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| sr71 blackbird underwing and nose to nose |
Manning their SR71 Blackbird at 2330 local time
amid the din from the un-rnuttted twin BuickV·8 engines used to provide starting power for the Blackbird's J·58s, Major James V.
Sullivan, pilot, and Major Noel F. Widdifield, RSO, began a five hour and forty five minute
flight that would amaze the world.
Lifting off from Beale two minutes into September 1, SR·71A Serial number 17972
climbed into the refuelling track 26,000 feet above Nevada. After taking on a full load from
the KC·135Q, The Blackbird climbed and accelerated to Mach 3 as it crossed the United
States. One more refuelling was required, and it took place off the coast of the Carolinas.
With this rendezvous complete, Sullivan advanced the throttles and once more headed
upward into Mach 3 country, passing through the timing gate east of New York on speed,
and on course.
Exactly 1 hour, fifty five minutes, and forty two seconds later the SR·71 passed through
the timing gate in rnld-Channel, off Southhampton, completing the run in less than a
seventeenth of the time it had taken Charles Lindbergh some forty seven years earlier.
Sadly, Lindbergh had died less than a week before and so did not see yet another tribute
to his pioneering spirit.
After remaining on static display for a week at the Farnborough International Air Show,
the SR·71 was flown to Mildenhall to be prepared for the return flight to Beale. A record
was established on this flight. (No previous record existed.) Captain Harold B. Adams,
pilot, and Major William C. Machurek, RSO took off from Mildenhall, climbed to refuelling
rendezvous, and after taking on fuel, climbed and accelerated as they crossed the Atlan-
tic. A second refuelling was required over Goose Bay, Labrador before the final Mach 3
dash across Canada and into the United States. Oecelldescent was planned for a point
200 miles northeast of Los Angeles, which would have gotten the Blackbird subsonic 40
miles short of all that glass and those sensitive eardrums. An engine compressor stall
during this phase of the flight caused the Blackbird to boom the suburbs of LA, which
resulted in some damage claims. When the Blackbird passed through the LA timing gate,
it had covered a distance of 5,645 miles in 3 hours, 47 minutes for an average speed of
1,435 MPH. Nearly an hour and fifteen minutes of that time had been spent at subsonic
speed.
More records were set in 1976. On July 27 and 28 operational crews and aircraft from
Beale virtually wiped everyone else's name from the record books. The three crews who
set the records were Majors Adolphus H. Bledsoe, Jr., pilot and John T. Fuller, RSO, Cap-
tain Robert C. Helt, pilot, and Major Larry A. Elliott, RSO, and Captain Eldon W. Joersz,
pilot, and Major George T. Morgan, RSO. All flights were from Beale, and the records were
certified by the FAI with equipment at Edwards AFB, where the record portion of the
flights took place.
The 9th SRW had been functioning as a single squadron wing (the 1 st SRS) for several
years, when further budgetary considerations forced a merger with the 100th SRW in
1976. The 100th had been operating U·2s and Ryan AQM·34 RPVs, supported by DC·130s
and CH·3s at Davis Monthan AFB. Transfer of the RPVs to TAC left the 100th as another
single squadron wing, and prompted SAC to merge them into a single wing. The U·2s rnov-
ed to Beale, and the 99th SRS was reactivated. The 100th wing also moved to Beale, but
became the 100th Aerial Refuelling Wing, with two squadrons of KC·135Qs, which sup-
port the SR·71 world·wide. While the personnel of the 100th transferred into the 99th SRS,
the personnel for the 100th were drawn from the 17th Bombardment Wing, which had lost
it's B·52's to other units earlier in the year. The 9th SRW was put in the unique position of
operating the fastest and slowest of Strategic Reconnaissance aircraft. Though there is
the natural rivalry and verbal jousting between SR·71 and U·2 squadrons, there has been
no other tall-out from this unusual situation.
The SR·71 has continued to make headlines. In 1979 President Carter sent it into action
over Cuba to monitor the "unacceptable" Russian combat brigade. Time Magazine
reported in October, 1979 that the Blackbirds had also flown over Cuba in 1978 to in-
vestigate the presence of MiG·23s. Time also credited the SR·71 with the ability to "efface
it's image from watching radar screens." Also according to Time, Russian missiles had at·
tempted to shoot down the Blackbirds in several other parts of the world, including
Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Korea .... all without success.
In the fall of 1981 a Kadena-based SR·71 was fired at by a North Korean SAM battery as
it flew off the coast of North Korea. Newsweek called it "a spitball probe of U.S. resolve."
Though the SAM didn't come close to hitting the SR·71, U.S. reaction was quick and tough
sounding. U.S. representatives called for a meeting of the Military Armistice Commission,
which oversees relations between North and South Korea, and State Department
Spokesman Dean Fischer asserted that the North Korean action violated accepted norms
of international behavior. He further stated that the United States would take whatever
steps were necessary to ensure the safety of our pilots and planes. Presumably, that
The complete history of Blackbird operation will not be written for years to come. When
it is, it will read like a geographical who's who - a tour of every corner of the earth, en-
countering situations and making discoveries that will have changed the course of
history. The pilots who flew the airplane will have stories to tell that will be halr-ralstnq, at
least, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice can be honored publicly. Until that day
comes, we can only speculate on what the SR·71 has done, where It has gone, and how It's
missions have affected history. Chances are, none of the speculation will come close to
the truth.