SR-71 Blackbird
The SR-71, informally designated as the “Blackbird,” was a high-altitude, Mach 3+, strategic reconnaissance aircraft engineered from Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft.
The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.
The Blackbird was in a different category from anything that had come before. “Everything had to be created. Everything,” Skunk Works distinguished aircraft designer Kelly Johnson stated in an intriguing publication featured on the Lockheed Martin website.
For instance, the Blackbird’s ejection seat (specifically the Lockheed SR-1 ejection seat) incorporated two loops on the D ring. Why is that?
SR-1 Ejection Seat
The SR-1 ejection seat is a Lockheed design not much different from the Stanley designed Lockheed C-2 used in the very early A-12 and SR-71 Blackbirds (as can be seen in the cockpit of A-12 06925).
According to The Ejection Site, the D-ring at the front center of the SR-1 ejection seat is cable connected to an initiator under the seat pan.
The cable is spring-mounted to prevent injuries after ejection and before seat separation at which time the cable is severed. When pulled, the initiator gas is routed to the inertia reels to retract the crewman back upright. It is also routed to the foot restraint reels and via a quick disconnect fitting to the canopy removal system.
As the canopy is jettisoned, an initiator in the canopy system is actuated, and gas from it is directed back into the seat via another quick disconnect to actuate the gas-operated sequencing system and to fire the catapult after a 0.3-second delay to allow the canopy to clear the area.
Two loops on the D ring
SR-71 pilot Darryl Greenamyer was as short as Bob Gilliland (another Blackbird driver) was tall. They were both examples of above and under-the-average test pilots hired by Lockheed Skunk Works.
As told by Donn A. Byrnes and Kenneth D. Hurley in their book Blackbird Rising: Birth of an Aviation Legend, when Darrell was positioned in the cockpit and the depressurized simulated (this was accomplished by pumping up his pressure suit to 3.5 psi over atmospheric pressure)…
His suit became so rigid that he could not reach the ejection seat loop mounted on the seat between his knees (The D ring) so they made it fit. The result was a second loop that raised above the initial loop.
As seen in the picture below.
Check out Habubrats SR-71 Twitter profile, SR71Habubrats Instagram profile and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.
Photo by Tony Landis, Richard Graham via The Ejection Site and U.S. Air Force
