edition), it became apparent to Strategic Air Command (SAC) that the tanker force dedicated to supporting SR-71 operations would need to be expanded beyond the original 21 Q-model aircraft, and in 1967, the decision was made to modify an additional 35 aircraft. Some 20 KC-135As from the 70th AREFS, 43rd BW at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, and 15 from the 306th AREFS, 306th BW at McCoy AFB, Florida, were therefore converted.

The only crews qualified to refuel the SR-71 Blackbird

KC-135Q crews and their aircraft were unique from the rest of the Air Force in several ways. As explained by Col. Richard H. Graham, a former Blackbird pilot, in his book SR-71 The Complete Illustrated History of THE BLACKBIRD The World’s Highest, Fastest Plane, their aircrews were the only ones certified in Blackbird’s specific radio-silent rendezvous procedures, and their boom operators were the only ones qualified to refuel the SR-71. The Q-model tankers had special plumbing between their fuel tanks, allowing them to transfer JP-4 and JP-7 fuel between various tanks. Their engine could burn JP-4 or JP-7 fuel.

If the SR-71 landed in an area without JP-7 fuel, the Q-model tankers would fly in with the fuel and refill the aircraft using ground-based transfer hoses.

No SR-71 story would be complete without KC-135Q

No story on the SR-71 would be complete without an understanding and appreciation of just how valuable the KC-135Q model tankers and their crews were to the successful and safe completion of every mission. It suffices to say that an SR-71 never ran out of gas, as proved by the following story told by former Blackbird pilot David Peters.

‘There are many stories of the loyalty, bravery, and reliability of our Q tanker guys. This is a great one for sure.

The story of the SR-71 Blackbird that pitched up and collided with a KC-135Q tanker during an air refueling over El Paso

KC-135Q crews bravery

‘Ed Bethart and I were flying a mission out of Kadena and it was definitely thunderstorm season. We were in heavy clouds headed to the tanker after takeoff and as we got DF and distance contact, we couldn’t see a thing. As we closed in, we had our 2000 ft altitude separation and, at a mile, had no contact. So, we told the guys to recheck their altimeter setting because we were coming up a thousand and in 1/2 mile. They confirmed their setting and altitude and airspeed so we moved up and in.

‘Still nothing.

‘Restated the whole thing and that we would come up 500 and close to a 1/4 mile. Still nothing, then like bursting through a curtain there he was right where he said he was.’

Throttles frozen

He continues;

‘We closed for hook up and got contact. I noticed that I kept ducking my head beside something was hitting the windscreen. It was ice falling off the tanker.

‘I said “Hey Teddy (Ted Bittel) you have Ice coming off.” About that time Ed says “we are at 290 kts and descending.” Of course, Teddy could hear that on the boom interphone and he says “yes we have had the throttles frozen for the last half hour so we are trying to get the speed up for when you get heavier.” It all worked out and we got filled up.

‘However, the weather was so bad, when we tried to climb out, we hear very heavy turbulence, rain and lightning. Tried three times to accel but got violent unstarts each time. I tried going to manual inlets to open up and try to make it but it just couldn’t do it so we had to abort and return to Kadena.

A 20 lb block of ice

’In the debrief, the maintenance guys came in and showed us that the wave guide antennas in the nose were gone totally eroded by the rain. Then Chief Kelly came in and dropped a 20 lb block of ice on the table. He said it came from the flight control mixer quadrant.’

Peters concludes;

‘So, another of those stories where circumstances were incredibly difficult to the point of losing the mission but not because our incredible Q guys weren’t there for us.’

Check out Habubrats SR-71’s Twitter profile and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder‘s Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

May 3, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The pilot of an SR-71 with his RSO remembers performing a Blackbird super low pass at 152 knots

by Till Daisd April 25, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The SR-71 Blackbird

One of the most sophisticated Blackbirds, the SR-71 (along with the A-12 and YF-12) was created by a group of Lockheed personnel under the direction of Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, who was vice president of Lockheed’s Advanced Development Company Projects at the time. Known as the “Skunk Works,” this unit is now called Lockheed Martin.

