The SR-71 Blackbird
The SR-71 spy aircraft was the most advanced member of the Blackbird family, which also included the A-12 and YF-12. A Lockheed team led by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson—then vice president of Lockheed’s Advanced Development Company Projects, better known as the “Skunk Works” and now part of Lockheed Martin—designed the aircraft. The Blackbird made its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964.
The SR-71 was built to cruise at “Mach 3+”—more than three times the speed of sound, exceeding 2,200 miles per hour—and operate at altitudes of up to 85,000 feet.
Practical jokes, known as “frags,” were an established tradition among SR-71 crews, who were nicknamed “Habus.” The term originated from the Vietnam War-era practice of “fragging.”
Oscar’s Balls—flown over 70,000 feet in a U-2
Former Blackbird pilot Richard H. Graham recounts a particularly memorable frag that took place at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, home to SR-71 Detachment 1.
In his book SR-71 Revealed: The Inside Story, Graham writes:
‘The Habus once fragged the 9th SRW/Detachment 2, our sister U-2 unit stationed at Osan, Korea. Detachment 2 personnel were known as the “Blackcats” and wore a patch featuring a black cat. The unit also had a mascot—Oscar, a black male cat. To establish him as the official Detachment 2 mascot, the crews flew him on a U-2 mission inside one of the aircraft’s empty mission bays. After the flight, Oscar became agitated and never fully returned to normal. The unit decided to have him castrated in the hope that it would calm him. At the detachment’s request, the veterinarian preserved Oscar’s testicles, which were proudly displayed in a glass jar in the operations area. The inscription on the outside read: “Oscar’s Balls—flown over 70,000 feet in a U-2.”’
Colonel Tom Alison recalls what happened next.
The “Oscar’s Balls” frag took place in early December 1978, with JT Vida—my RSO—and me serving as the crew involved. It was the only occasion during more than 120 operational sorties and six years that we had to divert and land elsewhere during a GIANT-SCALE mission, a record that reflected the aircraft’s reliability. The incident occurred during a nighttime sortie over the DMZ after a generator failure forced us to divert to Osan Air Base in Korea. The Detachment 2 personnel were exceptionally helpful as they assisted us after our arrival.
Spying the jar with “Oscar’s Balls”
The recovery team arrived the following morning and completed the routine generator replacement. With the aircraft ready for an early departure on Saturday, JT and Colonel Tom Alison decided that a suitable frag was in order.
At the time, Lt. Col. Doyle Krumery commanded Detachment 2 and took great pride in the large, elegant desk in his office. Later that night, JT and Alison, with assistance from several crew chiefs, carefully moved the desk into a shower stall in the PSD area. It remained undamaged, making the prank especially satisfying.
While leaving the detachment, JT and Alison noticed the jar containing “Oscar’s Balls” prominently displayed in the operations area. Early the next morning, JT placed it in a helmet bag and stowed it in the rear cockpit.
Because it was Saturday and no Detachment 2 flights were scheduled, the U-2 personnel slept late, and no one discovered that the jar was missing. During engine start, taxi, and takeoff, JT and Alison expected a radio call ordering the aircraft to return as soon as the missing items were found. Instead, the relocated desk caused such an uproar that the jar was overlooked. The maintenance team may even have boarded the tanker and begun the return flight to Kadena before the “real frag” was discovered.
“Oscar’s Balls—flown Mach 3+ in an SR-71”
During the “hot” flight back to Kadena, JT and Colonel Tom Alison decided how to complete the frag. After returning to Detachment 1, they met with Chuck Weithoff, the SAS/autopilot technical representative and a close friend. Weithoff fried two chicken hearts until they became small, black, hardened pieces. A needle and dark thread were then used to stitch a short strand between them.
Obtaining a replacement jar identical to the original was relatively easy. Since the contents of the jar labeled “Oscar’s Balls” were unknown, the jar was never opened. Instead, the replacement was filled with water, and the two chicken hearts were added. They closely resembled the original contents, except that they had been charred black.
Because the U-2 crews took pride in having flown Oscar aboard the “Dragon Lady,” a new label was placed on the jar: “Oscar’s Balls—flown Mach 3+ in an SR-71.”
U-2 pilots vow they would get even
The replacement jar was returned to Detachment 2 with elaborate apologies. JT and Colonel Tom Alison claimed that it had been stored in an aircraft bay that became extremely hot during the flight back to Kadena, causing “Oscar’s Balls” to be fried. The two returned to Beale before the reaction reached Detachment 1, although Lt. Col. Doyle Krumery’s likely confrontation with Detachment 1 commander Lt. Col. Bob Cunningham was easy to imagine.
Alison concluded that the original “Oscar’s Balls” were later returned to Detachment 2. The U-2 pilots, however, vowed to get even. During a later visit to Kadena, one of them took a jar containing a Habu snake from the Detachment 1 office, believing it to be a prized item. The Detachment 1 personnel explained that they had several jars containing Habus and told the pilot to keep it.
Photos by U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin
