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planes

When traveling at Mach 1.5, an SR-71 Blackbird lost its drag chute

by Till Daisd June 14, 2023

“With no drag chute doors, the drag chute had departed the aircraft and was lost at sea. We were grateful to the Lockheed engineers for designing the drag chute to lock to the aircraft only when the drag chute handle was pulled. One can only imagine the effect of the chute deploying in-flight at Mach 1.5!” Former SR-71 RSO Lt. Col. Curt Osterheld

The SR-71’s drag chute system was employed to assist the plane in stopping while it was rolling out for landing. The drag chute compartment was between the two rudders, on the top of the rear fuselage. The drag chute compartment doors opened and several chutes started to deploy when the pilot pulled on the drag chute T-handle on the instrument panel.

The “pilot chute” was the first chute to eject (forty-two-inch diameter). Its task was to draw out the “extraction chute,” which had a ten-foot diameter and produced aerodynamic lift when it touched the air stream. These two chutes both descended to the runway.

When the extraction chute hit the air stream, it pulled the safety pin holding the main chute in place. As the safety pin was taken out, the main chute, which had a forty-foot diameter and was attached to the aircraft, could now open and slow the sixty-thousand-pound (plus fuel) SR-71. The landing rollout caused the chute to be launched into the runway at a speed of 55 knots.

RSO Lt. Col. Curt Osterheld (Ret) explains that the drag chute doors occasionally opened accidentally at high Mach, causing issues, in Col. Richard H. Graham’s book The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird:

“In January 1984, Joe [Pilot Lt. Col. Joe Matthews] and I were on our first operational tour at Det 1, Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan. The mission profile took us west on an ELINT collection over the South China Sea and then east across the DMZ in Korea. We were in acceleration after our initial refueling. At about Mach 1.5, we felt a sharp jolt that shook the aircraft violently. We both passed it off as clear air turbulence and pressed on. After a while, Joe remarked that the trim didn’t look right so I calculated a manual CG (Center of Gravity) and confirmed that for our fuel indications, it was correct, although the CG seemed to be moving all over the place.

By now we noticed we were about three thousand pounds low on the fuel curve and rapidly getting farther behind. The autopilot kept kicking off. The aircraft would not stay trimmed. At last, we were so far down the fuel curve that there was no alternative but to abort back to Kadena. The descent gave us plenty of unstarts as I broadcast the appropriate HF message, admitting our failure to the whole world. The new guy’s paranoia crept in as we wondered what we had screwed up. The approach to runway 05R was uneventful, and Joe made a perfect landing. Then, as we both spouted expletives, we realized there was no reassuring tug from the drag chute — it had failed, or so we thought. Some judicious braking and rapid-fire discussion over the radio about arming/disarming the barrier, and the SR was brought to a safe stop. As we taxied into the hangar, a lot of ashen-faced maintenance folks were pointing at our jet.

Read the story of the SR-71 crew that landed their Blackbird in zero visibility

The jolt we had felt earlier on the acceleration was caused by the right drag chute door popping up into the slipstream and ripping loose from the aircraft. As the drag chute door departed, it acted like a can opener on fuel tank 6 and cut a ten-inch gash that allowed fuel to siphon out. The fuel leak caused our trim and CG transients that even the autopilot couldn’t keep up with. With no drag chute doors, the drag chute had departed the aircraft and was lost at sea. We were grateful to the Lockheed engineers for designing the drag chute to lock to the aircraft only when the drag chute handle was pulled. One can only imagine the effect of the chute deploying in-flight at Mach 1.5!”

Photo by Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force

June 14, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

The SR-71 Blackbird’s mission, which lasted 7 hours flying from Kadena to the Persian Gulf and back

by Till Daisd June 13, 2023

written by Till Daisd

“Like every other crew, we wanted this mission. It was special, it was a first, it would cover territory that the jet had never been in, and it would provide the test of skill and “stuff” that every aviator/adventurer requires from time to time,” former SR-71 pilot Lt. Col. Mike Smith

In the following post, which appears in Col. Richard H. Graham’s book The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird, former SR-71 pilot Lt. Col. Mike Smith (Ret) tells the story of a very special Blackbird mission.

A Very Tiring Mission

Major Doug Soifer and I were still pretty new at the game when the first oil tanker convoys were to be escorted into the Persian Gulf past the Iranian threats of a blockade. We were at Kadena as a younger senior crew when tasking came down for an SR-71 mission into the Persian Gulf to locate “Silkworm” anti-ship missiles.

In higher headquarters, there had been a lot of debate over which Det should fly the mission. Plans were made and remade, maps drawn and redrawn, problems studied and restudied until the powers that be finally decided that an SR-71 would fly from Kadena to the Persian Gulf and back, one of the longest missions ever flown in the SR-71. It would be a real test for both individuals and technology. We desired this mission, just like every other team. It was unique, it was a first, it would travel over unknown terrain for this jet, and it would offer the occasional test of ability and “stuff” that every aviator and adventurer needs.

Det 1 was led by Colonel Tom Alison, who spent what felt like weeks planning, thinking about, and studying the mission. There were occasions when it appeared that the slow-moving convoys might enter the gulf before the SR-71 due to minor changes in targets or routing. Of course, the 975 was the best jet and should be used as the primary jet, with the 967 (our preference) serving as the airborne spare. Tankers and aircrews were completely overrun in Kadena.

The intended mission required a flight period of more than eleven hours, five refuelings, thousands of miles between viable emergency runways, and a target area so narrow that we would need to reduce our speed just to maintain course due to the SR-71’s huge turn radius at high speeds. The staff was well prepared. On the morning of our mission, on July 22, 1987, a beautiful day on a tropical island, twenty-seven tankers would depart in order to transport our lone black jet to the Persian Gulf and back.

We began the routine: normal crew brief, suit-up, and then [we] got the word of a slight delay. The ANS wasn’t quite right. We elected to go out to the jet and wait for the fix, and in a few minutes, we were told that they were finishing up. No sooner had we stood up than Colonel Alison rushed up to tell us that maintenance had dropped apart under the ejection seat and we would be taking the spare-967, our jet.

Takeoff was a heavyweight [sixty-five thousand pounds of fuel] right to supersonic cruise—we were exhilarated. Our only shortage was our oxygen—which we used at a very high rate for the first hour—but after tightening up our helmet face seals a little, our oxygen use slowed to normal. We would laugh later that it had been our heavy breathing that was using up the oxygen. After the first refueling, the jet settled into its rhythm and flew perfectly for the entire flight. The crew in the airborne spare was right behind us, ready to take over if we developed problems.

We flew over places that were new to us. I saw inlet temperatures climb seventy degrees in less than a minute in level flight above seventy thousand feet and clouds so high and so white they seemed to glow over the Indian Ocean. Finally, we arrived in the target area and flew through the Strait of Hormuz, right over the convoys. We had to slow to about Mach 2.5 to make the turn inside the Gulf and were listening to the E-3 airborne warning and control system make threat calls in addition to watching our own equipment. Fortunately, we were busy and finished so quickly that the threats didn’t have time to become dangerous.

The incredible story of the SR-71 Blackbird that flew an eleven-hour-long mission from Kadena to the Persian Gulf and back

We had both been confident that we would get to the target. Now came the tough part. We had to get home. Unfortunately, the weather moved into our last refueling area. When we finally found the tankers, one had a bad refueling boom and the other had no director lights. The refueling was OK. After one last supersonic leg, 11.2 hours after we left Kadena, we landed in the dark with no liquid nitrogen remaining. The maintenance and operations support guys were ecstatic; 967 had run flawlessly—no writeups for the entire mission. It was the greatest feeling of my life!

Photo by NASA and U.S. Air Force

June 13, 2023 0 comment

History

The Ki-43 Hayabusa pilot who claimed the downing of four USAAF P-38 Lightning in a fight never happened

by Till Daisd June 12, 2023

written by Till Daisd

In Japan, Warrant Officer Shiromoto Nauharu Hayabusa’s alleged exploits as a pilot over the Solomon Islands on January 31, 1943, have become legendary.

The Japanese started constructing an airfield at Munda, nearly midway between Guadalcanal and Rabaul, in late 1942, nearing the end of the Guadalcanal campaign. On Kolombangara Island, which is only fifteen miles from Munda and is immediately recognizable by its unusual 5,000-foot conical volcanic mountain, a smaller emergency strip at Vila was built. About 10,000 Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) personnel would eventually occupy these two locations, which they were told to defend to the death, as detailed by Michael John Claringbould in his book Pacific Adversaries Volume One.

On January 31, 1943, a coordinated fighter sweep over the region was started from Guadalcanal at midday by the US Army Air Forces (USAAF), US Navy (USN), and US Marine Corps (USMC). Such coordinated efforts were not uncommon, and on this particular day, they included eight 67th FS P-39s, four 44th FS Warhawks, two 339th FS P-38 Lightnings, and Grumman F4F Wildcats from VMF-112 and VMO-251 in addition to these other aircraft: a truly unusual combination of airpower even for this theater!

At a height of around 20,000 feet and with excellent sight, the American formation descended toward the conspicuous Kolombangara feature. Their objective was to shoot down any hostile aircraft they came across near Munda or Vila. The fighters flew over Vila and were met by AAA, but there was no aerial opposition. They moved toward Munda since the small grassy airfield appeared to be deserted.

A lone “Nagoya-type Zero” was spotted at 13,000 feet approximately east of Munda at 14:15 hours. On this lone foe, a pair of Airacobras made an overhead pass before it banked and hid between cumulus clouds to avoid battle. It turned out to be a 1st Sentai Mark I Hayabusa (Nakajima Ki-43, Allied reporting name: Oscar), piloted by Warrant Officer Shiromoto Nauharu, assigned to Captain Kanaya Yoshihiro’s No. 3 chutai, which had just recently moved into a temporary residence at Munda from its new base at Ballale Island.

A whole chutai of Hayabusas led by Captain Fujita Juro, chutaicho of the No. 3 chutai of the 11th Sentai, had joined Kanaya’s fliers on January 29, 1943. To familiarize the unit’s less experienced pilots with the Solomons area, Fujita had brought a dispersed group of eleven Buka Hayabusa. Also, they would relieve Kanaya’s chutai, who would soon return to Ballale.

The runway at the Munda airfield was rather short and had little room for dispersal. The two Hayabusa units and a dozen Ki-48 Sokei light bombers of the 45th Sentai were housed in the same little area. The Ki-48s hurried to evacuate Munda after alerting them to the approaching Americans. Only one Hayabusa was able to take off in the chaos on the little, dusty runway: Shiromoto.

Shiromoto was one of the youngest pilots to take part in the Nomonhan Incident against the Soviets in 1939 at the age of 25. Together with the remainder of the 1st Sentai, he had also battled for Malaya and Singapore before arriving in Rabaul on January 9, 1943. Shiromoto subsequently reported that he pursued a large enemy formation of twenty aircraft, attacked it, shot down two Lightings, and brought to the collision of another pair.

Only two Lightnings, though, flew over Munda that day, and neither of them even saw a Japanese fighter, much less engaged one. Shiromoto’s distant aerial behavior briefly diverted other US pilots before they passed overhead of Munda. Unfortunately, a low cloud blocked their view, making it impossible for them to see the about twenty Hayabusa scattered throughout the airfield. The Americans left for Guadalcanal in order to avoid being subjected to AAA fire from an ostensibly empty field and the lack of any aviation threats.