Beginning in the late 1950s, the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft—which made its first flight in April 1962 and remained classified until 1976—served as the model for the Blackbird. The YF-12A interceptor variant was first made public by President Lyndon Johnson on February 29, 1964, which was more than six months after it made its first flight. On December 22, 1964, the SR-71’s maiden flight was completed.

The Blackbird was built to reach altitudes of up to 85,000 feet and cruise at “Mach 3+,” which is more than three times the speed of sound, or more than 2,200 miles per hour.

The SR-71 Blackbird’s slowest speed

‘How high and how fast does it really fly?’ is arguably the most commonly asked question regarding the “Blackbird family”.

What about the slowest speed a Blackbird has ever been known to fly at? The following anecdote from SR-71 pilot Brian Shul’s book Sled Driver may help to clarify this question.

‘I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield.

Uncomfortable speed

‘Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees, as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field-yet; there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field.’

Airspeed indicator sliding below 160 knots

Shul continues;

‘Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and haze, I couldn’t see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward.

‘At this point, we weren’t really flying but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass.

The greatest SR-71 Blackbird fly-past

‘Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn’t say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of “breathtaking” very well that morning and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach.

‘As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there-we hadn’t spoken a word since “the pass.” Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?” Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.” We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again!” And I never did.

Just a routine low approach

Shul concludes;

‘A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer’s club and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, “It was probably just a routine low approach; they’re pretty impressive in that plane.”’

Check out Habubrats SR-71’s Twitter profile and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder’s Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Top image: courtesy of Robin Harbour

April 25, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

How to light the Blackbird’s afterburners when TEB (Triethylborane) wasn’t available

by Till Daisd April 22, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The SR-71 Blackbird

The US Air Force (USAF) created the SR-71 Blackbird in the 1960s; it was a plane that could move at a speed that was more than three times the sound of its own engines.

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 80,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour while flying above 80,000 feet. Furthermore, on the off chance, an enemy tried to shoot it down with a missile, all the Blackbird had to do was speed up and outrun it.

JP-7

The engineering of the SR-71 was so advanced that new tools had to be created in order to build it.

In fact, standard jet fuel could not be employed in the Blackbird because of its Mach 3.2 cruise speed, which caused it to get extremely hot. According to former SR-71 pilot Richard H. Graham’s story in his book SR-71 Revealed: The Inside Story, Shell created a unique fuel blend known as JP-7. This fuel used an additive that raised its flash point, preventing the fuel from breaking down at extremely high temperatures.

SR-71 Blackbird needed TEB (Triethylborane) to light its engines and afterburners

Graham explains;

‘The high flashpoint brings up another problem. Most jet engines use igniter plugs—nothing more than a very hot spark plug if you will. Using these igniter plugs they used with the JP-7 and just drowns it out, it won’t ignite. Kelly [Johnson] put his engineers to work, and he said, ‘OK, gentlemen, how are we going to start this?’ They came up with a very unique way. Triethylborane (TEB for short).

Impressive video shows SR-71 Blackbird J58 Engine tested at Max Afterburner Power — TEB (Triethylborane) was needed to light both the J58 and the engine’s afterburners. The J58 powered the SR-71 Blackbird.

‘Each engine has a one-and-a-quarter pint. If I had it in a squirt gun and I squirted it into the atmosphere, it would go Kaboom!—it explodes with contact with the atmosphere. And that’s how we started the engines. As the engines rotate, at the right time, it sprays this amount of TEB into the turbine section, which goes kaboom, which in turn lights the engine. When you take the throttles up into the afterburner, it puts this metered amount of TEB in that lights up the JP-7. You get 16 shots for each engine.’

TEB was the most dangerous material after fissionable nuclear material

A sealed tank that had been inerted with nitrogen gas and filled with 600cc of TEB by maintenance before each flight was mounted on each engine.

