The Blackbird
Developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft, the SR-71, also known as the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft.
The first flight of an SR-71 happened on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to begin service was sent to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.
The Blackbird stood in a separate class from anything that came before it. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” Skunk Works legendary aircraft designer Kelly Johnson said in an interesting article that showed up on the Lockheed Martin website.
The SR-71 flew at over 2,000 miles per hour. Theoretically, other planes of the era could approach that speed, but only in short, after-burner-driven bursts. The Blackbird kept up a record-setting speed for hours at a time. Friction with the atmosphere at such a high speed creates temperatures that would melt a typical airframe.
Two Buick Nailhead V8 engines to start the Blackbird Mach 3+ plane
During the design of the A-12/YF-12/M-21 and SR-71, Kelly Johnson didn’t want to add weight for a starter on the airplane. He pointed out that more weight meant more fuel needs. The team picked two Buick Nailhead V8 engines as the solution.
Starting up the Blackbird, the fastest airplane in the world, wasn’t just exciting—it sounded like the Indianapolis 500 was getting the SR-71 ready to fly because of the two V8 engines.
As mentioned before, they joined two of these Nailhead V8s together using a common transmission and drive shaft to work together, then put them inside a metal housing set on four wheels with a trailer hitch, naming it the AG330 “start cart.” The resulting Chimera was attached directly to the Blackbird’s two engines.
However, nobody thought the SR-71 start cart would end up being used to wake someone up.
Using the SR-71 start cart (featuring 2 V8 engines) to wake up a maintainer

Everyone involved with the SR 71 program was extremely motivated. But as in any organization, there’s always one who is the exception to the rule.
‘I am not naming any names,’ S/Sergeant Skip Hosler, former SR-71 crew chief, explains in Paul Crickmore‘s latest book “Lockheed Blackbird Beyond the Secret Missions. ‘We had this one guy on the SR flight line maintenance swing shift that we could never find when we had work for him to do, so one night, we started searching. We pushed open an AFT (back) blow in the door near the engine exhaust.
‘There, he was sleeping with the exhaust plug pulled in.
‘So, we had a good idea: let’s get a Buick start cart. We hooked it up, hit the starter, put the throttle fully down, and then up a couple of times. The problem was solved. The sleepy guy came flying out of his hideaway.’
This is what a start-cart sounds like.
Check out Habubrats SR-71 X profile, Instagram Page SR71Habubrats and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.
Photo by John Freedman and User:Jaydec via Wikipedia