Once the Americans had departed, a gloating Shiromoto returned to Munda and wowed his friends with how his aerial prowess had thwarted a significant American fighter assault. Even today, Japanese tradition honors Shiromoto for his alleged bravery and inventiveness despite the absence of any Japanese witnesses.

In the meantime, the retreating Sokei bombers left Munda and arrived at Kahili airfield on the southern edge of Bougainville. They arrived back in Munda a little while later, and Australian Coastwatcher John Keenan witnessed them travel across the Vella Gulf around 1730 hours with binoculars. The twin-engine bombers were described by him as “transport planes bound for Vila.” In one respect, Keenan was right; the Sokei had made use of their time in Kahili to collect supplies.

Shiromoto finished a tough war in New Guinea with the 11th Sentai after his imagined exploits on January 31, 1943, and he arrived back in Japan in September of that same year. He was arrested by Russians in Korea in 1945, and they punished him for his involvement in Nomonhan by imprisoning him in Siberia until 1947.

Pacific Adversaries Volume One is published by Casemate Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by Jack Fellows via Warfare History Network and Stumanusa own work via Wikipedia

The Story of the Ki-43 Hayabusa pilot that claimed the shooting down of four USAAF P-38 Lightnings in an air battle that never was

June 12, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

Stricken F-4D returned to base safely without his backseater

by Till Daisd June 11, 2023

written by Till Daisd

“My sensation was that the aircraft as out of control and I ordered Kenny to eject which he did. Instinctively, I took the stick and throttles in hand, and to my amazement, the aircraft was flyable,” Ray Battle, F-4D pilot

An F-4D #66-0249 belonging to the 433rd TFS, Ubon RTAB, Thailand, was hit by a 37mm anti-aircraft fire on November 18, 1968, rendering the Phantom uncontrollable. Pilot Major Ben “Ray” Battle ordered 1Lt. Robert “Kenny” Boone, the WSO, to eject from the aircraft. The plane was able to be controlled after the ejection, and Major Boone performed a gear-up landing at Ubon. Battle survived the landing and Boone was rescued unhurt from the Laotian jungle. Ray Battle recalls.

“Kenny Boone and I were flying a fast-mover FAC mission along the Ho Chi Min trail in Laos. It was an orientation ride for Kenny as he was newly assigned to my unit. We were at 4000 feet and Kenny was flying the airplane when I heard an explosion, the aircraft shuddered and the front windscreen was covered in what turned out to be hydraulic fluid. My sensation was that the aircraft was out of control and I ordered Kenny to eject which he did. Instinctively, I took the stick and throttles in hand, and to my amazement, the aircraft was flyable. I called for help for Kenny and headed back to Thailand where we were stationed. I was given the option of ejecting or landing gear up as the landing gear would not come down. I elected to land gear up and catch the runway wire with my tailhook. I have 150 aircraft carrier landings and thought I could easily make an arrested landing on the runway. I pulled the power off just as I touched down and the aircraft settled onto the wire cutting it. The aircraft slid down the runway and veered off to the right before fish-hooking to the right and stop. It caught on fire and I jumped out safely. As you know Kenny was recovered after spending a nervous night hanging in a tree in Laos. In retrospect, my ordering Kenny to eject was a mistake that I have always regretted. I felt at the time I was saving his life and I intended to eject him after he did. We both survived the incident for which I am grateful.”

Here's why the pilot of this stricken F-4D returned to base safely without his backseater

As reported by Sierra Hotel Aeronautics, F-4D #66-0249 was eventually repaired, needing a new nose cone, some paint, and a new seat for the guy in the back. She returned to service two years later in February of 1970 and went on to enjoy a long career. Sadly Ol’ #249 saw her end with a plunge in the Florida Gulf, flying out of Tyndall AFB in 1985.

The F-4D #66-0249 was finally fixed, according to Sierra Hotel Aeronautics; it required a new nose cone, some paint, and a new seat for the passenger in the back. She went back to work in February 1970, two years later, and continued to have a successful career. Tragically, Ol’ #249 met her demise in 1985 after taking off from Tyndall AFB and plunging into the Florida Gulf.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

June 11, 2023 0 comment

History

The Air Warrior Combat Memorial, honoring ace pilot Robin Olds and air power, unveiled by the USAF Academy.

by Till Daisd June 10, 2023

written by Till Daisd

As commander of cadets from 1967 to 1970, Robin Olds was a “triple ace” with 17 victories in both World War II and the Vietnam War. He served in the military for 30 years before retiring from the Air Force in 1973.

At the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a $1.4 million memorial commemorating the first 100 years of aerial combat was inaugurated on October 1, 2021.

According to Ray Bowden, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs, in the article “Academy honors air power, ace pilot Robin Olds with the memorial,” the Air Warrior Combat Memorial, which is located close to North Gate and Stadium Boulevards, includes a bronze statue of Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, a former commandant of cadets and pilot, as well as a model of an F-4 Phantom aircraft and displays highlighting the development of air power since World War I.

According to Greg Knedler, vice president of the class and constituent development for the school’s fundraising arm, the Academy Foundation, 368 donors together covered the full cost of the memorial, with the class of ’71 contributing 90% of it.

USAF Academy unveils Air Warrior Combat Memorial honoring ace pilot Robin Olds and air power — Above: The $1.4 million Air Warrior Combat Memorial was unveiled with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy, on Oct. 1, 2021. The memorial, near North Gate and Stadium boulevards at the base, features a statue of the former commandant of cadets and ace pilot, Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, an F4 Phanton aircraft model and displays highlighting the advances of air power since World War I. Top image: United States Air Force Academy graduates, family members, and staff tour the just-unveiled Air Warrior Combat memorial at the Academy, Oct. 1, 2021. The $1.4 million memorial features a model of the F4 Phantom aircraft and a statue of ace pilot and former Academy commandant of cadets, Brig. Gen. Robin Olds.

The memorial is the culmination of an 11-year fundraising and design effort organized by the Class of ’71, according to retired Col. Frank Morgan, a 1971 Academy graduate and project chair.

After the class’s 40th reunion in 2011, “We were eating pizza and having a beer,” he said. “That’s how this started. We all knew we needed to do something.”

Morgan claimed that graduates from the Academy’s classes of ’63 and ’69 as well as private contributors all helped to the fundraising campaign. The Academy’s commandant of cadets and fighter pilot, Brigadier General Paul Moga, graduated from the institution in 1995. He claimed that Olds is the prototype for air power. Beside his office are pictures of each Academy commandant, but Olds’ picture is the one the commandant focuses on the most.

He chuckled, “I feel his eyes tracking me. According to Moga, Olds set a positive example for all Airmen and cadets with his “deep commitment to the Air Force, air power, and Airmen.” He claimed that the memorial serves as an illustration of the “grit, discipline, innovation, and courage” cadets must possess in order to succeed as warfighters.

Olds served as the commander of cadets from 1967 to 1970 and was a “triple ace” with 17 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. He served in the military for 30 years before retiring from the Air Force in 1973.

Because his father served as a World War I pursuit pilot, a personal assistant to Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell, and the commander of the first B-17 squadron, Robin Olds grew up surrounded by military aviators and airplanes. At West Point, where he studied, Robin Olds’ innate fearlessness helped him succeed on the football field; in 1942, he was chosen as an All-American tackle. Olds completed his studies in 1943, then he attended aviation training before flying the P-38 in Europe.

As a risk-taking pilot and natural leader, Olds distinguished out. He became the 479th Fighter Group’s first ace within a few months after downing five hostile aircraft. He received a major promotion and 434th Fighter Squadron command while he was just 22 years old. As the unit switched to P-51s, Olds continued his success, and he concluded the war with 12 victories.

Olds assumed control of the 8th TFW at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in the fall of 1966. Because of Olds’ charisma and bravery, his people admired him, and the “Wolfpack” became the USAF’s most effective MiG-killing wing in Southeast Asia under his command. The Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association, which facilitated communication between USAF wings in Southeast Asia and developed into an enduring fraternal group, was also founded in large part thanks to Olds.

Robin Olds MiG Kill — Col. Robin Olds painting a victory star on the F-4 he was flying on May 4, 1967, when he shot down a MiG-21.

Olds took the initiative and flew on the most dangerous missions, sharing the risks with his aircrews. He was the first USAF pilot to use F-4s in Southeast Asia and achieve four combat wins. For his bravery in battle, he received numerous awards, including the Air Force Cross for a mission in August 1967 during which he led a strike force against North Vietnam’s fiercely guarded Paul Doumer Bridge.

Olds’ greatest accomplishment was organizing and directing Operation Bolo, which forced North Vietnamese MiG-21 pilots into an unfavorable air battle. Public access to the Air Warrior Battle Memorial is available during base visiting hours.

Photo by Trevor Cokley / U.S. Air Force

June 10, 2023 0 comment

History

The Hawaiian Air Depot scheme: the most peculiar B-17 Flying Fortress livery from WWII

by Till Daisd June 9, 2023

written by Till Daisd

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was decided that all B-17 Flying Fortress bombers stationed in Hawaii need better camouflage than the USAAC olive drab scheme

From December 1941 through the beginning of March 1942, both sides engaged in daily aerial combat in the South Pacific. A few understrength squadrons of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) put up a spirited fight as Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) flying boats and land-based bombers penetrated over huge distances.

The greatest impact, nevertheless, came from the aircraft carriers’ superior power.

Ships from the US Navy (USN), including a carrier task force, were traveling to the Fiji region in February 1942. According to Michael Claringbould and Peter Ingman in South Pacific Air War Volume 1, the USN was given 12 US Army Air Corps (USAAC) B-17E Flying Fortresses for the purpose of keeping an eye on them. These heavy bombers would be perfect for service in the Pacific because of their long range. Six aircraft from the 88th Reconnaissance Squadron (RS), one from the 38th RS, and five from the Bombardment Squadron were among the aircraft allotted, which were all stolen from Hawaii’s 7th Air Force (BS). The 14th RS, a composite squadron that had been redrawn, was assigned as its primary mission the defense of supply lines to Australia.

The Hawaiian Air Depot scheme, the most peculiar B-17 livery of the conflict, was worn by about half of these bombers. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was decided that all fortresses stationed in Hawaii required camouflage that was more effective than the USAAC olive drab scheme that was applied at the factory. As a result, all Fortresses then stationed at Hickam Field and others that traveled through the Hawaiian Air Depot (HAD) throughout December 1941 were quickly outfitted with an unofficial camouflage scheme. The design, which used the topside hues olive drab, dark sand, rust brown, light sand, and blue-grey, lacks official orders or technical requirements due to its ad hoc nature.

The simple availability of paint stocks at the depot at the time led to the selection of the colors. All HAD aircraft, unusually, also had the distinctive USAAC red and white striped rudder, without the prewar dark blue leading edge, and with “US ARMY” painted in bold, dark blue lettering on the undersides of the wings. A few weeks after arriving in Australia, the unusual rudder marking on all of 14’s RS Fortresses would be painted over in olive drab because it was felt that the marking made the aircraft stand out too much.

Major Richard “Dick” Carmichael, a 28-year-old University of Texas graduate and “ring knocker” (a Westpointer), headed the young, colorful squadron. Carmichael had a somber memory from his time as the 11’s BS deputy commander when he and his commanding officer had drowned while in a boating accident in Lake Yellowstone. Carmichael held onto the hull for hours before being rescued, barely making it to tell the tale. Afterward, he was given the position of leader.

The colorful Fortresses took off from Hickam Field and staged their way to Nadi airfield on Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji. A wide runway appreciated the characteristic colonial ambiance and the attractive, rising, green karst escarpment in the distance. The Fortresses would launch a series of prolonged searches and reconnaissance missions to a 700-mile range from this New Zealand-managed area. The B-17s completed 16 missions in five days in the middle of February.

South Pacific Air War Volume 1 is published by Casemate Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by Casemate and War Thunder

The story of the Hawaiian Air Depot scheme, the most unusual B-17 Flying Fortress livery of World War II — The foremost B-17E Fortress sports the colourful Hawaiian Air Depot (HAD) scheme on a patrol from Nadi, Fiji, in mid February 1942.

June 9, 2023 0 comment

Military

Black shield

by Till Daisd June 8, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The first of a series of Silverjavelin-coded long-distance, high-speed, high-altitude test flights took place on January 27, 1965. In about one hour and forty minutes, article Number 129 flew the 2580 nautical miles, with one hour and fifteen minutes of that time spent traveling at speeds more than Mach 3.1. Also attained were cruising altitudes of between 75,600 and 80,000 feet.

On March 18, 1965, the heads of the CIA and DoD decided to start making preparations for flying the A-12 over communist China. All of the Agency’s project pilots met the requirements for Mach 3 before the year’s end. Oxcart would never fly sorties over the USSR or China, despite this near-state of preparedness, due to political sensitivities surrounding the overflight conundrum. Then, where was this expensive national security asset to pay for itself? A covert project with the codename Upwind appeared to contain one potential immediate solution.

In 1964, a KH-4 Corona space photo-reconnaissance satellite captured images of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, which some analysts thought to be an anti-ballistic missile installation. An A-12 would fly from the US into the Baltic Sea and meet up with a U-2, the latter of which was equipped to acquire electronic intelligence (ELINT). This composite mission was described in a highly classified proposal with the codename Project Scope Logic (with the confidential cryptonym Project Upwind). The A-12 would then travel north of Norway before turning around and traveling back south along the border with Soviet-Finnish. Before continuing west to the States, the pilot would travel west-southwest around the Baltic Sea, avoiding the coasts of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and East Germany.

The A-12 would need four aerial refuelings to accomplish the 11,000-mile flight, which would take eight hours and forty minutes. Although the high-speed, high-altitude target did not enter Soviet airspace, it was believed that it would cause Soviet radar operations to trigger the Tallinn system. High-resolution photos of the anti-ballistic missile site would be captured by the A-12’s Type 1 camera, while the more susceptible U-2 would remain out of range of the SA-2 and record the signal characteristics of the radar. Despite the idea’s backing from both Agency and DoD officials, Secretary of State Dean Rusk vehemently disagreed with it, and the powerful and covert “303 Committee” (which controlled covert operations) never forwarded the proposal to President Lyndon Johnson for his approval.

Cuba was another potential area of activity for Oxcart. Early in 1964, Project headquarters started making preparations for potential “contingency overflights” as part of the plan known as Skylark. Article Numbers 125, 127, 128, and 132, four of the thirteen A-12s now stationed at Area 51, were first designated as primary Skylark aircraft. Later, aircraft 129 and 131 were added to the group as a result of the installation of additional modifications. A consensus over the platForm vulnerability over the skies of Cuba, however, could not be reached during a meeting between Agency and government officials on September 15. As a result, it was decided that more research should be done.

Skylark was instructed to become operationally ready for emergencies by 5 November by Gen. Marshall S. Carter, Head of the National Security Agency, on 5 August 1965. Any emergency missions would have to be carried out below the A-12’s maximum capability (nearer to Mach 2.8) if security concerns required it. The aircraft would need to be deployed without its whole electronic countermeasures (ECM) arsenal in order to achieve this short deadline.

Although there was little time to prepare the aircraft, they were ready on the day specified by Gen. Carter with a restricted capacity. The Cuban contingencies were never used because, on September 15, 1966, the “303 Committee” decided not to send Oxcart on any reconnaissance missions to Cuba since they may be regarded as provocative and disturb the political calm that was already in place. Southeast Asia was now facing a more serious crisis, therefore it was given precedence.

On March 22, 1965, Brigadier General Jack Ledford briefed Deputy Secretary of Defense Cyrus Vance on Project Black Shield, which involved the deployment of Oxcart to the Japanese island of Okinawa in response to the growing SA-2 threat that U-2 and Firebee drone reconnaissance assets were now facing as they were making overflights over communist China. Although the President would need to personally approve such missions, Secretary Vance was willing to make $3.7 million available to build support facilities at Kadena Air Base. These facilities were to be completed by the fall of 1965.

On June 3, 1965, Secretary McNamara met with the Under Secretary of the Air Force to discuss the buildup of SA-2 missile sites near Hanoi and the potential for switching out the vulnerable U-2s that were conducting reconnaissance flights over the North Vietnamese capital for A-12s. He was told that if sufficient aircraft performance was confirmed, Black Shield may fly over Vietnam.

After a maximum endurance flight of six hours and twenty minutes was accomplished on November 20, 1965, the Silverjavelin validation procedure was finished. During this period, the A-12 showed sustained speeds beyond Mach 3.2 at altitudes close to 90,000 feet. Kelly Johnson accepted personal responsibility for making sure that the four A-12s chosen for Black Shield operations were entirely “squawk-Free.”

On December 2nd, 1965, a formal request to deploy Oxcart operations to the Far East was made to the “303 Committee.” However, the committee decided that all efforts should be made to create a quick-reaction capability for deploying the A-12 system within a 21-day window at any time after January 1, 1966. The idea was swiftly rejected.

The committee received multiple requests to put the Black Shield Operations Order into effect in 1966, but they were all denied. Nonetheless, crew training and testing went on, and the time needed to deploy the A-12s was further shortened from 21 to 11 days. Bill Park flew non-stop 10,200 miles in just over six hours on December 21, 1966, to further demonstrate the aircraft’s ability to perform long-range reconnaissance operations.

Nevertheless, only 15 days after Park’s proof-of-range flight, another plane crashed, this time killing pilot Walt Ray, bringing tragedy to the program. On January 5, 1967, at 11:50 a.m. (local time), Walt took off from Area 51 using his personal call sign, “Dutch 45.” He had just finished the final 30 minutes of a routine training and test sortie when he reported that his fuel consumption was unusually high. He radioed that he was down to 7500 pounds at 15:22 and said, “I don’t know where it’s gone.”

He reported that he was running low on fuel 30 minutes later while near Hanksville, Utah, and one minute later declared an emergency. At 1556 hours, he radioed that he was 130 miles from his destination, had only 4000 lbs. of fuel left, and was using it too quickly. Within 30 seconds, he said that the engines were blazing out. Five minutes later, he reported that the fuel low-pressure lights had turned on.

Walt made his last radio communication at 16:03, informing that both engines had burned out and that he was ejecting. Just 70 miles from Area 51, Article Number 125 (60-6928) had run out of fuel. Walt was killed when he hit the ground after “gliding” to a lower altitude and doing a controlled bale out because he was unable to detach his parachute from the ejection seat. Both the loss of an excellent pilot and a highly regarded cast member was sad.

The book Lockheed SR-71 Operations in the Far East is available to purchase here.

June 8, 2023 0 comment

History

F-15E used a 2000-pound laser-guided bomb to bring down an Iraqi Mi-24 attack helicopter

by Till Daisd June 8, 2023

written by Till Daisd

“I said, ‘There’s no chance the bomb will get him now,’ even though Dan was working hard to keep the laser spot on him. I got a good lock with my missile and was about to pickle off a Sidewinder when the bomb flew into my field of view on the targeting IR screen. There was a big flash, and I could see pieces flying in different directions. It blew the helicopter to hell, damn near vaporized it,” Richard T. Bennett, F-15E Strike Eagle Driver

The F-15E Strike Eagle is a two-seat, dual-role, fully integrated fighter for all-weather, air-to-air, and deep interdiction missions that was created to replace the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark.

During Operation Desert Storm, the campaign that took place between January 17, 1991, and February 28, 1991, with the goal of rescuing Kuwait from the Iraqi assault, the F-15E saw its first action. The 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS, now 335th Fighter Squadron, FS) “Chiefs” F-15E Strike Eagle #89-0487, sometimes known as “487,” is credited with one of the most unusual air-to-air kills in aviation history during this combat.

On February 14, 1991, Capt. Richard T. Bennett, a pilot, engaged in an air battle. Weapon systems operator (WSO) Daniel B. Bakke achieved the first air-to-air victory for an F-15E Strike Eagle.

“On one flight, we used a laser-guided bomb [LGB] to shoot down a helicopter,” Bennet explained to Barry D. Smith for his article Tim Bennett’s War. “This occurred on February 14, Valentine’s Day. The mission was a Scud CAP [combat air patrol] in northwestern Iraq. During the Scud CAPs, we would look around with either the FLIR targeting pod or the radar to find the mobile Scuds. My wingman had twelve Mk. 82s and I had four GBU-10s-2,000-pound LGBs-four AIM-9s and two external fuel tanks. I was leading the flight.

“Our CAP time on this mission was 1:00 to 3:00 in the morning. We went up and hit the tanker and then proceeded north. Our patrol area started up at Al Qaim, near the Syrian border, and ran east about halfway to Baghdad, south to just beyond H-2, and then back to the Syrian border.

“The weather was bad that night, with clouds from about 4,000 feet to about 18,000 feet. We were cruising above the weather, waiting for AWACS [an E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft] or someone else to pass us some coordinates on some Scuds.

“AWACS gave us a call and said that a Special Forces team was in trouble. They had been found by the Iraqis, who were moving to cut them off. We had ten to fifteen Special Forces teams in the general area looking for Scuds. This team was about 300 miles across the border.

“Five Iraqi helicopters were in their area-about fifty miles to our west. As we headed in their direction, I put my wingman in a four-mile trail formation behind me because I had to go down through the weather. When I was about fifty miles from the team, Capt. Dan Bakke, my back-seater, began working the radar to look for the helicopters. We got contacts on them moving west to east, just like the AWACS had said.

“Dan and I started talking about what we were going to do. We knew there were helicopters down there, but if we were going to shoot them down, we wanted confirmation that they were bad guys. We called up AWACS, call sign Cougar, and asked them if there were any friendly helicopters in the area. The AWACS controller said, ‘We don’t have any friendlies in the area. Any helicopters you find, you are cleared to shoot.’

“We got a little closer and kept going down to get below the weather. I wanted to confirm, one more time, before we lost contact with AWACS, that these were definitely bad guys and not some of our Special Forces helicopters coming to get the team. We had a few based in Syria that would have been following the same general course and could have gotten to the area fairly quickly. AWACS confirmed there were no friendlies in the area.

“We continued to press in and were down to about 2,500 feet along the major road between Baghdad and the Syrian border. That area was always hot with a lot of AAA. I was working the radar, and Dan was working the high-resolution FLIR in the targeting pod to find the helicopters. When we popped out of the clouds fifteen to twenty miles from the team, Dan could see the helicopters with the pod. They were moving pretty much abreast, with the lead out in front in the middle. They were still moving west to east. They were moving and stopping at regular intervals.