Former SR-71 Blackbird pilot David Peters adds: ‘An interesting note to this is the transport of it. If we landed away, servicing had to be hauled to our location. The NTSB lists TEB as the following most dangerous material, one step below fissionable nuclear material. The folks that handled this stuff were highly trained and good.’

How to light SR-71 Blackbird afterburners without Triethylborane

If TEB wasn’t available, one may now wonder if there was a way to light the Blackbird’s afterburners. Although Peters claims that during the 24 years the SR 71 was in flight, its TEB never ran out—there was a backup plan, just in case. John Olp, an SR-71 mechanic at Beale AFB from 1975 to 1985, explains;

‘The J58 engine had a unique way of lighting the afterburners if TEB wasn’t available for whatever reason.

‘Inserted into three rings of the flame holders were six catalytic ignitors. If TEB wasn’t available, the engines could be manually over-trimmed to increase the exhaust temperature and superheat the ignitors. When the throttles were advanced into afterburner, the glowing catalytic ignitors would light off the fuel, albeit somewhat harshly!

SR-71 Mechanic explains how you could light the Blackbird’s afterburners if TEB (Triethylborane) wasn’t available

‘The catalytic ignitors were in place as a backup if TEB wasn’t available. There was a manual up-trim switch in the cockpit to control engine EGT. It was a hard light off if used, but was an option!’

Olp concludes;

‘Overtemping the engine would only be momentary to allow the afterburner light, probably not enough to cause any damage to the engines. That’s why the manual up-trim switches were available.’

Check out Habubrats SR-71’s Twitter profile and the Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by TSgt. Jose Lopez / U.S. Air Force

April 22, 2024 0 comment

History

There was only one SR-71C produced, and it was known as “The Bastard”

by Till Daisd April 21, 2024

written by Till Daisd

SR-71C The Bastard

The amazing video included in this post was recorded in June 2016 at Hill Air Force Base (AFB) and shows “The Bastard,” SR-71C S/N 61-7981, the last SR-71 produced and the only C model Blackbird ever built. The aircraft was dubbed “The Bastard” because it was a hybrid made up of the rear fuselage of the first YF-12A (S/N 60-6934) and a functional engineering mockup of an SR-71A forward fuselage manufactured for static testing.

After the second of the two B model trainers crashed on January 11, 1968, the new aircraft was built to replace it. On March 14, 1969, the C model took off from the Lockheed plant in Palmdale, California, piloted by Lockheed test pilot Steve Belgeau in the role of reconnaissance systems officer and Blackbird Chief Project Pilot Robert J. Gilliland at the controls. On September 3, 1970, following flight testing, it was handed over to the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, California.

SR-71C last flight

The aircraft, which had just 556.4 flight hours—excluding the 180.9 hours it accumulated when flying as YF-12A S/N 60-6934—made its final flight on April 11, 1976, and was taken out of service on June 24, 1976. After that, it was prepared for long-term storage at the Palmdale, California, Lockheed plant. After Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah intervened, the Air Force assigned the aircraft to the Hill Aerospace Museum in April 1990, and the museum promptly started arranging for its transfer from Beale AFB to Hill AFB.

In July 1990, representatives from the museum, the 405th Combat Logistics Support Squadron (CLSS), the 67th Aerial Port Squadron, and the Air Force Heritage Foundation of Utah flew to California to figure out the best approach to disassembling, packaging, and moving the aircraft.

In August 1990, a crew consisting of sixteen members from the 405th CLSS traveled to California and disassembled the aircraft into three main sections along with several smaller parts, such as a start cart and J58 engine. They then palletized all of the components for transportation on a C-5 Galaxy cargo aircraft. However, when the disassembly operation was completed, no cargo aircraft was immediately available to transport the pieces back to the base. Everything would have to wait.

Only one SR-71C was built and it was nicknamed “The Bastard.” Here’s why. — SR-71C The Bastard

SR-71C The Bastard at Hill AFB

Only the largest components that would need to be transported by cargo aircraft remained after representatives from the 405th CLSS and the 67th Aerial Port Squadron made two trips to Beale AFB in the spring of 1991 using two large flat-bed trucks. It was a C-5 aircraft from Travis AFB that was eventually scheduled for air transport in August 1991, a year after the dismantling started.

