The Blackbird
The SR-71, which earned its unofficial nickname “Blackbird,” evolved from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft as a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft capable of exceeding Mach 3. It was on Dec. 22, 1964, that the first SR-71 flight occurred, with the first operational aircraft delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, in January 1966.
The Blackbird was in a different category from anything that had come before. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” Skunk Works legendary aircraft designer Kelly Johnson recalled in an interesting article that appeared on the Lockheed Martin website.
Operating at extreme speeds, altitudes, and temperatures was what the SR-71 was designed for; notably, titanium was used for the first time in aircraft construction, since a conventional aluminum frame would have melted from the friction generated by air molecules flowing over its surface at Mach 2.6.
No cockpit demands as much intense focus as an SR-71 Blackbird’s
The mission of the SR-71 was to take photographs and to use its sensors to pick up electronic surveillance. To safely navigate close to the enemy’s border. The Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO) handled all of that and more. Because of the Blackbird’s unique capabilities, no cockpit demands as much intense focus as an SR-71 Blackbird’s.
As already reported, this sparked a myth: Blackbird pilots didn’t have time to look out the window of their powerful Mach 3 plane.
SR-71 pilot David Peters said that he DID look out the windows. It’s part of piloting a plane to be aware of your surroundings.
The featured image in this post is somewhat like what Blackbird air crew members would see.
It was gorgeous up there, as Peters recalls.
‘Makes me think of one of the mind games we got into.
SR-71 crew members could see 3.5 trillion more stars at 80,000 feet than you can on the ground
‘Doing the Korean DMZ out of Kadena on a moonless, clear night, we could see 3.5 trillion more stars at 80,000 feet than you can on the ground. That’s according to Palomar Mountain Observatory in California.
‘We would come in off the Sea of Japan, and there are almost no lights. The Japanese fishing fleet is working around that area most of the time, and they just have lanterns hung on the boats. [Actually the mind game that Peters refers to is seeing lights in the ocean, where there is no electricity that would cause him to double-check his instruments. An SR-71 pilot constantly kept his eyes on what was going on around him as it was important to his mission.]
‘When you make the inbound turn, what you see above you is very much like the [below] image of this post. What you see below is much more like what you see from the ground looking at the sky.’
Peters concludes,
‘It will mess up your head really quick and you jump on instruments just like you were flying in weather.’
Check out Habubrats SR-71 X profile and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.