“There was also a group of troops on the ground to the east of the team. We started getting AAA fire from these troops. To us, it looked as if they were trying to herd the team with the helicopters into the troops to the east. The helicopters were keeping an even distance from each other, and we figured they might be dropping off troops to help herd the team.

F-15E Driver explains how he shot down an Iraqi Mi-24 attack helicopter with a 2000lb laser-guided bomb — Mil Mi-24 Hind gunship

“The image on the pod was good enough to identify the helicopters as probable [Mi-24] ‘Hinds,’ five to ten miles out. Hinds can carry troops and are heavily armed with rockets and machine guns. As soon as the helicopters picked up and started moving, we were getting hits off them on the radar. The radar would stay locked on them when they were on the ground because the moving rotor blades were picked up.

“Dan and I discussed how we wanted to conduct the attack. We decided to hit the lead helicopter with a GBU-10 while he was on the ground. If we hit him, he would be destroyed. If he moved off before the bomb landed, it would still get the troops he just left on the ground. It would also give the other helicopters something to think about, which might give the team a chance to get away from the confusion. We would then circle around and pop the others as we could. We passed our plan to our wingman and told him to get the first helicopter he saw with an AIM-9.

“By this time, we were screaming over the ground, doing about 600 knots–almost 700 mph. The AAA was still coming up pretty thick. Our course took us right over the top of the Iraqi troops to the east of the team.

“[…] Dan was lasing the lead helicopter. We let the bomb go from about four miles out while the leader was on the ground. Because of our speed, it had a hell of a range on the it-more range than an AIM-9. I got AIM-9 guidance going and uncaged a Sidewinder. I was ready to fire the missile as soon as we were in range.

“Just as we released the bomb, the airspeed readout on the radar showed the target at 100 knots and climbing. The lead chopper had picked up and started moving. I said, ‘There’s no chance the bomb will get him now,’ even though Dan was working hard to keep the laser spot on him. I got a good lock with my missile and was about to pickle off a Sidewinder when the bomb flew into my field of view on the targeting IR screen.

“There was a big flash, and I could see pieces flying in different directions. It blew the helicopter to hell, damn near vaporized it.

“We sat there for a few seconds, just staring. By that time, the AAA was getting really heavy and the other helicopters were starting to scatter. I told my wingman to put three Mk. 82 500-pounders in that same spot to get any troops that the helos dropped off.

“We beat up the area with bombs and were going to circle around and come down on them again. I popped up above 10,000 feet and talked to AWACS to tell them what was going on. They said, ‘I understand you visually ID’ed that as an Iraqi helo.’

“I said, ‘No, it’s still dark out here, but I saw a FLIR image of what I took to be a Hind.’

“At that point, my stomach hit the floor. I told AWACS to get the AWACS commander on the radio. Dan and I were thinking, ‘We hit a friendly helo.’ But when we got the AWACS commander on the air, he confirmed that there were no friendlies in the area.

“With that confirmed, I told Dan, ‘OK, let’s go back down and get the rest of the helos.’ We got down low and the AAA was just as bad as before. The helicopters scattered and were running north. My wingman and I were sorting them out and waiting to get within the AIM-9 range. We were about ten miles behind and closing fast.

“I was running in on them and getting ready to be a hero and knock a few more down when, all of a sudden, I started seeing flashes on both sides of us. I thought, ‘What have they done? Here we are in the middle of a bunch of SAMs!’

“Then it hit me: Those weren’t SAMs. They were bombs! AWACS had sent another flight in and told them to drop bombs on a set of coordinates. Those coordinates happened to be us!”

Bennet concludes:

“I figured we had pushed our luck far enough, and we got the hell out of there. AWACS gave the orders to that other flight on another frequency. If it had been on ours, I would have heard the bombers’ side of the conversation and could have canceled the drop. I decided we had had enough for one day, but our night wasn’t over yet. We still had fifteen minutes left on our Scud CAP and were directed to a site near H-2. We found a mobile Scud on a launchpad, attacked it, and then headed home.

“The Special Forces team got out OK and went back to Central Air Forces headquarters to say thanks and confirm our kill for us. They saw the helicopter go down. When the helos had bugged out, the team moved back to the west and was extracted.”

Today, “487” is still assigned to the same squadron it made history in 1991. It’s the Chiefs’ flagship and still has a small green star adorned on the aircraft’s port side representing that moment in the squadron’s history.

Photo by Master Sgt. Lance Cheung, James D’Angina and MSGT STEVEN TURNER / U.S. Air Force

June 8, 2023 0 comment

History

Lightning vs Spitfire: Mach 2 interceptor struggled to prevail against the WWII aircraft in mock dogfights

by Till Daisd June 7, 2023

written by Till Daisd

“We did find that the piston-engined fighter presented a very poor target to infra-red homing missiles, especially from the rear aspect,” Wing Commander John Nicholls, former Lighting Pilot.

The interesting image in this post shows a Spitfire PR XIX PS853 parked next to an English Electric Lightning Mach 2 fighter plane at RAF Binbrook in 1963.

In that year, PS853 was flown in a series of test flights against Lightnings from Binbrook by Wing Commander John Nicholls, who served as the Officer Commanding the Air Fighting Development Squadron under the Central Fighter Establishment (CFE). He wrote about the reason for these unusual sorties, as well as the flights themselves, in Alfred Price’s 1974 book Spitfire At War (later made available in John Dibbs and Tony Holmes’ book Spitfire The Legend Lives On). He was a veteran of combat in Malaya in the Spitfire XVIII and a MiG killer while on exchange with the USAF during the Korean War.