The aircraft parts were assembled in a large hangar owned by the 405th CLSS for reassembly and restoration after they all arrived at the base. The aircraft’s extensive two-month reconstruction comprised many active-duty personnel, volunteers, and Air Force Reservists. The finished aircraft was transported to the museum and put on display on October 16, 1991.

Source: U.S. Air Force

Photo by U.S. Air Force

April 21, 2024 0 comment

History

A U-2 pilot recalls how the Cuban Missile Crisis almost turned into WWIII

by Till Daisd April 16, 2024

written by Till Daisd

A U-2 pilot tells a scary story that took place during the Cuban Missile Crisis

August 1955 saw the first flight of the original U-2A, which was built by Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works in total secrecy. Early flights over the Soviet Union in the late 1950s provided the president and other US decision-makers with key intelligence on Soviet military capability.

The Cuban Missile Crisis began in October 1962 when the U-2 captured images showing the Soviet Union stockpiling nuclear missiles for offensive use in Cuba.

The fear of World War III

Everyone was terrified of a third world war following the Cuban Crisis. Situated barely ninety miles from Florida, the island of Cuba had installed nuclear missiles that might reach the United States.

On Oct. 23, 1962, Butch Sheffield’s daughter remembers his father telling her mother to go to the commissary and buy as much food as possible. At that time, we lived in Texas at Carswell Air Force Base (AFB). Butch Sheffield, who was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer, as he was leaving, said to fly the B-58 Hustler bomber on red alert.

Buddy Brown, one of only 12 men in the world who flew both the U-2 and the SR-71

They lived at Beale AFB seven years later, and Buddy Brown was their neighbor. He was one of the only 12 men in the world who flew both the U-2 and the SR-71. The following is an interview by Buddy Brown given ten years ago to Oakridger.

‘Now let me say something about that Cuban Missile Crisis. This is probably as close as this nation has ever come to being in World War III,’ Brown began. ‘When I say close, it was probably about that far from pushing a button to launch a nuclear torpedo,’ he stated, as he gestured with two of his fingers only a few inches apart.

The crew of a Soviet submarine thought that World War III had started

‘I was at a 50-year thing at George Mason University about a year ago, and they were celebrating (the 50th anniversary of) the Cuban Missile Crisis. Since I was one of the pilots, they had me talk to the group there about that. I sat next to Sergei Khrushchev — (Soviet Premier Nikita) Khrushchev’s son — who was around 30 years old during the Cuban Missile Crisis and is now a professor at Brown University. But he was telling us that the Soviets had some diesel subs inside the line there in case nuclear war started.

The story of Buddy Brown, the U-2 pilot that took part to O Club parties wearing fake bad teeth to joke about the ozone level effect on U-2 drivers — Buddy Brown in front of an SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3 spy plane

‘Well, this one person running the submarine thought we were, in fact, at war — because they didn’t have any contact,’ Brown recalled. ‘They had a bunch of naval ships out there and, fortunately, somebody with a cooler brain stopped him from doing that — but he was about three inches from pushing and launching one of those nuclear torpedoes at one of our naval ships out there.’ He paused and stated: ‘Now that would have started it right there.’ The Soviets had, in Cuba, about sixty 1-megaton weapons that were ready to go. Cruise missiles and a few other things.’

1 MEGAton nuclear weapons

Brown concludes;

Former U-2 pilot tells the story of the Soviet submarine that almost fired a nuclear torpedo at a US Navy ship during the Cuban Missile Crisis — Soviet submarine B-59, forced to the surface by US Naval forces in the Caribbean near Cuba.

‘To make a comparison, the ones that they set off during World War II at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was about 15 kt (kiloton) — now we’re talking about 1 MEGAton and they were going to use them. Well, fortunately, none of that happened and it ended up that we didn’t go to war; but it was probably the closest this nation has ever been.’

