171 - Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
A high-speed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft flies above the clouds with its engines blazing.
The Lockheed SR-71 is the highest flying and fastest operational aircraft ever built. Actually, her big sister the A-12, should hold that honor, but since she was only utilized for a few years by the CIA, all the honors have fallen to the SR-71. She first flew in late 1964 and began operational flying in 1968. Early operations were flown out of Okinawa Japan with missions over North Vietnam and North Korea as well as non overflight missions directed at China and the Soviet Union. Later, she flew missions out of England covering the periphery of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Libya. From 1968 to 1989 she was employed by The National Command Authority to gather intelligence over much of the world. Flying at speeds greater than Mach 3 and at altitudes above 80,000 feet, she was mostly impervious to enemy air defenses making her the platform of choice for over two decades.
The Blackbirds were the brainchild of a Master Aircraft Designer, Mr. Kelly Johnson who was the Vice President of Advanced Development for the Lockheed Aircraft Company. The requirement for an aircraft which could fly three thousand nautical miles above 80,000 feet while cruising at Mach 3.2 made this airplane unique in many ways. Made of 95% titanium, designed for Stealth, fuel tanks inserted with Nitrogen, burned JP-7, a special very high flash point fuel and powered with a specially built engine from Pratt and Whitney allowed for exceptional performance, in thrust and economy. While the design and construction used many new concepts, it was the design and operation of the Inlet that resulted in performance never seen before or since.
The aircrafts were hard to maintain and expensive to operate. Therefore, only thirty were ever built and less than a dozen were usually operated at a time. To have been selected to fly this beautiful bird was indeed an honor. Since only 10-12 two person crews maintained currency at a time, the fraternity of crewmembers for the entire 2 decades, resulted in less than one hundred pilots ever having been operational. It was a privilege to have been one of them.
I flew 770 hours and seventy-five operational missions in the SR-71 before being reassigned in the summer of 1977. The highlight of those 5 years was the privilege to be allowed to set the World Speed Record in 1976. The records are carefully planned and internationally observed to ensure all speed and altitude criteria are maintained. We were allowed to pick whatever altitude we wanted as long as we kept to level flight and maintained a constant speed through a 25 Kilometer course, flying in both directions to arrive at an average speed. In my case we established a new speed record of 2193 MPH which still stands today, 49 years later.
I grew up in Hazen, loved living there and am proud of so many friends and role models that helped me achieve my dream of flying. Never did I imagine that one day I would set a World Speed Record and retire as a Major General in the US Air Force. I was and am blessed indeed.