‘This was at the time of the Indonesian confrontation and, since the Indonesian Air Force operated a large number of P-51 Mustang fighters, we were very interested in discovering how best a Lightning might engage such an aircraft. In the RAF we did not have any Mustangs, but at Binbrook, we did have our Spitfire with a performance that was, in many respects, similar. Thus it came about that our Spitfire came to be involved in a short battle trial pitted against a fighter that was her successor by three generations.

‘Of course, from the start we knew that the Lightning could overtake the Spitfire by nearly 1,000 mph – there was no need to run a trial to prove that. But we did find that the piston-engined fighter presented a very poor target to infrared homing missiles, especially from the rear aspect. And, since the Lightning would therefore very likely have to follow up its missile pass with a gun attack, a high overtaking speed would have made accurate firing very difficult. On the other hand, if the Lightning pilot slowed down too much he could end up playing the slower and more maneuverable fighter’s dogfighting game and lose. None of this was new – we had learned the same thing during trials between the Lightning and the Hunter. Another problem was that if the Spitfire pilot had sufficient warning of the attack he could spin around to meet it head-on – and thus present the most difficult target of all.

‘In the end, we evolved a type of attack that was the antithesis of all I had learned from my own operational experience of fighters-versus-fighters combat over Korea. Instead of trying to get above the enemy and diving on him to attack, we found it best to use the Lightning’s very high power-to-weight ratio to make a climbing attack from behind and below. From that angle the field-of-view from the Spitfire was poor, there was a good chance of achieving surprise and the infra-red source gave the best chance for missile acquisition. If the Lightning pilot did not acquire the target or bring his guns to bear on his first pass he could continue his steep climb – which the Spitfire could not possibly follow – and when out of range he could dive and repeat the process. Using such tactics, we felt that in the end, a competent Lightning pilot could almost always get the better of an equally competent Spitfire (or Mustang) pilot.

‘Almost certainly that trial at Binbrook was the final operational act carried out in earnest in the Spitfire’s long career.’

PS853, which had been completed on September 5, 1944, joined the BBMF in Coltishall, Norfolk, in April 1964. Four years later, it took part in The Battle of Britain filming.

Spitfire The Legend Lives On is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Lightning Vs Spitfire: why the iconic Mach 2 interceptor struggled to win mock dogfights against the legendary WWII plane during the trial flights conducted by the RAF between the two types

Photo by Crown Copyright

June 7, 2023 0 comment

History

The urban legend of Kelly Johnson receiving a bag containing $30M. to pay the first six CIA U-2s

by Till Daisd June 6, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The contract for the first six U-2s the CIA bought is the subject of an urban legend

David Peters, an SR 71 pilot, was accepted into the program in 1976 and continued flying until his retirement in 1986. His hometown is Tacoma, Washington. It was 1967 when he first saw the SR 71. He was flying F-4s when they ran out of fuel and had to land at Navy Fallon in Nevada. He witnessed something there that he had never seen before. It just so happened that John Storie and George Bull, two SR-71 pilots, were flying the “B” type at the time and had to land due to a fuel issue. Dave said to his backseater, “Someday I’m going to fly that plane.”

In Lockheed’s “Skunk Works” in Burbank, California, a group led by Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson developed and produced the U-2 to carry out surveillance missions in perfect secrecy. The first flight of this single-engine aircraft, which had sailplane-like wings suitable for the thin atmosphere over 55,000 feet (over 70,000 feet for subsequent models), took place in August 1955. After going into operation in 1956, its employment was kept a secret until a surface-to-air missile shot down a U-2 aircraft being flown by a civilian over Soviet territory on May 1, 1960.

The urban legend of the brown bag with $30 million in cash delivered to Kelly Johnson to pay for the first six CIA U-2 spy planes — David Peters in SR-71’s cockpit

The deal for the first six U-2s that the CIA bought is the subject of an urban legend. Kelly Johnson received a call from the CIA while he was in his office. He received instructions to meet a man at a specific Georgetown restaurant. He would be in the back, they claimed, and wear a pink carnation as a lapel. He received a time and date. Johnson arrived, and sure enough, a sketchy-looking figure was seated in a booth near the back.

The man was wearing a trench coat with a pink carnation pinned to the lapel, along with a fedora. Johnson claims that after approaching the man and sitting down, the man simply stared at him for a short while. “We will take six for 30 million,” he continued. Johnson felt something on his leg and looked down after they continued to stare at each other for a moment. When he looked up, the man had left and there was a sizable brown paper bag under the table. He searched the bag and founds bundles of $100,000 dollars. “Kelly you’re a*s is dead.” Johnson reportedly thought as his first thought. Brown bag in Georgetown, downtown Washington, DC, contains $30,000,000 in cash.

U-2s — Above: Initial U-2 testing was done at a remote dry lake in Nevada nicknamed “The Ranch.” Disassembled aircraft were airlifted in pieces from Lockheed’s Burbank, Calif., plant to the Ranch and assembled there. Note that these CIA aircraft carry fictional National Advisory Council for Aeronautics (NACA) insignia and numbers. Top image: Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, chief designer at Lockheed’s secret “Skunk Works” facility, initially designed the U-2 around the F-104 Starfighter fuselage.

The only federal employee with spending authority over unvouchered government funds is the director of the CIA.

Peters recalls; ‘I obviously can’t prove the story but Kelly told it to me when I was just starting the program. He and Bill Parks were there for a ceremony dedicating Kelly Johnson Street at Beale. My backseater Ed Bethart and I were assigned to escort them. The only time he was under control was the actual ceremony. So, Ed and I had the unbelievable pleasure of escorting them anywhere Kelly wanted to go for about nine hours. The majority of that time the four of us alone.’

Check out Linda Sheffield Miller’s, (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Facebook Page Habubrats for amazing Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force and David Peters

June 6, 2023 0 comment

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