Check out Habubrats SR-71’s Twitter profile and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder’s Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force, CIA and U.S. Navy

April 16, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The chief of the SR-71 crew reveals why the Blackbird never stopped leaking fuel

by Till Daisd April 3, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The SR-71 Blackbird

The US Air Force (USAF) created the SR-71 Blackbird in the 1960s; it was a plane that could move at a speed that exceeded three times the sound of its own engines.

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+, from 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. Additionally, the Blackbird only needed to accelerate in order to outrun any attacker that could attempt to shoot it down with a missile. Its engineering was so advanced that new tools had to be created to assemble the SR-71.

JP-7 fuel

Ordinary jet fuel couldn’t be used in the Blackbird because of how hot it grew during its Mach 3.2 run. It was necessary to use jet fuel with a high flash point and high thermal stability. To meet this requirement, Shell created a unique fuel blend known as JP-7, which has a high flashpoint to keep the fuel from igniting due to the heat from the airframe.

One more issue with operating at Mach 3+ was that, when the SR-71 was designed, no sealant could endure the intense heat produced by an aircraft traveling at that speed.

SR-71 crew chief explains why the Blackbird never stopped to leak fuel and why SR-71s on public display are still weeping JP-7 today — Fuel leakages can be seen under this SR-71 Blackbird.

SR-71 Blackbird leak fuel

The Blackbird consequently leaked fuel. Everyone knows about the fuel leak on the SR-71. They frequently chuckle about it, as if to imply that there was a serious problem with the Blackbird. However, as we have previously shown, this is untrue.

Master Sgt. Floyd Jones (ret.) worked on the Blackbird for nearly 20 years, (according to Air Zoo, Jones entered the USAF in 1966. Assigned to Beale AFB in 1967, Jones became an SR-71 Crew Chief/Phase Inspector. After international assignments, he returned to Beale in 1980, where he became an SR-71 Inspection Dock Chief. Later, Jones worked with SR-71 flight testing and scheduled an SR-71 aircraft to wash at Beale). He was asked if the Blackbird continued to leak fuel, even when it was flying. Here’s his answer.

‘During the PDM [Phase Depot Maintenance], over 10,000 man-hours were expended for fuel tank repair. When the SR was turned over to the Air Force, the fuel leaks were mostly fixed. But after flying at speed, the leaks started to return.

‘You need to understand what constitutes a fuel tank on the SR-71.

‘It starts with an aircraft structure that is sealed with a polymer sealant on all edges and seems.

‘After flying at speed and altitude, the sealant starts to crack, thus creating a leak. Since we couldn’t find a sealant that could withstand the extreme temperature changes a plus 500 degrees to a minus 30.’

SR-71 Blackbird continues to leak fuel

Jones concludes;

‘So yes, the SR-71 would continue to leak under all conditions. It never stopped, even today, 30 years after they were put on public display. They are weeping JP-7 fuel.’

Check out Habubrats SR-71’s Twitter profile and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder‘s Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

April 3, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

An SR-71 pilot denied an F-15 pilot an easy simulated kill during a training sortie

by Till Daisd March 29, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘The next pass was different. I said to Jim that our F-15 jockeys are the best in the world, let’s give them a challenge,’ Former SR-71 Blackbird pilot, Capt. Steve “Griz” Grzebiniak

The SR-71 Blackbird gathered intelligence in some of the world’s most dangerous environments during its 24 years of operation. The Blackbird is still the only US Air Force (USAF) aircraft to have never lost a crew member, either in the air or on the ground, having successfully avoided all 4,000 missiles fired at it.

The Blackbird was built to operate at extremely high altitudes and speeds; from 80,000 feet, it could cover 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. It was therefore very difficult for any hostile fighter to get a radar lock on it. However, according to former Blackbird driver Col. Richard H. Graham, USAF (Ret.) two fighters could achieve (simulated) SR-71 kills, but only under certain conditions.

‘Don Emmons and I, as well as many other Habus, had flown numerous at “Tomcat Chase” and “Eagle Bait” sorties against our best fighters—the Navy’s F-14s and the Air Force’s F-15s,’ says Richard H. Graham, former SR-71 Blackbird pilot, in his book SR-71 Revealed The Inside Story. ‘We flew the SR to provide the fighters practice at finding, tracking, locking on, intercepting, and simulated firing of their sophisticated F-14 “Phoenix” missile and the F-15 ‘s AIM-7M “Sparrow” at a high-altitude, high-speed target. The “Tomcat Chase” missions were flown over the Pacific Ocean and the “Eagle Bait” missions the Nellis AFB training area.’

The AIM-7 Sparrow, the only all-weather missile deployed by the US Air Force (USAF), required the aircraft’s radar to continue tracking the SR-71 long after the missiles were launched. This was before the newest generation of air-to-air missiles (the AMRAAM, a fire-and-forget missile with an initial range of roughly 35 miles) was developed. The Sparrow had to remain locked on to the SR-71 for its Fire Control System (FCS) to relay tracking information back to the missile, so it could make appropriate corrections, racing towards the target. When the SR-71 aircrew activated their Defensive systems (DEF, pronounced “deaf”), they could easily prevent the F-15 aircraft from receiving any useful radar data to direct their missiles.

Graham continues;

‘All I ever heard on the radios from the fighters as they sped underneath us was, “Ah damn it, we’re too late!” We tried for years to get SAC Headquarters approval to practice the same intercepts with Det 1’s SR-71s against Kadena’s F-15s. Every Det 1 Commander, particularly Col. Lee Shelton, pushed to get the practice intercepts approved because they believed a lot could be learned by both aircraft. Eventually, SAC gave in to Colonel Shelton’s repeated requests and approved the practice intercepts. In order to get high enough to take a reasonable shot at us, F-15 crews were given special permission to do a zoom-climb to 50,000 to 55,000 feet before a simulated AIM-7 launch against the SR-71. They had permission to be above 50,000 feet for a maximum time of 90 seconds without wearing a pressure suit.’

Former SR-71 pilot, Capt. Steve “Griz” Grzebiniak, writes about the Kadena intercepts in Graham’s book SR-71 Revealed The Inside Story.

‘We flew the HABU as a high-altitude target for the F-15’s only on our infrequently scheduled “DEBBIE” training sorties. We were the fighter’s “training aid,” but it provided us with some valuable training and insight as well. I think it’s common knowledge that our aircraft and pilots are the finest in the world and if anyone could shoot down an SR-71, it would be one of our own.

‘Our pre-briefed mission required us to fly a specific track, at Mach 2.8 and no higher than 70,000 feet. In addition, we were required to fly over a designated point in space (the IP) and call our time out from the IP in one-minute intervals starting five minutes back. If that wasn’t enough, we would dump some fuel at the IP to help the fighters get a visual “tally” on us. After each mission, we would debrief by phone, and the F-15 drivers would report “four AIM-7s launched, four kills on the HABU.”

‘The next target sortie Jim and I flew had a different outcome. We were scheduled to make two passes over the intercept track. The F-15 guys were excited to have another chance to “smoke” the HABU. On the next pass, Jim and I flew the plan as briefed. One minute calls from the IP, on course, on altitude, Mach 2.8, “Here’s some fuel dump guys, come and get us.” The next pass was different. I said to Jim that our F-15 jockeys are the best in the world, let’s give them a challenge. Jim and I knew that we were flying our favorite jet, tail number 962—she never let us down. We came down the track to the IP, making our one-minute calls, but there was no fuel to dump because we were at 86,000 feet and Mach 3.2. The inlet doors were slammed shut and the jet was purring like a kitten. I made a shallow 10-degree bank turn, not so much to foil the F-15 ‘s intercept, but to allow Jim to see the contrails flailing below us.

‘In the phone debrief after the mission, the F-15 flight lead reported “four shots and four kills” on the first pass and mumbled something about radar problems and no kills on the second pass. Even with the world’s best planes, pilots, and missiles, it would take “a golden BB” [a lucky blind shot by the enemy] to bring down a HABU.’

Photo by MASTER SGT. Bill Thompson U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin

March 29, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

A rare aluminum gun was included in the survival kit for the SR-71 Blackbird crew members

by Till Daisd March 25, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The survival kit carried by Blackbird’s pilots and RSOs included a few unconventional items, even though no SR-71 was ever shot down

The Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft were the basis for the development of the long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft known as the SR-71, or “Blackbird,” as it was informally called. The 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, received the first SR-71 to begin service in January 1966. The first SR-71 flight occurred on December 22, 1964.

Nothing that had come before the Blackbird could compare to it.“Everything had to be invented. Everything,” in an interesting article that surfaced on the Lockheed Martin website, renowned aircraft designer Kelly Johnson of Skunk Works recalled.

During its service, the SR-71 Blackbird gathered intelligence in some of the most dangerous environments on Earth. Blackbird’s pilots and RSOs carried a survival kit that included a few unconventional items, even though no SR-71 was ever shot down.

SR-71-Survival-Kit-1 — SR-71 Blackbird Pilots Survival Kit

The inclusion of an extremely uncommon aluminum gun in the Blackbird’s survival kit is quite interesting! Aluminum was used to make the gun lightweight. Rodney Miller was informed about the gun for protection by his former SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO), Col. Richard (Butch) Sheffield.

According to Last Stand On Zombie Island, one long-standing joke/urban legend was that the SR-71’s survival kit contained: “One low-power 38 revolver; two boxes of ammunition; four days’ concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings.”

However, as former Blackbird’s pilot Richard Graham explains in his book SR-71 Revealed the Inside History, “the survival kit contained standard Air Force survival items: a one-man life raft, day/night flares, desalinization kit, emergency UHF radio with spare batteries, first aid kit, thermal blanket, fishing gear, survival manual, and maps. Tethered between you and the survival kit was the inflated one-man life raft, ready for a water landing.”

An additional item carried in the pressure suite (not in the survival kit located in the ejection seat) was a sealed envelope containing instructions for the SR-71 crew members to present to anyone causing them trouble. Butch Sheffield gave the sealed envelope to the base commander in South Korea when they were upset about having an SR-71 land on their tiny base. We are not sure what was in that envelope or what it said but the base commander smiled and then was compatible and willing to do anything to make the crew comfortable.

Check out the Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook pages for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force and Linda Sheffield Miller

March 25, 2024 0 comment

History

CIA financed A-12 Oxcart secretly through back-door payments to Lockheed with personal checks to Kelly Johnson for over $1 million

by Till Daisd March 20, 2024

written by Till Daisd

‘Everything about the A-12 Oxcart program was dark alley, cloak, and dagger. Even the way they financed the operation was highly unconventional,’ Ben Rich, second Director of Lockheed’s Skunk Works

As a replacement for the U-2 spy plane, the CIA created the highly classified A-12 Oxcart with the goal of providing the country with a very fast, extremely high-flying reconnaissance aircraft capable of avoiding Soviet air defenses. Lockheed, the company that built the U-2, was given the Oxcart contract by the CIA in 1959.

Under the direction of renowned engineer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, Lockheed overcame many technical obstacles to meet the A-12’s extreme speed and altitude requirements. These included innovations in titanium fabrication, lubricants, jet engines, fuel, navigation, flight control, electronic countermeasures, radar stealthiness, and pilot life-support systems.

The A-12 was declared fully operational in 1965 following hundreds of hours of flight at high risk by an elite team of CIA and Lockheed test pilots. The aircraft had achieved the design goal of maintaining a sustained speed of Mach 3.2 at an altitude of 90,000 feet.

Ben-Rich-Kelly-Johnson — Ben Rich (left) and Kelly Johnson (right)

In his book “Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed,” Ben Rich—the second Director of Lockheed’s Skunk Works from 1975 to 1991, following its founder, Kelly Johnson—recalls an intriguing detail about how the CIA funded the A-12 Oxcart program.

‘Everything about this project was a dark alley, cloak, and dagger. Even the way they financed the operation was highly unconventional: using secret contingency funds, they back-doored payment to Lockheed by writing personal checks to Kelly [Johnson*] for more than a million bucks as start-up costs. The checks arrived by regular mail at his Encino home, which had to be the wildest government payout in history. Johnson could have absconded with the dough and taken off on a one-way ticket to Tahiti. He banked the funds through a phony company called “C & J Engineering,” the “C & J” standing for Clarence Johnson. Even our drawings bore the logo “C & J”—the word “Lockheed” never appeared. We used a mail drop out at Sunland, a remote locale in the San Fernando Valley, for suppliers to send us parts. The local postmaster got curious about all the crates and boxes piling up in his bins and looked up “C & J” in the phone book and, of course, found nothing. So, he decided to have one of his inspectors follow our unmarked van as it traveled back to Burbank. Our security people nabbed him just outside the plant and had him signing national security secrecy forms until he pleaded writer’s cramp.”

*According to Kelly Johnson’s book Kelly: More Than My Share of It All, he became known as ‘Kelly’ Johnson (his full name being Clarence Leonard Johnson) because, while attending grade school in Michigan, he was ridiculed for his name, Clarence. Some boys started calling him “Clara”. One morning, while waiting in line to get into a classroom, one boy started with the normal routine of calling him “Clara”. Johnson tripped him so hard that the boy broke a leg. The boys then decided that he was not a “Clara” after all, and started calling him “Kelly”. The nickname came from the popular song at the time, “Has Anyone Here Seen Kelly? (Kelly from the Emerald Isle)”. Henceforth, he was always known as “Kelly” Johnson.

Check out Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook pages for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

March 20, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

A smart valve on the SR-71 Blackbird allowed to use JP-7 fuel as internal coolant

by Till Daisd March 19, 2024

written by Till Daisd

Only the hottest fuel was transferred to the engines by the SR-71 Blackbird smart valve, while cooler fuel was sent to the avionics and to retract landing gear

The Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft were the basis for the long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft known as the SR-71, or “Blackbird,” as it was informally called. The 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, received the first SR-71 to begin service in January 1966, while the first SR-71 flight occurred on December 22, 1964.

The SR-71 Blackbird spy plane has been 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 hovering above 80,000 feet. And if an enemy tried to shoot it down with a missile, all the Blackbird had to do was speed up and outrun it.

Everything that had come before the Blackbird was not comparable. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” in an interesting article that appeared on the Lockheed Martin website, Kelly Johnson, the founder and famed aircraft designer of Skunk Works, recalled.

In the book Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed, Ben Rich, the second Director of Lockheed’s Skunk Works from 1975 to 1991 (who succeeded Johnson), explains that the design team led by him and Johnson looked to Shell Gas to develop a fuel with high thermal stability so that it would not break down and deposit coke and varnish in the fuel system passages.

Rich says, “We needed the fuel to remain stable at enormous temperature ranges. The JP-7 (as it was later known), was at -60° when a KC-135 tanker pumped fuel into the SR-71. The fuel acted as an internal coolant. All the heat built up inside the aircraft was transferred to the fuel by heat exchanges. They designed a smart valve that could sense temperature changes. It supplied only the hottest fuel to the engines. The smart valve sent cooler fuel to the retracted landing gear and avionics.”

The cockpit was cooled by the fuel, as already explained. The air conditioning bled off the engine compressor, dumped it through a fuel cooler, and then through an expansion turbo into the cabin at a temperature of -40°.

Refueling made Butch Sheffield, the SR-71’s eight-year RSO, happy since it allowed the cockpit to chill down. As fuel ran low, it would get more and more uncomfortable in the cockpit.

Check out Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook pages for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

March 19, 2024 0 comment

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